Mix And Match Color Tool : Stop Wondering About What To Wear Today - SewGuide (original) (raw)
I have a lot of orphaned clothes in my cupboard – Those poor ones which I bought on a whim and now sits ignored because I did not know what to pair them with. This tool is meant for such clothes. And, If you are a designer, this tool gives you an easy way to see what clothes to pair together, to make your client happy ; all that at a single glance and two clicks.
Click on the color for the top and then on the bottom wear. Let me warn you, it is addictive and you will be at it for some time. Try it.
Color Studio
Mix and match colors to visualize your next sewing project. Top Colors Neutrals
Warm Tones
Cool Tones
Bottom Colors
When you want to look more attractive and younger, there is one way that can perk you up other than changing the style of the clothing you are wearing – choosing the right colors for your clothes that suits you. The colors you use should match your vibe, aura, whatever you call it and complement and enhance all the good features you have.
Color is everywhere, affecting our moods, our fashion sensibilities, even our appetites. It is the first thing you notice when you look at something. So when it comes to selecting clothes, color plays a very big role.
Choosing the best colors for you
When there is a question of “Which color is best for me?” no single answer can say it all. There are a million colors and a million interpretations of those colors.
You may get lost in the world of color names – understandably so, because there are so many hues and shades. If you want to know the correct names of the different colors around you, this post ““Fashion Colors and their names with pictures”” with names of hundreds of colors may help you.
Factors affecting your color choices
There are some major factors that affect our color choices. But they do not work in isolation from each other; our choices are a combination of all of these. But most of the time one of these factors outweighs others in our final choice of color.
Physical attributes of the wearer & color choices
Factors like Size of the person, hair color, skin tone,and eye color can also influence color selection
Hair color
Hair with blue undertones (such as platinum or ash blond, auburn red, and snow-white and jet black)- These combinations are good with cool colors like pastel pinks, beige, pale green, light blues, and purples.
Hair with golden undertones (such as honey or strawberry blond, rust red, brown or brownish black, or creamy white) – Warm colors or colors with orange or yellow undertones work well.
If you have black or brown hair go for rich and vivid colors – for example bright red, bright blue.
Grey hair looks good with cool colors like Navy blue and midnight blue.
Color choices according to Skin color
Generally it is said that brighter and warmer colors look better on darker skin. If you have fair skin you will look better in cool colors like blue and green; soft and pastel colors like soft yellow, peach, lavender, mint green, alabaster; neutral colors like ivory ; jewel tones like coral, are all good with fair skin.
If you have darker skin with a warm tinge you will look better in warm colors like red, orange, and yellow; earth tones like green, orange, olive, blue, navy, emerald, burgundy, ruby; plum white and pink can also suit dark-skinned.
Warm colors have a golden / orange or yellow undertone; cool colors a blue undertone.
Light skinned people look better in silver colors and dark-skinned in gold colors; though there are exceptions to this rule.
Color choices according to Eye color
Blue, gray or green eyes – if you have any of these eye colors you will gravitate towards cool colors. If you have brown, hazel or amber eyes you would prefer to have warm colors in your wardrobe.
If you have beautiful eyes and you want to emphasize this, use a darker shade of the eye color near your face (as a shawl, wrap, or hat)
Body size
If you are on the petite side and want to look slightly larger in stature, you would prefer to wear white or light-colored clothes rather than a slimming black or navy blue.
Warm colors make the object look bigger than cool colors. Bright shades of color make you look bigger than dark deep shades of the same color. Dark and dull colors do recede the figure. So a lighter, brighter red will make you look far bigger than you will look in a darker shade of red.
Neutral colors like white, black , off-white are good at neutralizing lines and projections. So if you have anything to hide like an unsightly bulge at the lovehandles, soft lines in neutrals should be chosen than a bright red.
Wearing black is slimming. But if you are overweight covering your body in folds of black from top to toe may make you look bigger than otherwise. Check out this post on 30+ dressing tips to look slim for more details.
Age and gender of the wearer – How this determines the color choices
As you age, changes in the skin and the color of the hair are also to be taken into consideration when selecting color.
Stereotyping color preferences based on gender will raise the hackles of my equality advocating daughter, but they do exist. I bet my husband would stare blankly if asked to prefer between teal and seafoam green, whereas I know their difference in my sleep. He probably knows plum as a fruit, not as a color.
But both men and women have their strong color preferences; sometimes on the opposite sides of the color spectrum, sometimes uncannily similar.
Occasion & color selection
If you are going to an evening party with plenty of artificial lighting you can wear very bright colors and still not look garish. Artificial lighting at these venues can soften bright colors and make the color look glamorous.
For a business function, brown is a dependable color whereas pink may make you seem somewhat frivolous in that setting.
For afternoon functions in the broad daylight, you can opt for soft colors which are not too bright.
So choosing colors according to the occasion is important as well. Not adhering to this can land you in trouble at times. In the West, black color is worn at funerals, but white is the predominant color at funerals in the East.
For a creative pitch, a navy blue color suit may project the idea of being not creative enough ( it is the stable color and you will be considered more dependable than creative and original) whereas red can give the vibe of creative energy
Time of wearing the color
On sunny days you are better off wearing cool light colors to keep your cool. Black is not the best color for the sun. White is the best color for sunny summer days. But then, this is a debatable point as studies have shown that color does not correlate to not feeling the heat- it is the looseness of clothes that brings down the heat.
For winter I would say warm colors fare better. Choose browns and reds. You will feel less blue.
Fashion trends and celebrity craze affecting colors you wear
This is more of a factor than you know. Going after fashion trends after analyzing yourself is better than following blindly.
Find celebrities that match your body shape, skin, and other attributes, notice what they wear and follow them. They have stylists who know their job, and following them would do you more good than, say, me wearing Jennifer Lawrence’s clothes, just because I admire her.
Visual effects of colors – How the color looks on you
Colors can have different reactions from people, depending on their associations with it. But generally, the color theory and its offshoots have categorized color and given them different attributes, which are universally agreed upon.
Basically color is divided into three categories:
Warm, cool and neutral colors
Warm colors are red, orange, yellow and all the colors in between.
Red is the warmest color. Warm colors are high-energy colors. It is said that these colors stimulate a special chemical called dopamine in our body which makes us feel good. Warm colors are considered advancing, stimulating, and exciting. They make objects or shapes appear larger or more important.
Cool colors are blue and green violet and colors in between.
Blue is the coolest color. They are considered receding, quieting, and reserved. These colors make shapes and areas appear smaller and less important. They are considered trustworthy, dignified and confidence generating. Learn more about the cool colors here.
Neutral colors are black, white, grey and the colors in between.
Most of us prefer neutral colors for their elegance but sometimes they can be energy draining. The negative energy given by these colors have to be relieved with some splashes of color. Learn more about neutral colors here
After evaluating all these factors, if you still have a color that you like but may not be the right one, you can get away with wearing it away from your face. You can choose it for a skirt or pants.
How Personality affects the colors we wear
The mind is a curious thing and even if brown and yellow suits me the best, I choose pink or blue every time I go to buy something. My desire triumphs over my logical brain.
Ultimately it is your personality that determines the colors you wear. Personality is the sum of everything we have described and more.
Personality overrides most of the earlier given factors and decides the color of clothes you buy. So after factoring in everything, narrow down on the colors you personally prefer to wear and do your own thing.
Book to read : Fashion Makeover, Brenda Kinsel, Chronicle books.
For individuals, a knowledge of different colors and identifying the perfect colors for them can have a lasting effect on their whole outlook and image in the outside world – whatever be the trend /fashion of the moment.
Check out this post on the mixing and matching of colors to find the right colour combinations based on color wheel. And also an overview of color theory for designers.
