Color Scheming: Day 2

Day 2: Primary Colors Versus Pastels

For years, I only wore navy with red.

Then, quite by accident, I realized

that pale blue looked just as fabulous with

my red patent shoes and it was like

my closet had been released from a dark prison.

Lots of mistakes later, I still love to experiment

with primary and pastel colors.

The effect of pairing something with the same tonal shade

as opposed to primary tones is often, but not always,

softer...but the end result is more options.

Which is a great thing for any wardrobe, no?

You can pair an item with a pastel,

or a color that is directly across the

color wheel, usually a primary color.

You can also add a third option by

mixing some combination of the two.

The khaki brown tee in the middle is more in the

same color family as orange while the blue shirt is across

the color spectrum, so the overall effect is a mix of hard and soft.

The look on the far right is obviously much more

stark and contrasting than the look on the far left.

The combination look in the middle would be much

more primary without the pink scarf.

It's really awesome if you end up liking all three looks,

but it doesn't always work this well, as you can see below.

When you lay out things like this,

it'll be very obvious to you

which looks you don't like...

While I've worn the looks on the right and left,

I didn't like this particular combination look at all.

Reworking the outfits you wore in winter with

primary colors is always great starting point

for spring looks simply by replacing the

primary colors with their pastel counterparts.

Same color scheme--completely different look and feel.

The outfit on the left is one I blogged about

several weeks ago, and I loved how I felt in it,

so I used the color scheme to come up with a spring version

(with items already in my closet I might add)! =)

Lesson of Day 2:

If something looks good with a primary color,

it very likely will look good with it's pastel counterpart.