Add Some Color to Your Life

IT DOES not cost you any money. It makes you look more attractive. It gives you greater confidence. What is “it”?

“It” is the ability to match or coordinate the colors of the clothes you wear. Although it is an art that can be learned easily, many people feel confused, even frustrated, when it comes to determining what color goes with what.

Is that how you feel when you try to decide if you should wear yellow with blue, or is it yellow with green? If so, take heart, for creating successful color combinations in your wardrobe does not require memorizing a lot of rules. All you need to know is something about the nature of the colors and how they work together. So let’s look at some of the basic principles and see how you can add some color to your life.

How Many Colors Are There?

“When we look at a rainbow we whimsically pick out red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, blatantly ignoring the colors in between,” explains Japanese color scientist Kunihiko Takei to Awake! “Just as the colors in the rainbow gradually change from red to violet, so each particular color can be subtly changed from dark to light, intense to subdued. To say there are hundreds of any one color is conservative and pointless.”

What this means is that the various colors are not separate entities. They are interrelated, and an understanding of this relationship is invaluable in learning how to match colors. A helpful tool in this regard is the color wheel, or circle. One version of it is shown on page 16. The colors of the rainbow are arranged in a circle. The primary colors​—red, yellow, and blue—​are evenly spaced around the wheel.a By mixing these colors in varying proportions, all the other colors, or hues, on the wheel can be produced.

When a color on the wheel is mixed with an equal amount of the color at the opposite side of the wheel, the result is black or dark gray. If unequal amounts are mixed, the results are the darker or neutralized colors. Because they contain more colors, these neutralized colors can harmonize with many hues. Neutralized red, for example, contains not only red and green but also yellow and blue, which are the parents of green.

Another way of creating colors is by adding varying amounts of white, gray, or black. Gray subdues the vividness, and the results are tones, or duller colors of the same hue. Tints, or light colors, can be produced by adding white, and shades, or dark colors, by adding black. A color chart (bottom right) displays the many colors of the same hue. Multiply this by the number of colors or hues, and the exciting possibilities run into the millions. It is estimated that there are about ten million tones, tints, and shades.

‘But that is just the problem,’ you may say. ‘All those colors!’ Well, let’s not overlook the forest on account of the trees. The important thing is to see the relationship between the colors. Did you once have a red sweater that you felt did not suit you and you therefore decided that you can never wear red? Was it a blue-red or an orange-red, was it a dark wine or a light pink, was it bright or toned? If you analyze the color this way, you will find numerous reds, or other colors, that you can wear successfully.

‘How Do I Know Which Colors Suit Me?’

While there are a lot of colors, this does not mean that all of them will suit you. You may like certain colors, but they may not necessarily look good on you. Rather, the colors you are wearing when you receive the most compliments are the ones that suit you.

According to many experts, everybody is either a blue type or a yellow type. Blue types, they say, look good in colors like blues and cool pinks and should avoid oranges and browns. Yellow types look good in yellow, gold, and warm colors but will probably have trouble with purple.

The easiest way to decide which colors suit you is to hold them up against you, one at a time, and look in a mirror in daylight. According to Carole Jackson, color consultant and author of the best-seller Color Me Beautiful, the right color “smooths and clarifies your complexion” and “brings a healthy color to your face.” On the other hand, the wrong color “may make your complexion look pale, sallow, or ‘muddy’” and may even “age your face.”

How About the Rules?

But what of all those rules we hear so much about? Aren’t certain combinations strictly no-no’s?

“The only rule today is ‘Never say Never,’” wrote Hollywood color and image consultant Leatrice Eiseman in her book Images in Colour. “Think in terms of guidelines rather than rules, which can hamper your creativity and take the fun out of being open to new ideas.”

What, then, are the guidelines? Well, there are basically just two to bear in mind: (1) Bring the right colors together, and (2) have them in correct proportions. In applying these basic guidelines, there are certain approaches or schemes that can be helpful. Using the color wheel and color chart will help you understand how these schemes work.

Monochromatics. This means using colors of the same family or hue. The color chart will be helpful here. Can you see how all the shades, tones, and tints blend? Even though only one basic color is used, monochromatic combinations can be very effective when contrast is created by varying the shades and tints. Such combinations have a pleasing, unified appearance.

Duochromatics, or two colors. This is the combination you will probably use most in clothing. The two colors should be either close together on the color wheel or as far apart as possible. Colors adjacent to each other on the wheel, like red and red-orange or red and red-purple, are called analogous and go well together. On the other hand, colors that lie diametrically across the wheel from each other, like red and green, or yellow and purple, are called complementary. They intensify each other and make the colors stand out. To utilize complementary colors tastefully, use your second color sparingly, or use it in a darker shade. A color can also be successfully combined with the colors right next to its complement on the color wheel. This is called near-complementary. Yellow with blue-purple or with red-purple make such a combination, and you may want to accentuate this by having the latter in a darker shade. If a color looks dirty, you are seeing it against the wrong colors. Search for a better match.

Trichromatics, three colors. This extends the duochromatics by adding another analogous or near-complementary color. Red, red-orange and orange form an analogous trichromatic. An example of a near-complementary trichromatic would be red with yellow-green and with blue-green. Another pleasing scheme, called a triad, combines three colors equally spaced on the color wheel, such as the three primary colors​—red, yellow, and blue. In all such combinations, often only one color is bright and the others toned, neutralized, or darkened.

Polychromatics, or many colors. Be very careful if you are assembling four or more colors. You do not want to look like a circus clown. Tweeds and multicolored prints in which colors are not fighting for attention, however, are safe.

Finally, in a class of their own are the neutral colors of beige, gray, dark brown, and in a loose way, black and white. Taupe (a mix of beige and gray) matches virtually everything. Neutral colors are practical for expensive items, such as suits, because they allow for so many alternatives in coordination. Neutral colors are the standards of conventional good taste.

Balance and Proportion

Whatever combination you choose, take a good look at the overall balance and let your eye be the guide. Setting rules is impossible. The eye sees proportions differently according to such factors as the material used, intensity or brightness of color, whether the color registers quickly like orange, or slowly like gray.

Colors that vie for attention do not please. So for harmony, let one color dominate and the others play subordinate, supporting roles. This applies to all combinations. For clothing, 75 to 90 percent should be in the dominant color, recommends Eiseman. If you introduce a third color into your outfit, make sure it is just a touch, an accent. But for complete harmony, you must consider your skin, your eyes, your hair​—you.

Bear in mind, too, that some colors will make you look fatter, others thinner. International designer Mary Quant says: “If you’re top heavy choose separates with the darker colour at the top. . . . Hips wider than you’d like? Draw attention elsewhere with brightly coloured sweaters. . . . Dark shades retreat, light ones advance.” And Carole Jackson recommends a slimming trick: “A color that flatters you draws the eye upward to your face and away from your body.”

After advising Japanese politicians to brighten up their appearances, international designer Hanae Mori added: “There is no need to be showy.” These simple guidelines will help you to stay well within the bounds of good taste and still enjoy color. Now, go ahead and see what you can create! There are ten million colors out there just waiting for you to add them to your life.

[Footnotes]

[Graph/​Picture on page 16]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

BLUE

RED

YELLOW

Blue and red produce purple

Red and yellow produce orange

Blue and yellow produce green

[Graph]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

Tints of Red

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

[Picture on page 18]

Color coordination can make a difference in your appearance