Creating Your Ideal Wardrobe Color Palette

Let’s play a game. When you look in your closet what do you see?

A. “Lots of clothes, but nothing seems to work well together, so I wear the same outfits constantly.”

B. “Basically a few colors repeated throughout my entire wardrobe…when did this happen?”

You may not fit into either category, but I bet you are someone who is drawn to particular colors, because well, all humans are. Why we love the colors we love; whether it’s in our home design, our wedding color scheme, or our wardrobe, is truly psyhcology, woah.

Psyhcology Today says, “Colors influence object preferences in many situations in modern life, for example house paint, clothes, and furniture. Our individual preference for a particular color associated with these objects (a living room wall or an automobile) will be produced and reinforced by the positive feedback associated with the object and the color it has. Everyone has a somewhat different life experience, and so as people increasingly experience pleasure in something they bought in a particular color, they will tend to chose similar objects in the future with the same color. This leads to a self perpetuating situation.”

Interesting stuff, right? Based on our culture, how we grew up, where we work, who we hang out with; there are endless influences to why we like what we like, BUT, the bottom line is we are all drawn to particular colors.

A Note On “Your Season”

Although this language is mostly phased out, knowing what “season you are” (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall), used to be how a woman determined what colors she SHOULD wear. This personal stylist is not in agreement with that philosophy, as I believe you should wear the colors that excite you, showcase your ideal personal style, and communicate to the world what you hope to express. If you do not feel comfortable in a color and it happens to be because you don’t feel like it “looks good on you”, that’s ok. Comfortable and Confident is most important when getting dressed.

The colors we are each drawn to for our wardrobe are most likely influenced by the colors we feel we look good in or show off what we’re proud of. But sometimes we look great in a color, by societal standards, yet we don’t enjoy wearing it often. For instance, I look smashing in Red, BUT I have a lot of personal angst against the color red (a story for another time), so I don’t wear it often. Anytime I do, I get loads of compliments, but they are not always worth, me not enjoying the color that much. Make sense?

Why Develop An Ideal Wardrobe Palette?

“So, what’s the point of creating a color palette for your wardrobe? Isn’t that rather limiting? “

Quite the opposite of limiting, a color palette in your wardrobe simplifies getting dressed, shopping, and styling, and give you MORE options. When you know a majority of your clothes work well together because they fit within a defined palette, making outfits is so much simpler. If you have random clothes strung throughout your closet that firstly, don’t fit your style (well actually, go here for that), but secondly, do not work well together due to colors lacking cohesion, it can make outfit styling a drag.

A color palette also helps you to not shop mindlessly. If you are attempting to get a better handle on your spending and shopping habits, having a color palette allows you to easily ask yourself, “Does this fit with everything else in my closet?”, and if it does not and there isn’t a need, then you can pass it by.

Caveats

As a stylist with an eclectic personal style, I totally understand mixing things up, incorporating bold pieces that are wild and maybe don’t fit in with everything else. I am all for some fun pieces. But, what we are referring to in developing your color palette is for those who don’t always have opportunities to wear hot pink heels and lime green blazers in their day to day. If your personal style is to mix crazy colors and patterns, developing a color palette may not be a necessity for you, and that is ok!

Also, not every single piece in your wardrobe HAS to work together or fit in your ideal color palette. If you are wanting a capsule wardrobe that’s a different story, and you can go here to learn more about that. This color palette we’re developing should apply to 60-70% of your wardrobe. So still have fun and buy something different if you love it, even if it’s not within your palette. Be aware that it may not get as much wear if it doesn’t style well with other pieces in your wardrobe.

Create Your Ideal Color Palette

Ok, let’s get down to business and do this thing!

There are a few guidelines that will help you when developing your palette:

You want to choose 3 Base Colors: These colors may be decently neutral as they are your core, essential, baseline. We will use White, Denim, and Taupe for our example.

Next you will choose 3 Accent Colors: These colors are beyond neutral and add more fun, color pops. They work well with the Base Colors ,and together. For our example we will use, Ochre, Peach, Brown

Finally, choose 2 prints/texture to start with: These prints, patterns, or textures will also ideally work with your chosen colors and show your style personality. In our example, we’ll use Leopard print and a Light Floral Print.

Let’s look at what our example looks like together:

I love to use Coolors, a free color palette creation tool, when building palettes for anything. Definitely worth playing around with. You can also search through Pinterest for endless color palette ideas. Or, if you’re a Canva fan, you can get very artistic and creative and play around there too.

Have fun with this, but also look in your closet and see what you appear to be attracted to already. If you have loads of Light Blue and Burgundy, make sure you include those when creating your palette. Work with what you have first!

If you’re curious how to know what colors work together, take yourself through a little Color Theory 101. Or, just look at this handy chart below:

For example, pick a color on the wheel, then move your finger to the color just opposite. Opposite colors on the wheel are complementary colors.

Analogous colors are next to each other on the wheel, like blue and indigo. Using varying shades of colors in the same family gives a tonal look.

Neutrals like, black, white, and tan or khaki always almost go together with any color. Denim is often treated as a neutral also. When you are deciding what neutrals match your color palette, you need to consider color temperatures. If your color palette is cool, your neutral could be a bright white because a warmer neutrals may clash. In a warmer palette, you might choose a brownish cream. Experiment with the colors next to each other. You could possibly have warm and cool!

Well there you have it my friend! Now, you can easily begin to determine your own ideal wardrobe color palette. If this seems daunting to you, then I’d love for you to reach out and we can work on this together. Creating your closet color palette is a great first step to a more stylish and sustainable wardrobe.

Until next time…

xx,

MFF

Meghan Forest Farmer