When it comes to fashion and styling, many have their own styles and comfort colours to go to. But how much do we really know about colours when it comes to picking clothes? Not loving the colour doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll look bad on you!
Over the second weekend of January, Style Theory co-hosted a Colour and Styling Workshop led by Imageworks to educate our Women of Style Theory on how to better style themselves.
Imageworks is known for conducting workshops that revolve around improving appearance, behaviour, and communication. The relationship between appearance and communication is extremely important. For instance, how you dress may communicate a different emotion to others and yourself. So Business Director and Trainer, Serena Chan taught us a tip or two on how to use colours to better style ourselves!
Before diving into experimenting with colours, the Women of Style Theory were taught about how colours will affect your look and the emotions they evoke.
Differentiating between warm and cool tones: Our Women of Style Theory learnt to understand the different feelings and moods that a cool or warm tone might evoke.
- Cool tones are an expression of calmness and soothing softness, while duller cool tones can depict a lower mood.
- Warm tones can also depict softness and an inviting mood at times.
Next, they learnt how to identify their skin undertones. Knowing your undertones will help in understanding whether warm or cool tones fit you. If you’re unsure of your undertone, take the undertones quiz to find out now.
With this knowledge, Serena delved deeper into colour styling theories. At this stage, our participants were able to experiment with different colour stylings and find one that suits their style, preference and of course, undertones!
1. Monochromatic
Monochrome is often mistaken as black, white or grey. However, it is actually a single colour in various gradients or shades put together. Here, they were taught that it is possible to pull off a full outfit of the same colour in different shades.
Pro-tip: If you are warm toned, pick warmer shades from the colour gradient while if you are cool toned, pick cooler shades from the colour gradient.
2. Complementary
Complementary colours, on the other hand, are shades on the opposite sides of a colour wheel. As contrasting as some colours are, they are actually fitting for each other. For instance, if you pick a shade of blue, what complements it are beige, light brown and sometimes yellow. If you picked a red, green is actually its complementary colour. While using complementary colour styling, sometimes cool and warm shades can overlap each other.
Pro-tip: You can always add a pop of colour with an accessory or scarf in a colour complementary to your outfit’s!
3. Analogous
Analogous colours are easier to pair as they are colours that are side by side on the colour wheel. Like matching blue with greens or orange with peach, they are usually quite good together.
4. Triadic
Last but not least, triadic colours are three colours chosen within equidistance of each other on the wheel. These colours bring out contrast in your styling while also maintaining subtle hues should you choose a more muted version of its colour.
Pro-tip: You can always refer to a colour wheel while styling or picking the right colours for your skin
Don’t stress about learning the various colour gradients and its theory. With a little practice and patience, you’ll be a pro at handling colour styling. It’s not always easy to understand, but with this little summary and workshop, you’ll definitely be more confident in playing with colours when shopping. Step aside from grayscale colour palettes and experiment with a little bit of boldness this year!
If you’ve missed this chance at our Community event or want to read more about community sharing, follow us at @styletheorysg to learn more top tips from our workshops!
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