The Budget Fashionista

I love colors. They can really take an outfit to the next level. Here’s what I suggest:

1) A lot of fashion books say that fair skin should wear cooler colors and dark skin should wear warmer colors. Not true, necessarily. I’m fair, but I look better in warmer colors. Instead, consider your skin’s undertones- warm with warm, cool with cool.

2) Find your best neutrals (colors like black, brown, gray, navy, beige, white, and others) and use them as the anchor of your wardrobe. Then add your best secondary neutrals. Those are colors (such as burgundy, olive green, camel, denim blue, and others) that make more of a color statement than neutrals, but still go well with many other colors and with most skin tones. Only then do you add your brights. 

3) As long as you’re working with flattering colors, don’t be afraid to mix them up and try new and different combinations. By using neutrals or secondary neutrals as your anchors, it’s hard to go wrong, and you’ll stand out in a flattering and appropriate way.

4) You can go wrong with brights if you’re not careful. Mixing a bright with a neutral or secondary neutral can be gorgeous, but mixing two or more brights is tricky. To make it work, only one of the brights should be dominant while the other one should be no more than an accent. Brights make very strong color statements, and you don’t want them competing with each other.

Great tips! Trinny and Susannah have a few nice colour charts (http://www.trinnyandsusannah.com/features/whichcolours/howtoworkout) that help you work out your colours.

A couple of questions though. In your opinion, how much should the jewellery match your outfit? (Assuming that the outfit itself isn’t just plain white or black.)

Also, should you colour coordinate your outerwear (ie. winter coat, that isn’t the traditional black or brown) with your main outfit? I’ve been debating this for a while and I think that it doesn’t really matter, because you’re meant to take off your coat anyway. The only thing, I think, that matters is that the parts of the outfit that the coat doesn’t cover, like your pants, etc, do not clash with the colour of the coat.

lapristine - 14 July 2008 01:32 PM

Great tips! Trinny and Susannah have a few nice colour charts (http://www.trinnyandsusannah.com/features/whichcolours/howtoworkout) that help you work out your colours.

I read their books, and their color “charts” are great as suggestions and starting points. I just don’t think that you need a million different colors and different shades in your wardrobe. You only need the ones that make you look fabulous.

A couple of questions though. In your opinion, how much should the jewellery match your outfit? (Assuming that the outfit itself isn’t just plain white or black.)

I think it’s best if the jewelry coordinates. If it matches too closely, it could disappear.

Also, should you colour coordinate your outerwear (ie. winter coat, that isn’t the traditional black or brown) with your main outfit? I’ve been debating this for a while and I think that it doesn’t really matter, because you’re meant to take off your coat anyway. The only thing, I think, that matters is that the parts of the outfit that the coat doesn’t cover, like your pants, etc, do not clash with the colour of the coat.

Honestly, I don’t care all that much about matching my coat to anything. Not that it should look bad, but a coat’s purpose is to keep you warm. It happens that my coat has blocks of color with black borders, while my skirts are mostly neutrals or secondary neutrals, so there’s no real clashing. I just don’t think that it matters so much with a coat, but that’s just me.

Machazait, what do you think of wearing a beige trench coat over, say, a grey skirt, for example. They’re both neutrals, but do you think they work together?

Also, I love finishing my outfits by wearing opaque tights, usually black. I’ve heard people say that you should never wear tights that are darker than your shoe colour. Well, how about black tights and very light grey shoes? Or even “blonde” shoes (like nude, but more yellow). I feel that the alternative, that is, skin-coloured tights are too bare, that you might as well not wear them. I’m not yet brave enough to wear coloured opaque tights (pink, purple). Ah, the colour combinations there will be a mindbender for me. (For example, wearing pink opaque tights with a black skirt but pink top seems too over the top.)

lapristine - 24 July 2008 05:02 PM

Machazait, what do you think of wearing a beige trench coat over, say, a grey skirt, for example. They’re both neutrals, but do you think they work together?

Absolutely yes. And if the skirt is a light grey, it would blend with the beige, creating a long, lean, monochromatic line that would make you appear taller and slimmer. I would just add jewelry and/or a scarf to add interest near the face, bringing the eyes up even further.

Also, I love finishing my outfits by wearing opaque tights, usually black. I’ve heard people say that you should never wear tights that are darker than your shoe colour. Well, how about black tights and very light grey shoes? Or even “blonde” shoes (like nude, but more yellow). I feel that the alternative, that is, skin-coloured tights are too bare, that you might as well not wear them. I’m not yet brave enough to wear coloured opaque tights (pink, purple). Ah, the colour combinations there will be a mindbender for me. (For example, wearing pink opaque tights with a black skirt but pink top seems too over the top.)

I don’t like colored tights, but I do like the neutral ones in the winter. I myself would not wear tights that are darker than my shoes, but I’ve seen it done very well. If that’s your personal style, then go for it.

grey and beige are a classic and very rich looking combination!

I would try putting black shoes with the black tights simply for a longer leg look which tends to add hight and take away lbs visually.

If you have a dark leg, then chop it off at the foot, you chop one of your long verticals too short, and it ends up looking a bit unbalanced.

Nude legs whether bare or with nude hose go great with either black shoes or a nude beige shoe or mid to light grey.

I agree about the dark tights and shoes, which is why I don’t wear dark tights with light shoes. But like I said, I’ve seen other women do it well. However, these are women with long slim legs.

About nude hose… there are fashion gurus who say that nude hose is an absolute no-no. I say that as long as it’s a sheer nude, it looks better than most of the trendier, patterned hose because it blends into the leg and doesn’t compete with the outfit.

I totally agree. I liked your colour advice above too. Nude hose if worn should be imperceptible, totally looking as if it is just skin, and only used if you need the toning of skin discolouration that comes with age.  ie smoothing out broken blood vessels or moles or other skin colour irregularities.

call it foundation for legs.

Self tanners work in a similar way

This topic of colour coordinating in real life is very fascinating. I’d love to go all out one day and have a crazy colour combination, just like they do on the catwalks. Ah, a girl can dream.

If I had to wear nude tights, it would definitely be sheer. But then, what would the point of that be for me? I wear tights when I wear skirts to keep my legs warm, and sheer tights don’t provide that warm. Because I’m still happy with my skin, I avoid sheer tights if I can just because I don’t think they add to the outfit.

By the way, what exactly is the colour wine like? I’ve seen several shoes online that call themselves wine, but they only look black.