One of the greatest challenges women face with their wardrobe is combining color. It’s why most women gravitate towards black and often feel bland and boring in their clothing. It isn’t that women dislike color, it’s simply that few trust their skills with color enough to combine it. It is just better to play safe than sorry, right? Well, I am going to show you one of the easiest ways to play with color in your wardrobe. It’s through colorful accessories and using them as a guide on color combining.
Colorful accessories are like little cheat sheets. Pick up any piece of colorful jewelry and you’ll find unique and stunning combinations you might not have thought of on your own. Take this multi-strand necklace from K. Amato, that I am featuring today in today’s Accessorized Five Ways. The colors found in the necklace are navy, tan, red and turquoise. With this one colorful necklace you, obviously, use it to add some color to an all neutral outfit, but you can use a necklace like this to take it a step further, to safely create colorful outfits using the colors found in this necklace. By looking at the colors combined in one piece of jewelry, you will won’t have to be a color combining whiz to know if the colors work or not, the accessories will tell you. You can use this strategy for all jewelry and scarves, which often have tons of colors blended. Below, I am going to show you some examples along with my tips.
How to use Colorful Accessories as Your Road Map for Color Combining
Outfit #1-
The more color in a piece of colorful jewelry the more you can do with it. However, you don’t have to have every color found in the jewelry in the outfit. Here, for example, I am using the turquoise and red found in the necklace to create this look. The red dress from Modcloth gets a pop of color through the through the turquoise Banana Republic cross body bag and heels from Anthropologie. Without the necklace to pull it all together red and turquoise may not be the first combination you think of, yet, with the necklace it makes sense. Colorful accessories are not only road maps for unique color combining but create a complete outfit when taking risk with color.
Outfit #2-
Next I used the same necklace to add some excitement to a basic navy blazer and jeans. Here, the navy Reiss blazer and white t-shirt from Topshop looks more styled with the bootcut 7 For All Mankind jeans. In this outfit the turquoise isn’t found in the outfit but it still complements the overall look and adds some pop. The outfit is finished with navy wedges from Naya and red bag from Aldo.
Outfit #3-
In this outfit I use the necklace to add some finish to these turquoise jeans from Boden and sleeveless navy Alice + Olivia blouse. When using accessories that pull in some of the colors in an outfit, a cohesiveness in the overall look is created. The outfit is finished simply with a pair of gold Born sandals and a gold Vince Camuto tote.
Outfit #4-
The beauty of accessories is that they can often be used casually and professionally. Here this necklace goes to work in this outfit that is made up of all the colors found in the necklace. The necklace fills in the neckline of this red Mango blouse that is belted with a navy LAUREN Ralph Lauren belt. The printed skirt from Topshop is made up of navy, turquoise and red, all colors found in the necklace. Lastly, the outfit is finished with a pair of navy Cole Haan shoes and the same turquoise Banana Republic cross body bag used earlier. The beauty of this necklace is it not only mirrors the colors found in the skirt but it brings the colors up near the face.
Outfit #5-
In this outfit, the necklace complements the turquoise dress and creates a seamless road map on other colors that can be added to this dress. The red Aldo handbag is used again and a pair of printed flats from Modcloth. It may not be immediately obvious to wear these colors with this dress, however, with the help of the necklace it is.
Colorful accessories may seem limiting, like you won’t get as much use from them. However, as you can see from this post, they actually create tremendous freedom in options. Additionally, you can learn a lot from colorful accessories about colors that work together that you may not have thought of.
Shop for colorful accessories
Now that you have a new way of looking at colorful accessories, shop these fabulous “road maps” and start combining color in your wardrobe.
