How To Choose Your Accent Colors

Accent Colors -- The Spice in Your Wardrobe

Let’s talk about color. A number of years ago it was all the rage to have your colors done. The idea really took off with the publication of Carole Jackson’s Color Me Beautiful, which divided women into four groups, or seasons, based on their personal coloring. Once you knew your season, you would know the specific palette of colors that were most complementary for your coloring. Today there are more systems for figuring out which colors look the best on you than you can shake a stick at, some which are quite simple, and others which verge on rocket science.

There are numerous benefits to knowing what colors suit you best. Knowing what “season” or category you are in can help you figure out whether warm tones or cool tones will look best on you, and whether clear and intense colors or pastels and muteds will look better. You can then gravitate towards those colors when you go shopping.

But there are also a number of problems with these types of color systems. First, the palette of colors you are assigned is only a small number of the total number of colors that would technically belong in your “season”. Taking your swatch book with you shopping invariably leads to frustration as rarely do you find a perfect match between your swatch and the clothing on the rack. This is because from year to year, the colors that are fashionable change. Dye lots change. And this year’s shade of red may or may not be in your season’s palette. Also, the colors that are representative of a particular “season” can themselves become dated, leaving you the choice of looking like a retro nightmare or wearing nothing at all.

My take is that it can be initially a very helpful thing to get your colors done, because it gives you a very good idea which families of colors you should gravitate towards, and which you might consider avoiding. It also opens your eyes to some new possibilities. Maybe you’ve thought all these years that bright red looked terrible on you, and yet it is actually one of your best colors. That’s good to know! Or perhaps you’ve geared your wardrobe towards a certain few colors because you thought you were a Winter, and you are actually a Spring. However, I don’t think that anyone should let this palette be the final determination for what colors you can and can’t wear. Personal preference should figure in, as well.

Another caveat…It can be rather tricky to figure out for yourself what your season is. Oftentimes you need an experienced eye to see some of the distinctions in coloring. If you are planning on building your wardrobe around a particular color system, it pays to have a professional do the work for you.

Choosing your accent colors:

So you’ve spent some time figuring our your base neutral. The next step in your wardrobe planning journey is to choose the colors you will add as accents. These are the colors that will provide some punch to your wardrobe, and some variety.

Choosing your accent colors involves figuring out the combination of colors that will go with your base neutral, will look fantastic on you, and are colors that you really love. Of these colors, you will want to select between three and four.

Why limit these colors? First of all, you will have greater harmony throughout your wardrobe. Second of all, these colors become part of your brand. And third, it is much easier to shop if you are able to zero in on the garments that are in your colors. Not only that, but planning your wardrobe across the seasons is much simpler if your palette is limited.

There are two ways to think about using accent colors. Depending on your personal style, one will be a better fit for you overall. But both ways rely on limiting your selections.

The first way to think about accent colors is as your fixed, permanent palette. Once chosen, these colors will be your trademark for many years to come. A benefit to thinking like this, aside from the branding, is that you can afford to use the colors more liberally throughout your wardrobe. Since they will be your colors for many, many seasons, you can purchase investment pieces in these colors. For example, a magnificent red overcoat.

The second way to think about accent colors is as a limited group of colors that you use for the season. For example, you’d choose a few summery bright colors for summertime, and a few rich autumnal colors for fall. This way of thinking about color works best when you rely more heavily on your base neutral and use the accent colors more sparingly.

Out of the entire spectrum of colors that look good on you, there are probably only about five of them that are truly stunning. Identifying these colors can go a long way towards helping you choose which colors you want as your accents.

One of these colors should probably be either white or cream…which leaves you with two or three other colors. Have fun! And…because in the Very Small Closet system of wardrobe planning you are focusing on outfits rather than capsules, these colors do not necessarily need to go with each other!

A popular combination for the base neutral black is grey, red and white. Other combinations could be brown, cream, red and turquoise. Or navy, cream, pink, and French blue. Also keep in mind that the color combinations that our eyes see as appealing can change over time. Currently, it is very trendy to mix navy and black, whereas until just a few short years ago this combination was considered a real faux pas. The same goes for pink and red together and pink and orange together.

Now maybe you will not be able to be so Spartan in your color choices. This is really up to you! Just remember that by limiting your choices you are making it easier to shop, easier to dress, and creating harmony in your closet.

And if you are truly limiting the size of your wardrobe, you will not NEED a rainbow of colors!

Jennifer Skinner

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