By: Kaelin Jumaa
Ah yes, the colour wheel. We’ve all been introduced to the rainbow circle since preschool, using it to learn the various names for all the hues. Although it is most seen in a painter’s studio, many other fields of art manipulate the wheel to create equally beautiful pieces of work. Some can be hung on your living room wall, while others can be worn. Yes, you’ve read that right! Many don’t realize just how crucial the colour wheel is to the fashion world. In fact, the colour palette used in an ensemble can sway the entire presentation of the whole piece! From what I’ve seen, there are two types of people when it comes to clothing: those that prefer to be a blindingly vibrant force of colour, and those who would rather be swathed in shades of black, grey and white. My belief, however, is that there can be a balance between vibrant and subdued. Just about anyone can achieve harmony with what they wear, consulting a certain palette used in fashion to do so. Hopefully, this article will enlighten some individuals looking to make a fierce statement with their apparel, teaching you to use the colour wheel to your advantage!
Colour Vocabulary (For Reference)
Hue: a certain colour, such as ivory, turquoise, or even something more general like red or
yellow.
Saturation: how vibrant/intense the colour is.
Shade: when a hue is darkened by being mixed with black.
Tint: when a hue is lightened by being mixed with white.
Value: how light or dark a colour is.
Common Colour Schemes For Beginners
The Basics: Accented-Neutral
For those afraid of a colourful wardrobe, I suggest incorporating this subtle colour-scheme into your everyday wear. Now, this colour scheme does not use the colour wheel per se, but because you have the freedom to match a colour with the neutrals in your precomposed outfit, I will leave it up to you whether to use the tool. The accented-neutral colour scheme consists of an outfit composed of various neutrals (such as black, grey, brown, beige, or white), with a minimized pop of colour. Whether it be a bolero, purse, earrings, or even colourful eyewear, adding a vibrant accessory to a casual neutral outfit adds flare to the ensemble, making
a fashion-forward statement!
Branching Out: Complementary Colours
Most people have heard of this colour pairing, where a colour is matched with the colour opposite to it on the wheel.
However, this technique is rarely incorporated in our everyday apparel. If you are comfortable with sporting more colour and less neutrals, then considering complimentary colours is a quick yet highly affective way of elevating your ensemble. The process is quite simple: merely choose a colour, look at the hue opposite to it on the colour wheel, match the two to your liking and voila! If you plan to style yourself with complementary colours, however, I recommend that you consider playing with various tints and shades of the two colours to perfect the overall look! To illustrate, red and green are often avoided due to their correlation with Christmas, but using a rich shade of red and a light tint of green (or vice versa) can make a world of difference!
Advancing Further: Split-Complementary
While complementary colours are one of the most well-known colour schemes out there, split-complimentary colours add even more interest to a casual outfit. Creating an outfit using this technique is similar to that of complimentary colours, but with an added step.
After looking at the colour wheel and picking your hue, find its opposite colour on the wheel and use the two colours on either side of it. For example, if I chose yellow, the opposite of yellow is, of course, purple. Using the colour wheel, I will look at the two colours on either side of purple and pair those two with yellow. Therefore, my three colours would consist of yellow, red-purple and blue-purple.
A Stylish Choice: Triadic Colours
The triadic colour scheme consists of a colour combo composed of three hues. While you may not have known this specific name for the colour scheme, I am certain that you have heard of the classic primary and secondary colours. These colour combinations, along with several others, are all called triadic colour schemes for their placement on the colour wheel. To compose an outfit using this scheme, you need to first choose a hue on the wheel.
Sounds simple, right? Well, after this effortless step, you must then draw a triangle (an equilateral, if I am being specific) from that colour, leading you to the two other hues of your scheme. To demonstrate, take the colour yellow-orange from the wheel. From there, I can trace a triangle that will lead to two hues: green and purple. Therefore, my triadic colour scheme consists of yellow-orange, green, and purple.
A Bold Statement: Monochromatic
Unlike several of the aforementioned colour schemes, a monochromatic look is much more straightforward while yielding stylishly powerful results! Albeit the style is loud and conspicuous, a monochromatic outfit is a sure-fire way to demand attention and test your inner fashionista.
The idea is that you dress in a number of tints and shades of a specific colour. For example, if I wanted to wear an all-pink (or in more scholarly term, a monochromatic) outfit, I would sport accessories and clothing like flamingo pink, coral, blush or salmon to compose my ensemble. As long as you are well-equipped, a monochromatic colour scheme is suitable and quick for any given occasion!
A Bit Uncommon: Analogous
To end off, I will introduce you to with a less common approach to everyday fashion: an analogous colour scheme. In this hodgepodge of hues, we tend to look to three or four separate colors for the outfit. Analogous colours are made up of multiple hues that are lie next to one another on the colour wheel. Personally, I tend to style from lighter hues near the top and billow down to darker ones, however your own approach may create something much better! The difference between analogous colours and monochromatic schemes, is that for analogous combinations, you will be using separate hues. Monochromatic colour schemes, on the other hand, manipulate the same hue but with contrasting shades and/or tints.
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