color Archive - P2 Styles and Image Consulting | Personal and Professional Image Consultants

How to Work With Colors that Don’t Work With You

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

I’m always warning clients against buying something simply because it’s a great price, especially if the color isn’t flattering. I know, I know. Some bargains just can’t be passed up and I’ll admit, occasionally, I’ve gone against my own advice. Take the other day for example. I visited Regeneration, one of my favorite resale shops in Metro Detroit and scored big. Among my purchases were a new pair of Victor Alfaro shoes ($14) and a gorgeous silk brocade Nine West skirt ($12).

Issues

Shoes, a half size too small.

Skirt, black based (a color I generally avoid at all cost).

I considered passing both items up, but, to leave such exquisiteness behind at these prices would have been ludicrous, right? So, 30 minutes later, out the door I walked with bags in tow that included the black-based skirt and the too small shoes.

Black is beautiful but not on everyone

I used to wear black very well, in fact that was all I wore. But as I’ve gotten older, black does absolutely nothing for me. I’ve found that I can get away with a more muted black. Even then, there’s no “wow” factor as you can see in the next picture. I’m wearing a Tibi cardigan with an Ann Klein black and white tweed skirt, (both from Regeneration; both under $10), black knee high socks and the Victor Alfaro shoes. Sorry about the poor quality of the picture.

Me in Black. Cute outfit; Not so cute color.

Solutions

Shoes: Thanks to a tip shared on The Midwestern Front YouTube Channel, I had the shoes stretched by my trusty cobbler. Easy fix.

Skirt: The skirt, however, because of its colors, proved to be a bit more taxing. The biggest challenge? Identifying the best flattering colors to wear with the skirt.

Black and light blue paired beautifully with the colors in the skirt. Unfortunately, neither color fared well with me.

Color choice: I decided to wear a periwinkle button down underneath a black long sleeve layering tee. The combination looked quite awesome together, but, as expected, pretty awful next to my skin and hair color. So, I added a burgundy cashmere cardigan, a color very much in sync with my personal color palette.

The periwinkle blouse and black picks up the colors in the skirt

Results:

By wearing the favorable color cardigan next to my face, I was able to achieve a harmonious color scheme that harmonized with my own personal color palette. Voilà