Masterclass in color blocking Full Details
What is colour blocking? It is the art of marrying different colours together to make your outfit interesting and fashion-forward. It is a long-known fact that colours are a great way of creating illusions and believe it or not fashion designers use this to their advantage all the time!
Black is commonly regarded as a “slimming colour” but is it just black? Can one use any other colour to create illusions to accentuate body shapes? Yes, there are multiple ways in which one can play with their wardrobe and spice up their clothes by using colour blocking.
In this masterclass, we will discuss the concept of colour blocking from easy to expert level. We were heavily inspired by Pierpaolo Piccioli, who is rightly regarded as the god of colour blocking. We’ll show you how you can achieve creative illusions and level up your fashion game.
Start with black and white
Black and white is such a timeless combo that you can never really go wrong with it. You can create a whole new world with just these two colours. Be it a formal event or a casual day out or even running errands you can throw on this chic combo and feel like a celeb on the red carpet.
Go for hot combinations
If black and white is a bit vanilla for you, we have the perfect space for you – add bold colour. To make it easier for you, a few hot combinations are white and red (white shirt and red shoes), black and red (red tee and black jeans), or add in a green element, be it glasses or shoes or belt, in an all-black outfit. If you are unsure at the beginning, you can start with moderate amounts of pop of colour like Justin Bieber.
Monochrome it up
A very successful technique to style your outfits is to go monochromatic. Monochrome means utilizing different shades of the same colour, simply put, it means lighter and darker shades of one colour. Darker shades should be paired with lighter shades to make the fit more palatable and keep things fun.
Rule of 3
The rule of 3 states that – to keep a look cohesive, one can mix and match a maximum of 3 colours. It is more of general advice and not so much of a hard and fast rule. This is by far the most common technique used by celebrities. We suggest you pick any 3 different colours and style them in different ways to develop a look and learn about your preference. Remember that darker colours make something move to the back and brighter colours bring something to the front, this trick can be used to elongate or make somebody parts look petite.
Develop a colour palette
Once you start playing with colours, you will develop an eye for what looks good and what does not. While you are doing that we highly recommend you start developing a colour palette. A colour palette is basically a bunch of colours that go well together. Now, this is relative to your taste, preference, skin tone etc. A general example of a colour palette is – earthy tones like beige, brown, cream, white, which go really well with soft pastel colours like pink or powder blue. Another interesting colour palette is complementary colours – like yellow and purple, teal and red, and any other colours opposite on the colour wheel.
Matchy-matchy top to bottom
Another way of playing with colour blocking is to play with prints and designs within the clothes. It makes it even more interesting if you have the top and bottom made out of the same print/fabric. Haute Couture houses like Valentino, Dior and Balenciaga make use of this technique to create unique ensembles.
Grey is the mantra
When in doubt, throw in some grey in the mix. For so long designers have ignored this colour but not anymore. Grey has become a staple for many a fashion house and using grey for colour blocking will make your fit look fresh and riveting. You can pair it with other bold colours like red, green, teal, or orange or you can also make a monochromatic outfit using just shades of grey.
If you are a beginner, the best advice is to go to your wardrobe with an open mind and find pieces that you can pair, as opposed to buying new ones to colour block. Most of the time we have amazing pieces with us which we tend to overlook. You can apply this masterclass to your wardrobe and notice how refreshing your outfits will look.