Tuesday 5 July 2011

Colour Coordination - how much is too much?

Hello there and a very happy Tuesday to you all! I’m writing this from the lovely land of Austria where we have just started the next leg of the “Hair” tour. I feel like I never stop!

When you’re on tour you often find yourself with a fair bit of spare time on your hands but very little energy to do much with it (working eight shows a week is hard work, it takes it out of you!). I like to go out sight seeing and exploring in the different places where we perform but sometimes it’s nice just to curl up with a DVD and have a lazy day. Because of this I have recently rediscovered my love of the television series Pushing Daisies, and in particular Anna Friel’s character Chuck and her amazing fashion sense!

Matching hat, dress and coat - classy :)

I love how the leopard looks with the green!

Now as I was watching Pushing Daisies I started to really notice just how many colour coordinated outfits Chuck wears in this series. Now I adore colour coordinating my outfits – who doesn’t? - but I’m not just talking about a matching belt and shoes, I mean outfits that are entirely one colour, either a variety of hues or matching colours exactly. Now I don’t know about you but I’ve always been hesitant about over doing it with certain colours. For example my favourite colour is red, cherry red, scarlet, red as bright as it comes. I use it for my nails and my lipstick, I own a red coat, red gloves (leather, they’re yummy!), a red cloche hat and my favourite dress is red (a version made from this pattern, my first ever handmade dress!). Not to mention the beautiful pair of patent red Jimmy Choos I  can’t believe I own, a gift from my Sweetheart… What I’m saying is that I would find it incredibly easy to put together an all red outfit, I have the raw material ready and waiting in my wardrobe, but would this be complete overkill? Up until now I have always thought so but after watching Chuck dance across my screen in such a dazzling array of outfits I’m just not sure anymore. I mean, just look at her…

Hot pink dress with matching shoes and hat:



Pale pink dress with matching cardigan and pumps:




Yellow coat with yellow scarf, yellow shoes and yellow floral dress:
(and just a dash of red lipstick!)




And this is also a style that I have seen carried off beautifully by some bloggers that I really admire, they make a statement without looking ridiculous at all, in fact they look outstanding.

Stella of Confessions of a Female Drag Queen

Solanah of Vixen Vintage

Casey of Elegant Musings 

And one for fun... :)

Stella of Confessions of a Female Drag Queen

I’m not sure if I’m brave enough to venture out in an entirely red outfit yet, but perhaps a bright red cardigan to go with my dress would be a step in the right direction. Restricting my colour palette for future sewing/knitting projects would be another. I’m by no means planning to only dress in outfits of the same colour for the foreseeable future, but I do think it’s such a lovely look, very simple but effective and I’d like to give it a go if I can to at least see if I can pull it off!

What are your views on colour coordination? Do you think that less is more or do you too long for completely matching outfits sometimes? Perhaps you dress this way often and have some tips to share, that’d be great! As always I’d love to know your thoughts, let me know what you think.

For now I’m going back to drool over Chuck’s wardrobe. Although, just how she got hold of all those gorgeous clothes when she had to leave all her earthly possessions behind her is beyond me… :)

10 comments:

MissGinger said...

i say go for it. i love colour and will where one. i too love red, and have a favourite red dress. i tend to wear it with red shoes, red and black head bow, and black cardi, so maybe i should wear my red cardi... i am going to try after seeing your lovely pics. xx

Alicia Foodycat said...

I don't like going too matchy - if I am wearing a black and red dress, I will wear red shoes and carry a red bag OR red shoes and red cardigan, but I won't go shoes, bag and cardigan.

Elise said...

I keep hearing about this show, gotta watch it! Hmm I like all the colour co-ord on screen but in real life I'm all about mixing and matching - you should try it tho, I kinda want to see if it works! :)

Tasha said...

I think I do a fair amount of this in real life, but not to the point where everything is matched. For example today I'm wearing a red and white plaid blouse and a red cardigan, but I avoided red earrings (and I'm wearing jeans). I think I have the opposite problem-- I can't always be sure if something that doesn't match will 'go'. :)

Anonymous said...

I think matching is a great idea, it's so cute! Wearing all one colour is just as legitimate a style choice as unusual colour combinations. I personally prefer mixing colours, but I don't think I've ever really thought about wearing all one colour. Maybe I should give it a try too. I think the most important thing is to wear it with confidence!

Rosalind said...

Ooh, you're right - the wardrobe department must have had so much fun dressing this character, she looks amazing. I generally avoid matching, however, I think I might be a bit more inspired to try it out.

LandGirl1980 said...

I love co-ordination - so I say go for it! (I am also a little bit more in love with Chuck than I should be...)

Casey said...

Eep! Thanks for featuring me in the mix! ;) I love color coordinating and tend to be a bit crazy for it. It's really only been this year that I've made the push to not color coordinate my outfits so often. Which is fun, but sometimes I like layering similar values of the same color in one outfit too. I've seen examples of people who have entire wardrobes just centered around one color (like blue) with shades the only variations. It's an interesting concept and would certainly cut down on my magpie-like closet... Although I know I couldn't pick just one color! haha!

Kitten loves vintage said...

I say go for it! Honestly, I had not heard about matching being a no-no until I read it a couple of weeks back at another blog and now here. I can't really see what the problem is, but then again I've been quite matchy for a while now, although I tend to wear two colours at the time mostly and not just one (eg clothes in one colour and all accessories in another). I think it looks good so I wear it. If you think all in one colour looks good, why not go ahead and wear it? You can always go back...Have fun! ;)

Katie said...

Thank you all so much for your comments, this topic definitely deserves more time I think. I feel another blog post coming on :)

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