Colour Blocking 2012

Colourful Choices

 Colour blocking is the 2012 spring and summer fashion requirement.

Closet Content Analysis:

Colourful Salvage

                                                                       

NICE                   NO THANKS         NOTE-WORTHY            NEED

                                     

Actually the same was said of colour blocking in 2011 but maybe the regular work-a-day population didn’t get it so we are being given a second chance. This post is not about a clothing category but rather the colour trends for the spring and summer of 2012.

Spring/Summer Panetone colours for 2012 include Tangerine Tango AKA orange, Solar Power AKA yellow, Bellflower AKA a mauvy purple, Cabaret AKA a rosy red, Sodalite Blue AKA navy, Cockatoo AKA turquoise, Margarita AKA lime green, Sweet Lilac AKA a pastel pinky purple, Driftwood AKA beige/grey/taupe and Starfish AKA dark beige. Colour blocking as presented in 2012 is bolder so that a Solar Power pair of jeans will be topped by a Cabaret t-shirt - yellow and red by any other name. Notice no "hot pink" and no "deep purples". I will be blocking but the likelihood of Cockatoo and Tangerine Tango will be slim. My taste will place Driftwood and Cabaret together over the bright colour combinations.

Blocking suggests exactly that –  half of your body is clothed in one block of colour and the accessories that fall into place in that half are a matching colour. For example: t-shirt, necklace, scarf, earrings, bracelets, anything found in close proximity are one colour, let’s say Bellflower and the other half, say skirt, belt and shoes in Tangerine Tango. Your bag could be either purple or orange. Jewelry, scarves, belts, shoes and bags can provide starting points for colour blocking. 

Insofar as jewelry goes, I will be concentrating on corals and turquoise for my spring summer creations.

Vertical colour blocking and choosing one colour for limbs and a second for the body can end up competing with Bozo and Bozo will always win. My preference is a maximum of two colours. Three colours . . . once again can end up competing with Bozo depending on the colours.

NICE : I have always liked colour blocking but have stuck to the neutrals in the past. Favourite never-ending classic colour blocking of navy and beige, grey and beige, black and white, navy and white, pale blue and white, pale blue and beige and white. I know . . . boring. To update the very neutral colour blocking, white should probably be put in storage for this summer and replaced with a bright lively colour. Or just add a third bright or neon colour to the black and white blocking you already have by updating with a 2012 colour in a purse, necklace, big earrings or stack of bangles and bracelets.

The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most.

 - John Ruskin

Hmmm? I love colour. I just am judicious in what colours I wear.

NO THANKS: Neon brights in two or three predominant blocks. I just can’t do that anymore, no matter how out of fashion I might appear to be. (Accessories, shoes and maybe a t-shirt will have to fill the neon colour block urge for me.)

NOTE-WORTHY 1: Trendy colour purchased on the cheap.

NOTE-WORTHY 2: The metallic for Spring and summer 2012 is silver.

NEED: To dig through my closet and see what colourful salvage I can come up with.

Colour Buying Tips:

If you don’t like orange, don’t buy anything Tangerine Tango. That seems logical, yet confronted with a proliferation of nothing but trendy bright colours in any season, the frontal lobe reverts to adolescents. Be very, very careful.

Welcoming your colourful comments on what to wear during the warm weather.