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Fashion is like a passionate and turbulent affair. It has its ups and it sure as hell has its downs. One morning you couldn't have got it more right; everything you are wearing is on trend, fits well and works perfectly. But on other days it just goes wrong. It could be an out-dated print, a bad skirt/top combo or the most common fashion mistake of all, which is bad colour matching. The great news is that by arming yourself with a little colour matching advice, it's easier to avoid some of these major mistakes.
Matching our accessories to our outfits is something all women struggle with. Worrying whether the handbag is the right colour for the dress or that the shoes match the top can make us much more than just fashionably late. When looking at colour matching, some of it is just intuition. Some of it passes with each trend and what may be acceptable one season is a huge mistake the next. However, there are some golden rules about colour matching and by following these few simple rules, you can guarantee to have the perfect colour blend every time.
Start with your favourite part of an outfit and work from there. If the dress is the key garment, then work around that but if it is one of the fabulous handbags from Jane Shilton, start with that and then pick your outfit colours to match. A common mistake is to assume that everything has to match in colour and tone. Black may be slimming, but an entire black outfit of shoes, dress and bag can lead to a pale and pasty look. The same colour is fine for a whole outfit however, if you vary the tone. If you do want to wear a green bag with a green dress, for example, its fine provided the shades are different. In fact, a whole outfit of one colour but with many shades can work brilliantly, especially with blues or greens.
If you can't work out which colours to match, use a colour wheel. A colour wheel is a simple chart that shows how the primary, secondary and tertiary colours are linked and can be vital for choosing the right shoes to go with that perfect fitting dress you have. For example, a yellow dress would look great with a violet bag. By looking at the colour wheel we can see that blue goes perfectly with other shades of blue and with orange, but not at all with green or red. We can also see that red goes perfectly with other shades of red and with green but looks terrible with blue or yellow.
Now it's time to get shopping and you can start by looking through the fantastic collection of ladies handbags from all the major fashion brands. Hopefully, now you know that just thinking a little more about colour matching can turn a fashion gaffe into a fashion great.
Written by Zoe for Jane Shilton
