Step Away From The Neutrals

So we've reached the gray days of winter (in the northern half of the world, at least), and it has become very tempting to always reach for the tried and true basics, or to dress purely for comfort and warmth. Perhaps this is related to the way it gets dark by 6:00pm, or maybe we just all tired of our cold weather wardrobes.

Whatever the reason, there is no excuse to have your clothing match the clouds in the sky; in fact, bright colors and bold prints can really have an effect on your mood. Think about it - don't you feel different in a gray or beige room versus a colorful one? Which one is more lively? While neutrals can indeed have a calming, relaxing effect, in the dead of winter that can be too much of a good thing.

Check out this article in the Times Online about incorporating more color into your closet. Some of their points are obvious (e.g. ease into vivid hues by wearing one colorful piece with a black or otherwise neutral outfit), but there are some good ideas there - such as mixing shades or choosing prints that are composed of colors located next to each other on the color wheel, like blue with green or red with purple.

That article is a good lead-in to my upcoming series - in my next posts, I'll be going through the wheel myself, and discussing the associations and underlying meanings of each color, as well as what variations work with which skin tones. Come back for more tomorrow!