Discover unique styling colour combinations

08 Nov 2024

Wearing unusual colour combinations is at the heart of an interesting style

We return to our Styling 101 series today with styling tips for using different colour combinations to create a unique style.

Starting with brown and blue.

Blue and brown are a terrific combination particularly when it comes to trans seasonal dressing. An easy way to elevate denim is to add brown. Brighten a chocolate brown suit with a Wedgewood Blue top. Lavender (or purple) and brown is another terrific combination. While red and brown can be worn well together all year round.
Pink and green is a stylish combination. For the hotter months choose a barbie pink and teal green to create a fresh look that is a good alternative to navy and white. For the cooler months emerald green and fuchsia pink will brighten the darkest days. Red and green and red and pink are also exciting combinations to try. Red and pink looks particularly good together with colour blocked – that is when one item in pink is worn with an item that’s red.
Burgundy and mustard yellow is a wonderful cold weather combination. Wear a mustard yellow suede jacket over a burgundy silk shirt to create a polished corporate style. Burgundy and red also make an interesting statement. Mustard yellow makes a striking statement when work with turquoise.
Orange and turquoise can make a lovely combination particularly in floral pattered fabric. Wearing a shirt of these colours with a neutral coloured suit will create a professional and stylish statement.

Apply the three-colour rule to make unusual colour combinations work.

Apply the Three-Color Rule when styling unusual colour combinations to make a greater impact.

Adding a neutral to the look is an easy way to do this.

Neutral colours include white, cream, beige, grey, brown, navy and black.

Select a central colour: Begin by selecting one central colour that you love or that suits your skin tone.

A signature colour is a great option, and this will serve as the foundation of your outfit.

If applying the three colour rule you might choose to start with a neutral and build from there.

Now consider the colour wheel.

From the colour wheel look for complementary, analogous, and triadic colour schemes.

Complementary colours are opposite each other. For example, red and green, yellow and purple, and blue and orange.
Analogous colours are the three colours that are next to each other. Their complementary colours will be the two colours opposite each other.
Triadic colour schemes use three colours that are evenly space around a colour wheel to form and equilateral triangle. For example, red, blue and yellow are the three primary colours that create a triadic colour scheme on a colour wheel.