accent colors Archives

New Colors! Pantone London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2023-24

May 15, 2023

It's sort of hard to conceive of this coming winter, since summer has just started, but the people at Pantone are always way ahead of the rest of us...

Today, I'm only showing you 5 of the 10 colors, because many of these colors are proving to be... elusive... If I'm successful in finding the other 5, I will share!

Let's start!

This persimmon is a pretty compromise between orange and red...

In order to see if these colors will work well for some of us, I want to add each color to a simple navy or beige outfit, and see what happens!

You could of course wear your new sweater with either pair of these pants, but I thought that the best look was bringing Persimmon accessories into simple, neutral ... View the Post

Accent Colors to Wear With Gray – Pantone New York Autumn/Winter 2023

March 6, 2023

Grey for warm weather is hard to find! Later on, I might be able to find gray linen without a lot of trouble, but right now we have to think of grey as something we will wear on cool spring days...

All I'm doing here is showing all 10 of the Pantone Colors for Autumn/Winter 2023, as chosen from the New York Fashion Week shows... (which means that there will be ANOTHER bunch of colors for London, and probably ANOTHER bunch for Autumn/Winter, without any fashion show connection!)

I'm eager to hear from you all about which of these color combinations you like, and which you ... View the Post

Pantone: Colors they Love, Colors that Endure

December 9, 2022

I was browsing the Pantone website a few days ago, after their announcement of the 2023 color of the year. Viva Magenta!

Of course, that doesn't mean that we will EVER walk into any store and see a decent assortment of magenta clothes and accessories. Pantone doesn't seem to have the influence over retailers that they once did...

But I DID run across an article about "Colors We Love, Colors That Endure."

I'm not sure what they mean by endure - all colors endure, don't they?

Still - I had to see what these colors might look like, if we were considering a new wardrobe accent!

White Asparagus is a color that I would consider adding as a wardrobe neutral; to me it's really just a variation of beige or ... View the Post

Five Accent Colors with Five Neutrals

October 12, 2022

Ah, the last 5 Pantone colors from New York Fashion Week! Just to make things interesting, I brought along five different neutral color "clusters" to test-drive with these VERY varied colors...

To me, this peachy color cried out for some camel...

And I think these are perfect together!

For about the ten thousandth time, if you look good in yellow - WEAR IT! It's not easy to wear for some of us, and it's such a great accent...

I'm picturing this heroine living somewhere that's warm most of the year, so her favorite neutral is white:

I think this is lovely - the top outfit, on a rainy day, with the right coat and umbrella, would cheer up everyone you saw!

I'm tempted to wear ... View the Post

Five Accent Colors with Winter White and with Beige

September 30, 2022

Why yes, Pantone found additional colors at New York Fashion Week...

Which is fine with me, because I could look at accessories 'til the cows come home! And since I live in the city, that would be forever, right?

Let's start with this classic red; yes, this scarf is an investment. But you could wear it at least once a week during cool weather, for the rest of your life. I'm finding that I have some scarves that 20+ years old, and that I still adore.

I've chosen ivory (Winter White?) and beige as our wardrobe core colors to "test drive" this batch of accent colors. While I wouldn't wear white pumps in this lifetime, I know a LOT of women who wear them through the year and look just lovely.

And ... View the Post

Four Accent Colors with Charcoal Grey, and 1 with Navy Blue

September 26, 2022

Let's take a look at the second five "London Fashion Week" colors, as shared with us by Pantone...

You probably remember from last week that I showed the first 5 colors as accents to navy blue; I'm going to hold onto that navy for this bright green. It just seems to be the right thing to do!

This is the minimal, core navy wardrobe that I was using:

At least in my eyes, these colors are made for each other. While these outfits feel a lot like spring, let's bear in mind that we dress to flatter ourselves, NOT to match the calendar!

For the last 4 accent colors, I decided to see how they look with charcoal grey. This wee core wardrobe is more casual than the first; what you choose will depend on ... View the Post

Five Accent Colors with Navy

September 21, 2022

As we have come to expect, Pantone "discovered" 10 "new" fashion colors from the London Spring/Summer 2022/23 Fashion Week.

Bizarrely enough, they seem to have arranged them almost like a (weird) rainbow! So to look at these colors as suggestions for wardrobe accents, I'm going to take the first 5 colors and pair them all with a tiny number of navy pieces...

I chose navy because it looks good with all 5 colors - which makes sense. Navy is opposite to orange on the color wheel, and these colors are all on that side of the wheel!

It sounds strange, but it seems to work...

First up - how often are you looking for something in a true, "not blue, not yellowish" red color, and everything you see is really on ... View the Post

March 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

March 2, 2022

It's pretending to be spring here in Chicago! Not quite tee shirt weather, but close...

I looked at the 10-piece wardrobes that we had on hand at the end of February, and concluded that what was most needed right now are tops - specifically, a cardigan and 2 tee shirts...

I think I will be adding neutral tee shirts to all of these wardrobes... and maybe a fun accent tee shirt. And I know that we've seen this cardigan before, but it's a tough one to resist!

This wardrobe now has a lot more options...

If you're a fan of the Queen of England, take a close look at this scarf; it's a tribute to her 70th anniversary. (no political observations, please!)

Some of this heroine's new ... View the Post

(Almost) Everyone Can Wear Green!

February 9, 2022

After working on this post, I saw green every time I closed my eyes for HOURS... seriously!

Lots of questions have been posed lately about wearing green. At least in theory, every person should be able to find a shade of green that is flattering to them. Green is poised between blue (which defines "cool" colors) and yellow (which defines "warm" colors) on the color wheel. If you don't want to wear "right down the middle" true green, you can just slide off toward blue, or toward yellow...

These are some of the shades of green that I found readily available right now:

If you want to dabble in the possibility of green, but don't want to go completely nuts, you really only need to get 2 or 3 things in order to ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #29 – An Accent Color Long-Sleeved Tee Shirt

September 27, 2021 Happy Birthday Belovedest!!! I had to get that out of my system... he's such a wonderful man...

Ahem... back to accent colors, and simple tee shirts to bring some brightness and interest into your wardrobe:

This is a color to keep in mind if you're ever tasked with choosing the team tee shirt color, or smocks for the volunteers, or anything where a group of women are going to be dressed alike. This is a color that doesn't look truly horrible on anyone, in my humble opinion. And it goes with all neutrals, so nobody should be unable to pull together an outfit... (of course, some people do not really WANT to be part of a group, but that's a whole different issue for you to diplomatically smooth ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #16 – An Accent Color Sleeveless Top

June 28, 2021

Why yes, this is a day early... I'm in a bit of a muddle these days! I'm sorry to have to remind everyone that this means there will NOT be a post on Monday morning. Sorry for the confusion!

Accent colors make everything more fun! And I'm dedicating today's post to those among us who are - very suddenly - being summoned back to offices...

Why yes, you can layer this top under just about anything. And wear it to work out. And sleep in it, if necessary!

Maybe you're finding that some of your work clothes no longer fit quite right, but you can still wear your black shirtdress - wear it EVERY week, with a variety of accent colors:

Maybe work is very casual...

Maybe it's summer in an otherwise ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #4 – Accent Color or Print Tee Shirt

April 5, 2021

Ah, if I were assembling a wardrobe from scratch, this would be when I start grabbing striped tee shirts - you don't even want to THINK about how often I wear a black and white shirt...

But I couldn't find a print that really blew my hair back, so I went with a favorite color of many of us, just to see how well it would work in a range of outfits. For starters, it looks pretty cool with olive green:

Note that I tried to keep quite a few items from last week, just to see how versatile our accent color might be. Generally it worked pretty well!

This color is called Beach Glass - something that makes me think of ghastly gashes in the sole of one's foot, and copious bleeding! This is much prettier, isn't ... View the Post