How to begin wearing colour at work and beyond
What is it about many people in cities these days, dressing primarily in neutrals?
Actually I’ll take a step back and define ‘neutrals’ as I’m often asked to do this when I request clients wear ‘something neutral’ for their Colour Analysis.
In my world of colour, neutrals are black, white plus grey (a mixture of black and white). Then we have ‘near neutrals’ and these include browns, very greyed down colours or colours mixed with a high degree of black or white. Think olive, khaki, navy, beige, greige, camel, caramel or cream. These are colours that are not strictly speaking neutrals nor are they pure pigments like those we find in the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo or violet.
So back to my original question; why do many city dwellers wear primarily neutrals these days, (with a splash of near neutrals)? From my observation the closer you move towards the centre of a city where the bankers and lawyers dwell, the more prevalent this becomes. This practice then radiates out to other office workers, even though their work environments might be less formal. This, in turn, has led to office workers wearing neutrals out of hours as they’ve forgotten all about colour, and let’s face it, there are a lot of office workers these days so we see a LOT of neutrals!
So that’s my take on the whole neutrals omnipresence. But I know many people tire of wearing neutrals because they seek me out for advice on how to wear colour. They come to me realising that wearing neutrals has not made them appear interesting or engaged but instead, invisible.
Continuously wearing greyed down outfits does nothing to lift the spirits or add radiance to the wearer. But the wearer may not be aware of this until they return from holiday where they saw other people wearing uplifting colours, that they realised something was missing from their own wardrobe! It may well be after someone has left their office job or formal career and they open their wardrobe one day and eventually see the sea of grey for what it is; boring!
If this is you, and you’d like to begin wearing colour again but don’t know where to start, here are some tips to ease into it:
If you have blue or green eyes, wearing something close to your face in a colour to match your eyes is a no brainer. Wearing your eye colour will make your eyes pop.
Begin using a coloured bag in a colour you love; be it red, pink, green or whatever. Ideally you would also have something else small in the same colour to tie it in. It could be earrings, a brooch, socks or a trim on a shirt.
Try a print or pattern containing some colours you love. If you’re introducing colour gradually, try a subtle print first, one with just a couple of colours, rather than going full psychedelia!
Consider something you already have that has a little colour in it. This could be a striped shirt, a tartan skirt or a Tweed jacket. Wear this as usual but instead of pairing it with your usual neutrals, wear it with something that matches one of the colours in it, even if it is a subtle hint of colour just to begin with.
Once you’ve mastered wearing a few coloured accessories, extend that out to a larger piece of clothing in an actual colour that feels comfortable for you. You could try a top, skirt or pants in a colour you love. If you’re uncertain about it, bring along one of your neutral jackets so you can cover the colour if you begin to feel uneasy about it.
Or invest in a whole coloured coat, jacket or cardigan, because you can always take these off during the day! Try to wear one or two accessories that will co-ordinate with it so it looks like a deliberate design decision.
Lastly, whether you’re wearing colours or slinking back to neutrals, never wear two colours (or neutrals) in a ratio of 1:1. Make one of your colours the main one and the second should be worn more sparingly. Or even better, try a colour ratio of 6:3:1. If you’d like suggestions on how to do this in subtle colours, have a look at this and in particular the Subdued Casual and Approachable categories.
I hope these tips will help you incorporate some more colour into your wardrobe in a way that feels comfortable. You might be surprised how much you enjoy it, and the people around you will appreciate it too.
Wearing colour outside of the workplace doesn’t need to be scary.
If you’ve left the workplace altogether, after spending years in a formal office environment, you might be interested in The Vivienne Project, a specialised program to refresh your personal style for your next exciting chapter.