Color Blocking - What the 80's SHOULD Have Looked Like!

Are you tired of looking like a penguin every time you dress in your formal attire?  Black shoes, black socks, black pants, white shirt, black tie, and a black coat?  Do you want to bring some color into your outfit, but don't quite know how to do it?  Well, you're in luck!  This week's topic will help you not only add color to your outfit, but will undoubtedly open your eyes to just how much color you can actually put into an outfit!

Color Blocking
First and foremost, what the hell is color blocking?  The easiest, but not necessarily best, way to describe color blocking is what SHOULD have happened to fashion in the 80's.  Let's forget about the many many mistakes made about hair (mullets and flat tops, anyone?) and focus on what the 80's did moderately well - they used color and lots of it!  The purest of the pure in color blocking avoid all patterns whatsoever and focus solely on solid contrasting colors!

What's wrong with this picture?  Well, there's TOO much color.  The human eye has no idea what to focus on, when to focus on it, and for how long - but if you look at this picture for longer than a split-second, your eye will be drawn to the solid purple scarf.  Why is that?  The mind perceives order among the chaos and clings to it desperately - there's calm within that sea of overwhelming color and your eyes/brain love it!  That's the principle of color blocking (without all of the useless and hideous eccentric color patterns seen on that model's coat).

Color blocking works off of the principle that your mind enjoys color combinations that it "knows" work.  Blue and orange, purple and yellow, black and white - just think back to 2nd grade color wheels in art class!  If your brain so readily enjoys those color combinations, what's not to say that your brain can't enjoy orange and yellow (as seen to the right), teal and neon green, or purple and blue?  Color blocking teases out combinations that don't seem to work at first glance, but really captivate an audience when the outfit has time to "sink in" to their glances.

A word of warning, though...SOME COMBINATIONS JUST DO NOT WORK WELL TOGETHER!  As a reference, I've included a color wheel to teach a very basic trick that will help broaden your color palette as you wander into the world of color blocking.  Don't be afraid to experiment with your own color combinations, but please PLEASE have the decency to realize when an outfit just does not work well together.  It's best if you have a significant other, best friend, well-trained pet, or someone to run new color blocks past - if none of those are available, you're going to have to get very comfortable being your own critic.

Color blocking is about contrast, not about subtleties and ideal combinations are made by pairing a chosen color with its opposite on the wheel (e.g. Yellow-Green pairs with Violet-Red).  To ensure that you maintain that POP in your outfit that you still want to bring attention to parts of your outfit such as a belt or shoes, make sure to stray away from pairing colors that share similar names - don't pair Orange-Yellow with Yellow-Green...instead try Orange-Yellow with a Blue-Green or Green.  That will get you to stray away from the go-to combinations of pure opposites and will help you find those uncommon fashion trends that you will soon be known for wearing!

I leave you with a few color blocking outfits that I've fallen for online!  Tune in next week for a beginning monthly segment (the 2nd week of every month) where I talk about some common fashion boo-boos that men make and how to fix/prevent them!

Fall Fashion - How to Layer Like a Boss

Fall is upon us and that means NEW CLOTHES!  Well, not necessarily a whole new wardrobe, but certainly new combinations and fun matches of what you already have!

For most, fall means sweaters, jackets, hats, and pants; for me, fall means layering!  Yes, all of those things mentioned before are included in layering, but just HOW you layer can make a world of difference between looking snazzy or looking like the state puff marshmallow.  This blog is meant to shed some light on how, exactly, you can look snazzy/chic - if you wish to look like the marshmallow, there is still hope for you, yet!

Autumn's Fashion-Forward Male
Cooler weather doesn't mean that you should have to suffer in comfort just to look great.  My personal fashion, more on the business end of fashion (ties, dress shirts, dress shoes, etc.) holds enough warmth in its own right, but how can we take that niche of attire to a higher, better, level?  With layers and accessories, of course!  Most men find comfort in "matching" grey with grey, black with black, white with...well, you get the idea.  I'm here to say that sometimes that is perfectly acceptable, but in playing that "matching" game, you NEED pops of color throughout your outfit (more on this next week).

My Layers
Here's a picture of me a few days ago before I went in for my clinical hours.  I want to talk about every aspect of this outfit when it comes to layering because every piece I am wearing serves a great role.

The peacoat is an American Rag flat black wool that not only keeps me quite warm, but provides a chic and finished appeal to my outfit.  The vest is a grey/white enmeshed fabric that looks grey from a distance but has tiny pips of white up close (my favorite).  The shirt is just a standard black dress shirt by Arrow.  Black, grey, black - BORING!  But when I add my neon green skinny tie by Geoffrey Beene, the outfit comes together.

I will say that most of my coats and vests are quite drab in color, when looked at by themselves, but my ties, dress shirts, and sweaters are all quite vibrant.  If you want to turn heads - and trust me, at those job interviews, dates, or family functions you do! - do not shy away from vibrant colors this fall.  Bright colors were in a few autumns ago and they're back with a fury this season!

When you layer clothing in your outfits, keep in mind that one combination of clothing looking great doesn't mean that's the ONLY combination you can make.  I'm a bit of a math geek, so say you have 3 shirts, 3 vests, 3 ties, and 2 cardigans.  The "best" outfit from this collection would naturally be the go-to, and would only result in 2-3 different outfits.  But if you are open to mixing-and-matching, you have the potential for 54 outfits!  That doesn't even take into account pants or shoes!

Cardigans
Cardigans are also fantastic means to layer, especially on those cool-but-not-quite-cold-enough-for-a-peacoat type days.  And no matter how many times I  hear it, cardigan sweaters DO NOT make you look like Mr. Rogers!  If you don't wish to have more than 1 or 2 cardigans in your collection, I would suggest sticking with neutral colors so that they can accompany every outfit you throw at them (grey, black, tan, and white are great choices).

Going Overboard
I cannot stress this enough, but you can have too many layers on at once.  My general rule of thumb is when I walk into a building after a walk in the brisk wind or chilly, foggy air of the autumn season, I should not have to remove more than one layer to be comfortable indoors.  If you are wearing a jacket/coat, cardigan, vest, shirt, and undershirt...let's just say you should revisit my comment about being a marshmallow at the beginning!  I live by the principle of "less is more" in all aspects of my life, especially fashion.  Embrace the inner fashion critique: if it feels like you're wearing too much, you probably are!

Next week, I'll be touching more on my brief outline of vibrant colors used to accent an outfit.  But for now, get out there and start turning some heads!