The Art of Wearing Colours: Blue in Singularity

This week we are going to break up our discussion on wearing multiple complementary colours to wearing a single colour and how to do this successfully and fashionably.

The first step is choosing a colour you like and suits you. As previously discussed, choosing colours is important to make sure the outfit suits you. Certain colours and tones suit certain people better and it is a learning curve to decide which suit you. Finding the colours you like will ultimately lead you to buy multiple pieces which are composed of those colours. It is this collecting of clothes in colours which suit you, which will allow you to have enough clothes of a single colour to compose an effective outfit.

In this outfit, I have chosen to wear blue. I really like blue. I find the colour calming and relaxing and I love the varying shades of blue you can find in nature. Whether that be the myriad of blues the ocean, lakes or rivers can be. Or the blue of the sky. Or the deep, dark-grey blue of the sky at twilight. All these blues have individual characteristics and are composed of various hues and tones. As stated above I see a connection to big expanses of blue, which can be found in nature, to blue in everyday use, hence the calming quality of blue.

The outfit is composed of a blue dress. The dress has a flower pattern composed of various colours based on a light blue background. The dress had buttons up the front. The dress also has a collar which rests above the collarbone around the sides and the back of the neck and is open at the front. The dress also has a tie around the middle, to provide shape around the waist.

Another key feature of the dress and one of my favourite features of the dress is that it reaches mid-calf. I love long dresses and skirts. I find them very flattering and they are a stylish feature of any outfit. I just find longer cut skirts and dresses can be interchanged with greater ease in formal and informal settings.

Additionally, the extra length also adds a practicality component. Longer dresses and skirts do not have attached to them all the common issues people can encounter when wearing shorter skirts and dresses. For example, walking on a windy day it is a lot harder for a longer skirt or dress, which to some extent is fitted, for the skirt or dress to be raised in the wind.

The sometimes impractical nature of dresses and skirts are something I know that many people do not like. I know it is a personal thing, but I personally do not find skirts and dresses less practical in most regards (there are certain things I would always do in trousers – for example, bushwalking), but having a style of dress or skirt which could alleviate some of these concerns could be of great use to many people. I am not trying to claim longer skirts and dresses will resolve every personal issue you may have with these styles of clothes, and, for some, the extra length will only make them more burdensome. But as I have said from the beginning it is about finding a clothing style which you like and suits you. A component of this is cuts clothing. One of these for me is longer length skirts and dresses.

Under the dress, I have chosen to wear a white turtleneck. This is just simply for warmth. It is still the middle of winter and thus still cold, and resultingly this dress with no layering would be rather cold. This is also something I have touched on before - the benefits of layering. Effective layering can make pretty much any piece wearable all year round. You would look at this dress and say it is a summer dress. But clever, effective and stylish layering can turn it into a piece wearable all year.

Over this outfit, I am wearing a blue coat. This is a very warm coat. It is a deep shade of dark blue and has blue and silver buttons up the front and also on the sleeves. This coat is quite drawn in at the waist and flairs out which provides a flattering silhouette.

The dress and the coat are the two main components of this outfit, alongside the blue tights which are a similar shade of dark blue to the coat. These components come together to create an outfit which is composed primarily of blue pieces.

When reading this initially, you may think that it would look silly, or the single colour would be overpowering and over the top. However, as the pictures show the outfit works very effectively together. This is because single colours although they come in different tones and shades work effectively if paired together cleverly.

There is no real secret behind this. It is more practice and gut instinct. If you have a favourite colour or a colour that really suits you and multiple pieces of clothing in that colour if you felt the desire, you could try combining pieces to create an outfit. Of course, you’ll need to select pieces which will make a stylish outfit and won’t contradict one another. But if you can do that and compose the outfit from one colour that is another way of wearing coloured clothes which you have developed and one hopefully you love.

Another way to add interest to an outfit of one single colour is to find a piece which has a unique print or a print which you simply like. This can honestly be anything. If you can find such a print and one which has the same base colour as the other components of your outfit it can serve as an amazing way to bring interest and further individualise your outfit.

Prints are wonderful things and can add so much personality and differentiation to an outfit. They add interest and bring in your personality to an outfit. They can be eye-catching and contribute to the development of a statement piece within your outfit. Thus, any excuse to use a print is a good one.

Thus, I hope I have shown you that you can wear a single colour in a stylish, individual and unique way, which can contribute to you developing your own sense of style. This single colour use can be complemented effectively with a patterned piece composed of the same colours.