The Art of Wearing Colours: Green, Purple and Orange

We are going to return to our colour theme and discussion on how you can match colours. This week we are going to focus on secondary colours. Secondary colours are colours which can be made by combining the primary colours of red, yellow and blue. Red and yellow make orange, red and blue make purple and yellow and blue make green. Hence orange, purple and green are classified as secondary colours.

These colours are coincidentally my three favourite colours and are colours which compose a lot of my outfits. This could be both individually, in combinations with one another and paired with other colours. I think the reason I am drawn to these colours so extensively is because of the tones which these colours can take. Often green, purple and orange clothes have a deeper, browner tone. This tone is one which suits my colouring hence my personal attraction.

For example, I have hazel eyes. Hence wearing green can draw out the green colouring within my eyes. Or wearing my orange corduroy jacket (which has featured in previous weeks posts), which has a brown undertone which thus matches my hair. All coloured clothes will have a coloured, tonal undertone and choosing one which suits you is a key way to ensure success in your wearing of coloured clothes.

This week I am going to do something different I am going to show an outfit which is composed of primarily green and purple and I am going to focus on the pictures. The reason I want to focus on the photos this week is because the photos are very high quality and were taken especially for me by a good friend, hence I want to utilise them.

So, in this outfit, you can see that I am wearing a green turtleneck. This turtleneck is worn underneath a light purple wrap jumper. This jumper is one which is tied at the side, here in a bow. However, the options on how to tie the jumper are endless. Sometimes I will tie the bow behind my back, so it falls mid-back thigh and the front of the cardigan is open. This can change the style of the outfit and neither option is preferable. It is more about warmth and practicality for the situation I find myself in.

The neckline of the cardigan also works very well with the turtleneck. The deep V-neck of the jumper parallels well with the turtleneck. In doing this both are emphasised. This creates a focal point for the outfit without having any particularly elaborate or fancy piece. Proving that sometimes simplicity can be an amazing thing.

I am wearing this with a green skirt. It might be too small to see in the picture, but the skirt has a flower pattern. The pattern is composed of white flowers which have a black border and then a purple and dark blue centre. There are also smaller flowers which are light blue and white.

The pattern is one I absolutely love, and I like this skirt. It is a skirt which has been hand made. I wish I could say by me. Unfortunately, though my sewing skills are not that great. My Mum made it for me, and it is a super practical design and the skirt can be worn on an everyday basis but also can be worn in slightly more formal situations.

The skirt is different green to the green of the turtleneck and the tights. The skirt is more of an olive green, whereas the tights and the turtleneck are darker. But, even within this darker green, the tights are a significantly brighter darker green. Yet, these different greens can still effectively be paired together, as can the varying shades of purple.

To add an orange element to this outfit you could easily switch out the purple cardigan for an orange one. It could be a very different style. More traditional with buttons on the front would work well. You could also wear the aforementioned corduroy jacket over the outfit as it is composed now. These changes would not diminish the stylistic components of the outfit.

So far, this blog has touched on multiple different ways for you to pair colours together in an outfit to make it effective, bold, unique and you. Hopefully, this advice has been somewhat helpful. Further discussion on pairing colours together will be coming in the upcoming weeks but I wanted to provide a summary of where we are so far.

1. Black and White If you like the monochrome look it can be very effective and fashionable. However, does the outfit gain something if you add colour and how might you do that effectively? Or why might you do so if you truly love wearing black and white?

2. Primary colours Red, yellow and blue. The colours from which all other colours are formed. Outfits can be constructed from these colours to form eye-catching and unique outfit which have a stylish colour palate.

3. Single colours Wearing one colour, in multiple different tones (or if you're amazing at matching – the same tone) can also be a very effective way to wear colour.

4. Secondary colours Green, purple and orange. The colours made from primary colours. This can also be another way to determine which colours you wish to pair together. These are my personal favourites.

What this hopefully has provided is some form of guiding mechanisms on ways in which you could try to pair your coloured clothes together. This isn’t a foolproof method. It is just one way I have tried to explain something I do daily. That is the other point I have been emphasising and would like to re-emphasise here – that this is trial and error. That it comes with practice. The most important thing to remember is to wear what you feel comfortable in and go from there.