basket bag

Establishing a color palette is an essential aspect of developing your personal style. A wardrobe’s palette is made up of base colors, accent colors, and patterns (note: I’m not going to acknowledge prints on this blog unless they’re on silk scarves). The base colors are the ones that appear in your lineup most often. Unless you are Elle Woods, your base colors are probably neutrals (as they should be). Their job is to anchor your outfits while the accent colors and patterns add interest to the mix.

If you’ve read Develop Your Personal Style with These 3 Habits, you’ll recall that you can discover a lot about your clothing preferences by window shopping. To uncover your color palette, observe the hues that appear in your wardrobe. If you are overhauling your closet, think about your ideal clothing selection. Rank the colors according to quantity in a hierarchy pyramid. Whatever color(s) you see on the bottom of your pyramid is the base of your palette. The colors that appear less often are the accent colors. I’ll illustrate this point using my own palette as an example.

Blue, specifically navy, is my primary base color, followed by black. I incorporate white, cream, camel, and grey into my wardrobe too, but I don’t consider them base colors per se. They exist somewhere between the base and accent categories. I’d wear all navy or all black but probably wouldn’t wear a monochrome outfit in white, cream, camel, or grey. My true accent colors are purple, pink, red, and (occasionally) green. The shades I favor within these five color groups pair well with one or both of my base colors. The same is true for my selection of stripes, seersucker, gingham, and occasional polka dot.

Establishing the base colors of your wardrobe will make getting dressed a lot easier. Not only is navy the primary base of my palette, but it is also the one I feel most powerful in. It’s not out of character for me to wear five navy dresses in one week. In fact, I’ve even been know to wear the same dress on two consecutive days, washing it in a bucket between wears.

Works Sighted: Lauren Ralph Lauren dress (old); Superga 2790 Acotw (navy); J.McLaughlin basket bag; Fitbit Alta HR; Kate Spade sunglasses (old)