I Try A Trend

Just a short post to remind myself that yes, i do want to get me some stripes! I had the good fortune to thrift this little skirt, courtesy of my fairy godmother. It's very soft, almost circle in cut, and striped. I've been eyeing stripes for ages, especially the ones around one to one half inch in classic or neutral colors. This french blue is perfect, the color itself as well as the association. Yesterday i threw on a simple outfit based on this skirt to see if i really did like wearing stripes as much as i like thinking about wearing them.

Turns out wearing them is even more fun! The fact that the cut of this skirt is all wrong for me, and the stripes are at a strange angle, didn't even bother me. I doubt i'll wear this skirt as is very much, in fact i'm mulling over ways i can use the material (in good condition) to make a little top. But i do plan to snap up any suitable stripes i find in future. Blouse, skirt, scarf......yum. Why i didn't realize this from how much i've enjoyed wearing this CAbi striped jacket is beyond me. Maybe it's that the style of stripe is so distinct?

Any trends you're trying these days? How are you liking them? Any surprises?

Color Theory In Your Closet: Color Characteristics

Basic Color Wheel

Okay ladies, this is it: color theory in your closet! It's been wet, gloomy, and rainy here. I've been in the house working on projects, then going out for walks and having to hang up all my clothes and shoes to dry. In short, i've been presentable and pulled together but it's nothing to write home about. I've been wanting to explain color theory from the wardrobe angle for a long time now, this weather is giving me the perfect excuse!

Why would you be interested in learning about color theory? Here's some reasons. If you can grasp a few concepts about color theory you will have powerful tools for understanding what colors you like, why you like them, and how to find or create them. You will have much more confidence in choosing which colors to wear, as well as in combining colors in outfits.  You will understand how to add new colors to your wardrobe so that they harmonize with what you already have. You will be able to find great, wearable colors to buy in years when your 'regulars' just aren't in stock. You will have the ability to analyze color in outfits you find inspirational so that you can duplicate the effect or, better yet, adapt the color scheme to use your own most flattering colors.

Using color theory this way is a skill. You acquire this skill through study and practice. My goal is to give you straightforward examples and explanations of the basic color theory you can apply to getting dressed, so that you can analyze future outfits, pictures, interior designs, whatever inspires you in order to hone your skills.

Color Characteristics:
These are the terms we use to describe qualities of a particular color. They are:

Hue:
This is what you're talking about when you ask, "What color is it?" Lime green, yellow, aqua, tumeric, baby blue - these are all hues.

Saturation:
How much of the hue is contained in the color you're looking at. Think about dyeing Easter eggs. The longer you leave an egg in the dye, the more pigment it takes up and the more saturated the color becomes. This is not the same thing as a light or dark color. Below, the lime green looks lighter than the indigo because of the qualities of the individual hues, but they are both very saturated or 'full strength'.

Lime & Indigo both fully saturated

The color wheel below has had the saturation decreased to about 50%. Compare this to the color wheel at the top of this post to get an idea of what saturation means. Less saturated colors tend to feel delicate and ethereal, while fully saturated colors come across as bold and strong.

De-Saturated Color Wheel Looks Drained Of Color

Saturation has a number of applications in the wardrobe. Some people look much better in really saturated hues, while others look better in hues that aren't much saturated at all. With most people, though, how you look in various saturations depends on the hue and other characteristics. Paying attention to this color variable can help you hone in on your most flattering and preferred looks. Varying the levels of saturation in an outfit can also add a lot of interest to a look, just as varying textures does.

Color Temperature
Warm:
"Warmth" or "warm" refers to any color that has a lot of yellow (or, rarely, red) in it.

Color Wheel Drenched in Yellow is Warm

Cool:
"Cool" refers to any color that has a lot of blue in it.

Color Wheel Dipped in Blue is Cool

Notice i said 'any color'. In these pictures i've taken my original color wheel and altered the entire photo. In the first one i added yellow, in the second i added cyan. This affects the various colors to different degrees, but you can see that indeed every color is altered. Yellow in the cool color wheel is cool, no longer warm. You can see this cool yellow in many flowers, especially daffodils and tulips. You can also see it in lemons which haven't yet ripened fully, which have a green cast.

The blues in the hot color wheel become warm with the addition of yellow. More people are aware of this, due to the popularity of aqua and turquoise (both warm blues). Most of the purples i see are cool, but you can see that the purple of The UFO Experience in the hot color wheel is very warm.

This is vital information for your wardrobe. The bulk of people look much better in either warm or cool toned colors. First, educating your eye to spot the difference will help you when you're picking out clothing. Secondly, you now know that you don't need to stay away from all blues if you're better in warm tones, or all yellows if you prefer cool tones. If you want to wear those colors you just need to find (or create) those colors with the undertone you prefer. Cultivating your ability to spot warm and cool tones will also help you in creating a cohesive color scheme.

Let's say you love reds so you decide to acquire a number of red pieces for your wardrobe. They'll all be red so they'll all 'go', and you can mix and match as you like. However, warm reds and cool reds generally look awkward next to each other.  If you can't spot warm vs. cool, or worse if you don't even know about warm vs. cool, you could easily end up with both temperatures in your closet. You'll end up frustrated, because your plan doesn't work - you've been diligent about only buying reds but they still don't 'jive'. Learning about these color characteristics and taking them into consideration when you're planning and when you're shopping is crucial to developing a truly easy to use wardrobe.

The last three color characteristics refer to ways you can alter a hue.
Tint: lightening a pure hue by adding white. This is how pastels are created, by adding white to a pure cool hue. But tints are more popular in painting than in fabrics - it makes more sense to just use less pigment on a bleached fabric to achieve a 'tint'.

Shade: Darkening a pure hue by adding black.

Tone: Altering a pure hue by adding grey.

Shades and tones are very popular in clothing. Designers love to do this because altering a group of disparate fabrics, all in the same way, will help to tie the end result together visually. It's kind of a short cut - but it works! And you can use this technique, too. I will often 'tea dye' any whites that look too glaring or cool for my warm coloring. I'll give the same treatment to prints with a lot of too-white white. I use orange pekoe, the kind Lipton uses, as it adds warm tones of yellow, orange, and grey-brown. Other teas (for example Earl Grey) will yield a grey tone, as will RIT dye's Pearl Grey. This particular grey imparts a cool grey tone, quiteuseful for ladies who prefer cooler colors. You can add a little yellow or blue to your dye bath to intensify the warm or cool effect, respectively. I can't tell you how often i've used this trick to make whites wearable!

L to R: Original prints, Tea-Dyed Prints (Warm), Pearl Grey Dyed Prints (Cool)

 Here i've taken a couple of prints and tea dyed one pair, then dyed another pair with RIT Pearl Grey. I've included the original un-dyed prints so you can observe the way this process changes the various colors and the overall feel of the prints.

Admittedly, this part of color theory is not all that scintillating. But you do need to have a grasp of these basic concepts in order to excel at and understand our next post's topic: creating and manipulating color schemes. In other words, how do you use this info to create great, flattering outfits and choose colors for your wardrobe with confidence.

As always, please ask about anything that seems confusing or that you'd like more info about. Thank you for reading!

Please Accept My Regrets...

for the unintentional preview of upcoming posts! Why blogger puts the 'Publish' button right next to the 'Save' button i'll never know - but i do know why it's a bad idea.

On the run today, i am sorry for any inconvenience, steph

...And Then Remove One Piece......

Remember that old 'rule' about getting dressed so that you look like a classy lady, and not some overdone tramp?  "Get dressed, and then when you think you are finished remove one piece of jewelry...." Kinda boring, but i can see the point of it. After all, it's nice to have the focus be on you, rather than all the stuff you're wearing. This method can help you to achieve this goal. On the other hand, this rule has a little nastiness to it as well: don't trust yourself, always second guess your instincts, you need to make sure you don't stand out, better to fade into the background...

For good or for ill, this cliche did come to mind as i put together this outfit. Here in the SF Bay Area we've had a pretty mild winter this year. Only one frost or two, with weeks of temperatures in the 60sF. Plenty of clear blue skies. That's nice, but it does have it's drawbacks, namely air pollution and worries about summer drought and fire danger. So when March rolled around and we started to get a lot of rain i was very grateful. As the weather systems swept through the landscape, they took the particulates and pollen with them, creating relief for many allergic eyes, throats, and noses.

But i am growing tired of grey, overcast skies. It's a little gloomy.That's why i decided to whip up a nice, bright, sunnily colored look. I don't know how apparent it is in the pictures, but the over the knee socks i'm sporting are pink. The shade is quite close to my skin tone, which helps me feel okay about wearing them. Otherwise i would feel like they were too overwhelming! Normally with a look like this one, i'd wear some type of scarf around my neck or on the hat. But I found that this outfit was right on the edge for me. Any more color or distractions and it would feel forced and overdone, like i'd been caught in some type of tangerine tornado! Auntie Em!!!!

I had luck on my walk. In the park up the street i had a long visit with our resident coyote. I'm guessing this could be a mother coyote, as i thought i could spy a teat or two, and her (?) tail had lost most of it's hair (some mammals pull hair out of their tails to line the nest or den for the babies). After this encounter, and a ways down the road, a man walking his teensy dog said, "Pretty outfit!". I don't often get compliments like that on my daily walk. I took the opportunity to let him know coyote was out and about. He thanked me sincerely  while we both looked down at his friendly, pint-sized (coyote snack sized?) pooch.

Thank you again for your advice and commiseration regarding my recent bellyaching on the blog. I can report that i have purchased two lengths of fabric suitable for making structured blouses (shell pink linen and white eyelet). I have sketched up two versions of this Kay Unger blouse as guidelines for these fabrics, and i've in the middle of developing patterns for them. I really don't like to go on and on about how something bugs me, come up with a great solution based on other people taking the time and trouble to help me out - and then not do it! Your comments and putting my thoughts out here in public help keep me on track to accomplish my goals. I can't tell you how much i appreciate you all!

I sketch in pencil with a light hand. I punched up the contrast in GIMP a bit so you can see my ideas a little more clearly. The pink is very warm and beautiful with a lovely sheen to it, and heavy enough that this blouse will end up as more of a shirt-jacket than just a shirt. I had been keeping an eye on this eyelet for months. It was $18 a yard, and when the store marked it 'Half Off" i jumped on it. The dense, geometric embroidery takes care of any overly girly or underwear-ish connotations as well as providing plenty of ventilation. I'm very excited about finally having a proper 'white shirt' for daily wear - the Kay Unger's silk is staring to get a little fragile, which discourages me from wearing it too much. But when i do wear it i enjoy it so! It's very fun to see things taking shape.

Have you made any progress on wardrobe resolutions?  If not, what stands in your way?

Hey. Remember What You LOVE

Today i'm bringing up a sensitive topic. It's sensitive in our culture generally, and even more so in the style blogging community. Recently i've been noticing a number of conversations about our society's ideas of 'dressing in proportion', or more precisely how to dress so that your figure more closely resembles 'the ideal'. I surprised even myself by how strongly i reacted against this enterprise.

I do realize that bucking the norms we've been raised with is so much easier said than done. And i do appreciate that canny deployment of clothing can lessen the appearance of saddlebags, floppy arms, a flat yet saggy butt. In fact, i use many of these 'proportion tricks' myself, and have no qualms about it. I'll happily share and explain these principles with friends and on my blog.

But i do have qualms about how this approach to dressing can dominate all other concerns. It so easily becomes another way to criticize, to measure ourselves and find we are lacking.  How quickly this approach metamophoses into, "We know you're just this side of deformed, everyone is noticing it, but use these techniques and you may succeed in masking your ghastliness..." We're presented with ways to find out exactly where and how we don't match what is normal or pleasing, and fix-it tricks so that we can 'pass' (as long as we keep our clothes on).

I concede that here i'm taking the concept to an intellectual extreme. But, because these techniques are so powerful, because the social pressures for women to be pleasing and to fit in are also so powerful, this approach to dressing is not an extreme in real life, in conversations between friends, between women and their mirrors. And i hate that anyone would think and feel about a person this way - that people should be measured and judged by how they contrast with some vitiated ideal. Doing this to yourself isn't any nicer than doing it to someone else. You're a person, too.

So how can we use these techniques, these magic tools of proportion and color and texture, without being caught in a horrible machine, stripping us of all that makes us beautiful and unique?

Remember What You Love

That's it - remember what you love and concentrate on that, first and foremost, while you dress. I love to wear flower prints and pins because i love flowers of all types: cherry and plum blossoms with petals scattered by a spring rain, huge clumps of fairy lanterns cascading down a meadowed hill, mimosa blossoms which start out perfectly symmetrical being mussed by a busy honeybee. My rugged boots and cargo pants recall my family's long history of wild and wooly exploits in the Californian countryside.  Combining these rugged pieces with feminine, womanly skirts and blouses reflects my obsession with finding the middle ground between extremes, a trend made that much more emphatic by my history with Buddhism.

I loved the way this look echoed a tree in bloom - dark, sturdy trunk (shoes and stockings); branches and twigs up higher (sakura knit top); flowers and leaves at the top and at the 'ends' of the branches (Pleione blouse). It was so fun to be showing the world a pattern-mixing fashion fiend, while inside i knew my arboreal secret.


Using style to tip your public to these inner parts of yourself, your personality and passions, can be incredibly creative and engaging - for you and for the people around you. What's more fun than spying a friend's love of gardening in her rain boots colored to match her trademark tulips, or asking a friend to tell you about the fly he tied and is wearing on his lapel? Happily this type of play with clothing is well tolerated in our society.

 But i am going to come out of the closet, right here and now, and confess to a taboo practice. I also dress to deliberately play up my favorite physical features.  I love the blue of my eyes, the curve of my brows and hair. I get a kick out of the straight and strong lines of my shoulders, the ways they play off the curves of my legs. I will tell you from experience that it is so much more fun and inspiring to dress to perfectly frame my favorite features than to hide the bits labelled "not up to snuff", worrying all day that someone will guess the horror underneath it all (gasp!).

I firmly believe that these attitudes come through in the final outfit. The thoughts and feeling with which you start your day will certainly color your mood throughout that day. Honestly, do you think Anna Piaggi worries about the size of her butt when she's dressing? It sure doesn't look like it - i dare say Ms. Piaggi has a lot more interesting things on her mind!

Which brings me to a final observation about the 'fix it' approach to dressing yourself. It's boring. You risk coming across as thinking that you're not good enough, you have nothing to really say, you don't find anything in the outside world all that exciting........You Have No Passion. What a sad and colorless place to live! The shame of it is that it's not even true.

All of us inhabit amazing and beautiful bodies, creative and unpredictable minds. I am surrounded by luminous complexions, lyrical coloring, hair with a complex life of it's own, startlingly unique proportions. You have gorgeous parts as well. What are they? How would you dress if your only goal was to show off that rambunctious hair, those golden-green sloe eyes, your delicate long boned fingers. Not if you suddenly had 'the perfect body'. No one knows what that may be, and even if you lived in one, your same brain and habits would get down to their project of formulating new flaws. Go to your closet and pick out the pieces that really spark your coloring, that get you glowing incandescently, that call to mind your favorite things to do.  What happens when your clothes tell you "Remember that time we spent in Venice, the glow of the setting sun on the buildings...."  "Cannot wait to get out in the garden later today...."  "heehee, my hair goes it's own way - just like my cousin's....."

These ways of dressing yourself are two extremes. Dressing strictly to hide or compensate "flaws" vs. dressing to celebrate your body, your life, your passions. The tricky thing is that dropping a curtsy towards 'figure flattery' can open the door for wilder exploration of your loves. But i find myself more and more on the side of celebration and passion, caring less and less for common 'shoulds'.

My question today - if you had to choose between the two extremes: Who would you want to strike up a friendship with? Who's head would you want to live in? Who do you want to be?

Add A Little Color

 More walking looks, this time with color! These were for walking in pretty cold weather, for here anyways. I'm using my new(er) lounging sweats for warmth. These came about when the You Look Fab crowd was talking about the fun styles available at great sale prices at American Eagle. A couple of years ago i bought a couple of hoodie-type doodads at the Aeropostale outlet in Petaluma. They were so cheap i decided to buy my first sweatshirt-type item in a decade. One is so warm and comfy that it's become a lounging staple. The only drawback is it's a boring grey color....on the plus side it blends in, on the minus side it doesn't contribute much in the way of style.

The AE sweats came in such delicious colors, and the discounts were so enticing, that i dragged my better half down to the mall. How nice to find the colors even greater in person. And really nice cuts - a slimmer sleeve really reduces the bag-out factor. I have been enjoying wearing these hot and sour colors even more than i expected. It's funny how it slakes my thirst for color even though i'm just wearing them around the house and in bed, not in an 'official' capacity. 

That said, i think i like the way the lime top works in 'streetwear' better than the hot pink one. I'm showing you the look of the pink one on it's own so you can see the great tangerine lettering - yowie zimbowie!  Before i tried it as part of my 'walking' experiments, i'd have NEVER considered wearing any real clothing or accessories in this color. But, you say, what about your new dress in these self same colors? Well, i got the guts to buy it after i'd been hanging out in this sweatshirt. Who'da thought of using pajamas to stretch your style spectrum? I didn't even realize that i'd done this until i sat down and started writing this post! Now that i've tumbled to this, it sounds like a great method - hmmm, what should i choose for my next wing-stretching project?

 I've also noticed how much i prefer hot colors 'balanced' by another of their kind in the same look. In the first pic's look, adding the coral tones of the scarf really makes it for me. The same with the tangerine lettering on the pink hoodie - it adds a depth to the color story; without it these colors feel a bit flat. I also love roughing these colors up with some real textures - the fiber embroidery on the belt of the first look, for example, or the crinkly gauze of the olive scarf next to the coral shell. Getting some experience with these 'low risk' walking looks has emboldened me to pursue items in these colors for my wardrobe. I know that i'll enjoy wearing them and have precise ideas on how to style them to my liking.

On to the plain and simple practicality of color. We're in a rain cycle here - some weather watchers predict it will stick around through the end of the month (!). Anytime i leave my house on foot i traverse a couple of busy intersections. One would think that bright orange and vivid blue would stand out in even the gloomiest of days ..... but i've had at least one incident recently where i had trouble attracting a driver's attention.

This aggravates me even more as there is an assisted living facility just around the corner, and a lot of the residents have trouble walking (though they still keep at it!).  As you would suspect, many of these drivers have their cell phones stuck to their ears. If you see me yelling at cars out on the highways and byways, that's the reason. Oy!

Since we've switched from landline to smartphone, i've been taking my phone along on walks. I'm not worried about needing to call emergency services, or engaged in long soulful discussions with friends......no, i'm listening to my paranormal podcasts. I'd imagined that my daily walks would be a great time for talking to friends and family (i'm notorious for my inability to simply talk on the phone, i'm constantly ironing or dusting or eating or pacing or). But there's just too much distracting noise from cars, wind, leaf blowers, and so on. I've been especially enjoying Anything Ghost. Host Lex Wahl reads listener-submitted stories of the high strange and sets the whole thing to his original compositions. He's been at this for years, so i'm working my way through his voluminous archives.

If you enjoy spooky stories and old-timey, spooky-movie-type music give Anything Ghost a try! Do any of you listen to podcasts? What are your favorites? I'd love to find a good podcast with a focus on style - spill the beans if you know of any! Happy Weekend and be sure to take a nice walk.

Walking The Talk

 I been holdin' out on you. I've squirreled away a change of style habit, a mini-conceptual breakthrough, and a number of outfits over the last month. Today i start sharing all this with you.

You may not be that excited about all this, as it regards a very casual aspect of style. Throughout my life, my main exercise has been walking. On a weekday i like to walk between half an hour to an hour, just around the neighborhood. On the weekends, out and about with mr. e, we may cover up to eight or ten miles on city streets or hiking in parks.  Here i'm concerning myself with the daily constitutional. For decades my habit has been to dress once for the day. I would either walk in that look or, more usually, fudge it a bit to accomodate the walk (shoes, socks, sun protection).  More often than not, both looks would suffer as a result.

The obvious solution? Come up with a couple of great-looking walking looks, wear those for walking, then dress for the rest of the day according to what it holds. Alarmingly obvious this solution may be, but it did not occur to me until about a month ago. At times like this i can't help but wonder what other stupid, mindless habits i'm adhering to which are bugging the heck out of me, unawares. Aiee!

Happily, once this idea made it's way up from the archaen abyss, it didn't take me decades to act on it. I began to dress in strictly walking-appropriate outfits first thing in the am, then change into a different look if i felt like it or the day warranted. I snapped a couple of pix of each outfit with the idea of coming up with one or three nice repeaters. These looks were two of the first ones i attempted. They turned out physically comfortable, pulled together, a little boring for my tastes. As usual in these really pared down looks one great accessory makes a big difference.

This is still a work in progress. I haven't managed to nail down 'the one look' and start repeating it. We have had some really cold days, so i got some experience creating toasty ensembles. But we have yet to veer into the hot hot hot weather of true Contra Costa summers. This will throw a spanner in the works, as i've spotted one trend in these looks - i use a little jacket as a 'third layer' to pull things together. In 92F, not so great. But from past travails i know that a structured blouse will make a smashing replacement.

a perfect structured blouse - i still have the pattern

I do have some blouses in this category which would work well for this purpose - structured, light colored, short of sleeve. The trouble is i've known for a while that i could use some serious refreshing in this category. The pieces in the best condition are still several years old. Two blouses are old on top of being made of very thin fabric. The Kay Unger blouse is gorgeous, but it is silk and has some staining. Seeing how much use structured blouses could get for 'walking' looks has highlighted the urgency of this need.

The obvious next step is for me to buy some nice fabric and get crackin'! But i'm usually out shopping with mr. e, and he has no taste buds for cotton fabric in lighter, plainer shades. The man is all about frosting, no cake for him! I love him for it, and i love the beautiful, special pieces he has picked out for me over the years. But even when i can see the finished garment in my mind's eye, it's no fun shopping for basics when your companion is so tremendously unimpressed. We share a car, and with the nerve damage in my legs driving to and from Berkeley, picking mr. e up in Walnut Creek, etc. causes a fair amount of pain. Combined with the difficulty i have in picking out fabrics in a limited time frame.......it is just easier to not.

Except when summer rolls around and i kick myself for not getting off of my butt! I tell you, this is one of the areas which really stymies me. I can see real holes, and real ways to fill them, but the amount of energy, time, hassle it will take to make it happen puts me off. It is plainly easier to not do it. The project doesn't feel overwhelming, just like a lot of tedious hassle. The crux of the matter: how much of a stink do i want to make, how much energy to i want to devote bring my ideas to fruition. And in many cases, such as this one, it's not in order to get a hold of some luxury item like my Cascades.I just want to dress in the way i see fit on a day to day basis.

I don't want to get all dressed up to walk in the dust and heat, to swab my deck and clean the tub. I don't want to wear a cocktail dress to a gallery opening on Solano Avenue, or hike in heels and a flirty floral dress. I have done all these things in the past, when i enjoyed them thoroughly. But now, i want more variety. We all know how women in this society are discouraged from making their wants and needs too well known.  I am not exempt. In fact, i'm well known as the type of person who irritates beyond measure by her lack of preference - is it too much for a person to come up with a restaurant suggestion on a Saturday night, for heaven's sake?

The truth is that a lot of times i really don't care. Now, i'm finding that i do indeed care about certain things. Not only that, but i have particular ideas about what it is that i want. I've come to the conclusion that my task going forward is to devote the time and guts commensurate to my desires in order to bring them about.

Much style advice restricts itself to practical concerns, with good reason. But i find the stickiest of problems reside in these emotional/psychological areas. Do you struggle with these issues in your own life? In your wardrobe? What have you found is helpful, and have you had any breakthroughs?