Spring 2011 was the year when the colour blocking trend emerged on catwalks. Remember Raf Simons for Jil Sander? It was all about mixing vibrant and screaming colours in the most experimental way possible and people believed in the trend to start a vibrant fashion movement. Imagine a world, where everyone wears colours in a crazy mix-match on a daily basis, from the bus driver that takes you to work to the waitress at your fave coffee place; Well, we would be living in a very happy looking and vivid world. It must have been what fashion had in mind, a new definition of cool-chic.
Even I was all about the hyper-saturated colours and couldn’t deny grabbing my own version of a Persian blue bomber jacket. I loved that I could simply style it with an old pair of jeans, barely make-up on and the floral patterns did the rest as they were eye catchy enough. A couple months later I stocked up on a pair of lemony trousers and then out of a sudden I stopped; The rainbow vibes and unicorn styles were gone and everyone was done with the trend. With different dress codes for work, school and leisure wear, people got confused and challenged on how to wear the trend in a proper way. Does the colour red really go with green trousers or shall I go for the pink one? I’ve always struggled with this one and now looking back at some old photos I’m like “Wow that was kind of like in your face”. Hey, at least I wasn’t the only one trying to pull it off!
Today, six years later moody Victoria Beckham, who never ever sports colours at all, was seen taking on the fashion risk with a combo of her latest Pre-Fall 17 collection, a baby blue shirt tucked into a pair of marigold chino trousers. And damn it looked good because whatever this woman puts on, we are blown away by it. You might think ‘if she does I can too’, but be aware done wrong you could end up dressed like you’ve just escaped Adventure Time. Mix-matching the right print patterns and colours can be difficult to master, but there are some handy rules that you can follow to make things in life a bit easier.
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Follow the Colour Wheel
Especially as a beginner this is how you should start putting your look together: If you’re going for a warm colour like yellow or a light brown always make sure to mix match with another warm colour too. This can be anything from a bright magenta to a sunny yellow. The same can be applied for all cold colours ranged from purple to juicy green. The colour wheel makes a great tool to orient yourself by, but in case you’re a more advanced fashionista ‘Fuck the Fashion Rules’ and get your inspo here.
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Colour blocking head to Toe?
Once you decided to give the colour blocking trend a try, have a thought about how you could integrate it into your own style. Trends like this don’t necessarily ask you to play around with multiple colours at once. To avoid blunders stick to a selection of three max and reflect them through your accessories and clothes.
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Bright tends to make you look bigger
When you plan to go down the colour blocking route, be aware that too many bright colours combined in one look tend to make you look bigger. Instead, to be on the safe side, start by wearing ready-to-wear colour-blocked pieces like dresses and jumpsuits.
Although this might sound scary at first, the timing couldn’t be any better: Cherry blossom tree snapshots make the round on Instagram, with the first bloggers coming out of their grey-black-white hibernation. Get ready to show off some leg, whether it’s in a ready-to-wear block colour dress or a jumpsuit. The Spring game is on!
Credits
Model: Kasia Brzozowska
Photographer: Lucy Alice B. Make sure to follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
What She Wore:
Look 1: Orange-Pink Dress: Vintage, Leather Jacket: Zara
Look 2: Jeans/Ballerinas/Black Heels: Her Own, Orange Blazer: Vintage, Turquoise Top: Primark
Look 3: Pin Stripe Blazer: Primark, Red Flare Dress: Vintage
