I was toying around with the new Pantone colors for spring, thinking about upcoming posts for The Vivienne Files. The idea of “new” colors is always entertaining to me – I’d LOVE it if our eyes could suddenly be enhanced to see something that we’ve never seen before!
But some people do find that the Pantone colors are very available through the upcoming season, and like to have an idea about which among them might work best with their existing wardrobe. So by the time I’d finished monkeyed around with all of these colors, I realized that I’d pretty much completely updated the old Color Planner document…
This baby includes all of the combinations of 2 neutrals (from the list of 14 neutrals that I’ve come up with, so far), and then shows each of those pairing with each of the 10 “new” colors. This is what Black and Khaki look like:
There are some real possibilities here for a seasonal accent color! The only one that doesn’t really make sense is “e”, which is Toasted Almond – too close to Khaki to make any sense at all…
Note that there are page numbers, and letter labels, just in case you find combinations that you want to bring to my attention, to request a wardrobe. Either send me an email at [email protected], or leave a comment here.
I’ve also taken some pains to update the way the neutral colors are rendered, to make them look a little bit better on screen. Google led me to some graphic artists who were fulsome in their advice about how to precisely “mix” the colors for best viewing. Bless the generous among us!
Since the template for this beauty (as well as the storage space) already existed, it only costs $2.99 to purchase. (I charge in order to offset my storage and hosting costs, not in order to become madly rich!). You can get this wonderful gizmo here:
And just a note – there won’t be a post tomorrow morning, and possible none on Tuesday. My schedule tomorrow is full of things that aren’t HALF as much fun as The Vivienne Files, but sometimes we can’t just have fun all day…
love,
Janice
PS – You can find the latest Pantone Color Planner and other documents in the Planning Documents section of the website.
Looking Back:
2013: How to wear a petrol blue (or slate blue) v-neck sweater
2012: Packing: camel & coral
And you are among the most generous!
Deb from Vancouver
This is so great! Regarding 'e,' Toasted Almond, that's why, no matter what combination I'm trying out (imaginatively, or for real), I reserve something white, to replace any discordant note. Love, love love this blog!
So much fun to see these color combinations! I would love to see a wardrobe based on page 20, color grouping d, classic blue paired with black and khaki. One question: Do you think that there's enough contrast between classic blue and black for those two colors to work together? (And I'm assuming that "classic blue" isn't quite as dark as the color many of us call "navy.") As always, thanks for all you do.
I'm interested in the possibility of using black and indigo as my core neutrals. Would you be able to do a wardrobe using them and the lucite green or scuba blue as accent colours. I loved your indigo jacket the other day… :) Thanks for the download. It is often hard to set your heart on a certain colour combinations and then not find anything in the shops.
I've been using black and khaki for my neutrals since the beginning the of year, with jade green and royal blue as my accents. I ran across the lucite green, 'c', this winter and picked up a tee, sweater and a scarf. I love it with both the black and the khaki. And it 'plays well' (love your phrase) with the jade green and the royal blue. My eye is drawn to 'a' through 'd'. None of the others appeals to me. Thanks for this. In this format, it's easy to see what works and what doesn't.
Inspirational (as always); useful in wardrobe-purging this week.
–Thought you might appreciate the uncluttered aesthetic at APC: http://usonline.apc.fr/colorama/women
Very best – hugs from NYC – Tree.
I've heard some negative things about A.P.C.'s quality, but I've never seen anything from them that wasn't absolutely lovely. And these images are the best – thanks for thinking of me!
hugs back at ya,
Janice