Outfit Analysis Portal

In an effort to bring some regularity to this fashion blog, I’m embarking on a series of fashion posts called Outfit Analysis. The basic idea is that multiple times a week, I’ll get dressed in the morning, drive over to a public place, and have a real person (read: not myself) take a picture of the outfit I’m wearing, possibly comment on it, and then include it in the blog. I’ll then provide an analysis of the outfit, outlining the goals it intends to achieve, how well it achieves those goals, and why this is the case. The why, of course, is the most important part, and unfortunately the part I find most often lacking in other fashion writing.

Often, I’ll intentionally make mistakes with the outfits, so that they do not optimally realize their goals. This seems silly, especially since I’m publishing these outfits for the world to see! However, I’ve found that a lot of learning comes out of experiencing something that you think is correct, but then learn to be wrong (I believe the technical term is cognitive dissonance). The mistakes will not always be glaring or obvious; this will hopefully add some depth to all our understanding of fashion.

Let’s outline how this process is going to work.

Goal(s): We’ll begin with the overarching fashion goal which the outfit intends to achieve.

Pieces: Here I’ll list the pieces of the outfit, and purchase information (if I know it)

Pictures: Pictures of the outfit will go here, preceding the discussion.

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Victories: We’ll then discuss how the pieces work individually, and together, to achieve the goal.

Failures: Next, we consider what parts of the outfit detract from the overall effect, and why. Some (but certainly not all) of these will be intentional.

Comments: If anyone, including the photographer, makes comments about the outfit, they’ll be recorded here (anonymously if I only overhear them).

Credit: If the photographer wishes to be named, I’ll think him/her here.

As is my standard, this page will also become a linking portal for all things Outfit Analysis.

Outfit Analysis: 7.11.8

Color Theory Introduction

As I stated in my initial post here, General Fashion Philosophy, one of the five things we have control over in fashion is color. This may be my favorite aspect of fashion, that is, playing with colors and their mutual interactions. Given the billions of colors that our eyes can perceive, the sartorial possibilities seem endless. Unfortunately, many people are afraid to stray from their safety nets of blacks, browns, blues and whites. Worse still, many people don’t understand even how to utilize these colors effectively. Thus, I’m going to spend an indefinite number of posts describing my thoughts on color theory, and how best to utilize colors to achieve your fashion goals.

Remember that our focus here is going to be selecting clothes (in this case, colors) with a specific purpose. I can’t tell you what purposes or goals you should have, I can only give guidance on how to achieve the goals I personally choose. I hope that you can apply the techniques I use here to your own fashion goals. Do not be intimidated by this process. In reality, it doesn’t take long to come up with a reason for what you’re wearing, nor does it take long to implement it. Plus, once you’ve designed a few outfits, they can of course be reused later on, without all of the thinking.

For those interested in the theory of colors in its own right, I must refer you to Itten’s The Art of Color. It really is the best thing out there on the subject. Even those with more ancillary interests in color (like mine) should pick up a copy. There are, of course, more basic introductions available freely on the web, which you might want to check out first, so;

I’ll keep this pst updated with links to the newest related articles both from my blog (as I crank them out) , and any other materials I find on the subject out on the web:

On fashionablemathematician:

Chapter 1: Basics and Definitions
Chapter 2: Effects of Individual Colors
Chapter 3: Simple Color Combinations
Chapter 4: Proportions and Intensities
Chapter 5: Monochromatic Combinations and Coherence
Chapter 6: Complementary Colors and Contrast
Chapter 7: Split and Dual Complements
Chapter 8: The Intermediary Contrast
Chapter 9: Analogous Combinations

Outside Links:

http://www.worqx.com
http://www.colormatters.com/colortheory.html