Colour Wheels : In Contrast

I've mentioned the uses of colour wheels before on this blog, and I wanted to do a couple more posts on the topic.

One way that you can make your outfit stand out from the crowd is by using contrasting, polar opposite col
ours. But sticking and two colours together isn't always going to look good. Here, I have a quick guide to what it means to use contrast colours, and different ways you can use these colours to your advantage.

What It Is:

Contrasting colours are classed as those sitting directly opposite each other on the colour wheel. While there are many different kinds of colour wheels, the end result is always the same. PURPLES are opposite YELLOWS and GREENS, while BLUE is opposite ORANGE and TURQUOISE is opposite ORANGE, and so on.

Ways To Wear:

There are so many different ways to combine contrasting colours, but the two main choices are Same or Different undertones - by undertones, I'm referring to the shade/hue/tint, for any art folks reading this.

Same Undertones:

Same undertones leave both colours competing with each other. If they're the main focus, this is great, but you will want to leave accessories relatively plain if you want the colours to be the stars. 

What this means is, your two colours share some kind of overlapping theme. IE; both pastels, both dark toned, both grey toned.

Different Undertones:

Different undertones mean that one item has a greater visual impact that the other. This is good if you want to use several different colours, or use a lot of textured and printed items.

What this means is, they are complete opposites in every way. IE; Neon and pastel, grey toned and bold, dark and light.

Ratio "Rules"

There are also ratio "rules", though I find them to be less applicable to fashion than they are in art in photography, but they're always a good place to start.

The Typical:

Red : Green = 1:1

Blue: Orange = 5:3
Purple:Yellow = 6:1

What this essentially means is that for everyone 1 (inch, pixel, item, etc) of red, you need 1 in green. While you need 6 purples for every 1 yellow.

6:3:1

This concept is a little more complex.

Usually used with complimentary colours, this is the one I personally tend to use. It's the ideal if you are aiming for 3 or more contrasting colours

Like above, it's about a ratio. In this case, it's 6 of the "main" colour, 3 of the "secondary" colour and 1 of an "extra". Ideally, your "extra" should either be a colour complimentary to one of the other two, or a neutral.