When shopping for dresses this season you need to be able to analyze print color combinations. There are so many great prints this season and being able to analyze print color combinations will help you go from Plain Jane to Proud Mary.
In my experience analyzing print color combinations can be difficult. So difficult in fact that many women decide only to wear solid colors. I get it. When writing this post, at times it was hard to decipher some of the color combinations.
You want to determine the overall feel. What colors pop out when you first look at it? As with everything in life, the color combinations don’t always fit into the color combinations boxes. They’re only there as guidelines to help you navigate what colors and color combinations help you feel like a million dollars. That’s the whole point of this analysis.
I want you to know that analyzing color isn’t an easy process for most women. You need to train your eye to see color and color combinations. You don’t have to learn everything about all colors, just the ones you like. Start with prints in your favorite colors and look at what colors are being matched with them.
In this post we’ll review the different color combinations and then we’ll analyze print color combinations. We aren’t considering the relative lightness or darkness of these colors and the scale of prints. Those will be addressed in future posts.
You can do this in store or online. To learn how to analyze clothes online read my last post: Analyze Design Lines Online. I’ll be using the online method to analyze print color combinations in this post.
To review which color combinations enhance your natural beauty go to: The “3 Bears” Of Color Combinations — Color Combinations.
Analyze Print Color Combinations -- Color Combinations In-Review
In color theory there are four color schemes or combinations:
- Monochromatic
- Analogous
- Triadic
- Complementary
Monochromatic Color Combination
Monochromatic color combinations use different lightness and darkness of the same color.
Analogous Color Combination
Analogous color combination uses three colors side by side of each other.
Triadic Color Combination
Triadic color combination uses three colors which create a perfect triangle on the color wheel. This results in every fourth color. The primary colors of red, blue and yellow are an example of a triadic color combination.
Complementary Color Combination
Complementary color combination is two colors on the opposite side of the color wheel.
Analyze Print Color Combinations -- Dress Prints
Monochromatic Color Combination
The first print is all in the blue family. The colors go from light, first rung on the color wheel to the last rung.
The second print doesn’t fit 100% into the monochromatic color scheme. It’s in the yellow-orange color family with splashes of a dark color. In this picture it feels like it’s from a blue family but it’s not clear. However, when you look at the overall feel of the print, it feels like one color family.
The third print is from the yellow family with a touch of orange.
Analogous Color Combination
The first color you notice in the first print is a medium tone blue. It’s paired with a dark blue and a lighter blue-green. This analogous color scheme has only two color families: blue and blue-green.
The second print’s color scheme is blue and green. However the green has a little yellow in it but not enough to make it yellow-green. As a result, it can fit into the analogous color scheme.
The third print has colors from all three side-by-side color families: yellow-orange, orange and red-orange.
Triadic Color Combination
This first print can be hard to analyze because at first glance it appears to have all the color families on the color wheel. Ask yourself what colors stand out when you first look at it. For me I see red, blue and a little yellow. It also has some red-orange and blue-green. This print is a perfect example why prints can be so hard to analyze. Just remember to concentrate on the overall feel.
The next print is definitely a red, blue and yellow triadic color scheme.
Finally the last print is violet, green and orange.
Complementary Color Combination
The complementary colors in the first print are yellow-orange and violet with the yellow-orange being the dominant color.
Blue and orange are the colors in the second print. These colors are found on the intensity color wheel.
The final print has the complementary colors of red and green with splashes of blue-green.
With the practice of analyzing print colors you’ll learn which combinations are right for you. Always start with your favorite colors and then determine which other colors you like to pair with it and in which amounts.
I tend to go for a triadic color scheme with red and blue with splashes of green and yellow. The colors are mostly jewel tone with black and white. When looking for prints to analyze my eye kept going for prints with this combination in them. I had to consciously pick other colors and color combinations.
In the next post, I’ll analyze these prints for relative lightness and darkness of the colors. It’s called: Analyzed Print Color Lightness And Darkness.
Wear Your Greatness!!
