Knowing how to analyze prints this season is an important process because there are so many beautiful prints on tops and especially dresses. Being able to analyze prints will allow you to determine if their design lines and colors match your Body Element clues.
In the last four blog posts you learned to analyze the:
I picked the prints for their color combinations. Then I decided to analyze the prints for their relative lightness and darkness, scale and shape. In this post you’ll learn how to bring them all together.
Throughout all the posts, you looked at the same prints so you can learn the process. In this post you’ll see each print individually with its:
- Color combination
- Relative lightness and darkness of those colors
- Scale of print
- Shape of design lines
Analyze Prints -- Ralph Lauren Print Jersey Surplice Dress
- Color Combination: Monochromatic
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: High Contrast
- Scale: Small
- Shape: Angular
This print has a monochromatic color combination in the blue family. The colors’ relative lightness and darkness go from light, first rung on the color wheel to the last rung creating high contrast.
The scale of the print is small with the overall shape as angular. Note how the overall design creates horizontal and vertical lines making a weave effect.
Analyze Prints -- Ralph Lauren Floral Fit & Flare Georgette Dress
- Color Combination: Monochromatic
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: Medium Contrast
- Scale: Medium to Medium/Large
- Shape: Curved
I put this Ralph Lauren floral print in the monochromatic color combination category because its feel is mostly monochromatic. It’s in the yellow-orange family with specs of dark grey/blue. However, when you look at the overall feel of the print, it feels like one color family.
Its colors have a cream base and yellow-orange (second rung) flowers with splashes of a dark grey/blue. The overall feel is low to medium contrast.
This print has a small/medium scale. At first glance one might think medium or medium/large. But, if you look at the visual weight with so much white space between the flowers, the scale decreases.
Finally this print is full of curved shapes with very few angular shapes created by the flower stems. Also when you look at the whole dress the overall feel is curved.
Analyze Prints -- DKNY Printed Faux Wrap Dress
- Color Combination: Monochromatic
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: Medium Contrast
- Scale: Medium/Large
- Shape: Curved with elements of angular
This DKNY print is in the yellow family with a touch of yellow/orange creating a monochromatic color combination. This print has a cream base with flowers of yellow/oranges on the fourth and second rungs. This combination creates a medium contrast print.
The actual size of this print is medium/large but again the white space around the flowers (visual weight) causes the overall scale to be medium.
Finally this print has a floral design. The flowers are larger in shape and there are spots on the flowers that are angular along with many stems. The overall feel is curved. However, if every other element, color, color combination and scale works for you this could be a candidate if you have an angular face. Try it on to determine how you feel in it.
Analyze Prints -- DKNY Printed Chiffon Faux Wrap Dress
- Color Combination: Analogous
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: High Contrast
- Scale: Medium/Large
- Shape: Curved with elements of angular
The main color in this DKNY 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 blues and blue/greens in this print vary from a blue/white to the darkest color navy. This combination in color lightness and darkness creates high contrast.
The overall print scale is medium/large. The flowers in this print have mostly curved edges with some angular lines. If the colors, color combinations and scale work for you and your face is angular, it might work for you. You just need to try it on to see the overall feel of the dress.
Analyze Prints -- Tommy Hilfiger Belted Chiffon Midi Dress
- Color Combination: Analogous
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: High Contrast
- Scale: Medium
- Shape: Curved
This Tommy Hilfiger floral print includes blue and green colors. 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 relative lightness and darkness of these colors vary from white to medium blue and green to a dark green/black creating high contrast.
The scale of this print is medium and its overall shape is curved.
Analyze Prints -- Calvin Klein Printed Elbow-Sleeve Button-Front Chiffon Maxi Dress
- Color Combination: Analogous
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: Medium Contrast
- Scale: Medium
- Shape: Curved
This Calvin Klein print has colors from all three side-by-side color families: yellow-orange, orange and red-orange creating an analogous color combination. The colors vary from a light yellow/orange to a medium orange to a darker red/orange (fourth rung) creating a medium contrast.
The scale is medium and the shape is curved.
Analyze Prints -- Tommy Hilfiger Printed Jersey-Bell Sleeve A-Line Dress
- Color Combination: Triadic
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: Medium Contrast
- Scale: Large
- Shape: Curved
This Tommy Hilfiger 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 creating a triadic color scheme. It also has some red-orange and blue-green. This print is a perfect example of why prints can be so hard to analyze. Just remember to concentrate on the overall feel.
The overall feel of this print is medium contrast. Its colors range from a first rung blue/green to a fourth rung blue/green and red/violet to a second rung yellow/orange.
This print is large scale. Notice how a swirl is as big as a body section. Finally, this print is paisley and is a classic curved print.
Analyze Prints -- DKNY Floral Print Puff-Sleeve Faux-Wrap Dress
- Color Combination: Triadic
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: Medium Contrast
- Scale: Small/Medium
- Shape: Curved
This DKNY floral print’s colors are red, blue and yellow creating a triadic color scheme. It has an overall feel of medium contrast even though there are splashes of light blue flowers. The majority of colors are on the third rung with navy blue as the background.
Its scale is small/medium and the print shape is curved.
Analyze Prints -- Calvin Klein Sleeveless V-Neck Maxi Dress
- Color Combination: Triadic
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: Medium Contrast
- Scale: Medium
- Shape: Curved
This Calvin Klein print’s colors are violet, green and orange creating a triadic color combination. It has an overall feel of medium contrast. The colors range from a background of light violet with flowers of violet and orange on the third rung to green leaves on the fourth rung.
Its scale is medium and its shape is curved.
Analyze Prints -- Vince Camuto Petite Floral Print Midi Dress
- Color Combination: Complimentary
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: Medium Contrast
- Scale: Medium/Large
- Shape: Curved
The complementary colors in the Vince Camuto floral print are yellow-orange and violet with the yellow-orange being the dominant color. The relative lightness and darkness of this print has an overall feel of medium contrast with a base color of medium yellow/orange with flowers of a light violet and darker violet (fourth rung) and splashes of green.
The scale of this print is medium/large and the shape is curved.
Analyze Prints -- Ralph Lauren Floral Balloon-Sleeve Dress
- Color Combination: Complimentary
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: Medium Contrast
- Scale: Medium
- Shape: Curved
This Ralph Lauren floral print has blue and orange colors creating a complimentary color scheme. These colors are found on the intensity color wheel. The relative lightness and darkness of these colors is medium contrast.
Its scale is medium and its shape is curved.
Analyze Prints -- Tommy Hilfiger Floral Print Faux-Wrap Dress
- Color Combination: Complimentary
- Relative Lightness and Darkness: High Contrast
- Scale: Medium
- Shape: Curved with elements of angular
Finally this Tommy Hilfiger print has the complementary colors of red and green with splashes of blue-green. Its relative lightness and darkness is medium contrast.
It has a medium scale. Its scale is curved with angular elements in the stems and leaves.
Analyzing prints can be a tricky process. No wonder many women decide to wear only solid colors. Like anything the process to analyze prints can be learned. The steps are to analyze the prints’:
- Color combination
- Relative lightness and darkness of the colors
- Scale
- Shape
Start the process by knowing your base colors. If the print doesn’t have these colors in them, pass over the print. By doing this first step you’ll eliminate a lot of prints.
Prints can bring variety to any outfit because they can be paired with different solid colors. As a result you can create several different outfits making the cost per wearing go down and you don’t have to have as many clothes in your closet.
Next week’s post starts a new series of going back to basics. I’ll talk about all the body elements and the clues they give through the eyes of the girls in my logo.
Wear Your Greatness!!
