Color combination is really an important part when it comes to making a first impression, because it confers a personal touch. Through colors, you communicate more about yourself and most people process color interpretation faster than other aspects of your look. It is a very refined way of communicating information about you. Nevertheless, it should always come down to your personal judgment, and how you look at colors.

There are, however, some guidelines that can be used to make a color combination that is interesting and pleasing to the eye.

How many colors?

It is hard to give an exact answer to this question, but in general one can say that the risk of using too many colors is greater than the risk of using too few.

Too many colors will make you look hard on the eye, as there is a crowd of colors demanding for attention, so it is really tiring to the eyes.

On the other hand, wearing just a few colors, makes your look boring, but this does not always need to be the case.

One commonly used rule that you cannot go wrong with in these matters, is to use three colors. You will need a:

Primary color: This is the main color of the outfit. It will occupy most of the area and set the tone for the outfit as a whole i.e black suit

Secondary color: This is the second most used color on your outfit and is usually there to “back up” the primary color. It should be a color that is pretty close to the primary color or a color that makes a good contrast i.e. white shirt

Highlight color: This is a color that is used to emphasize certain parts of your outfit. It is usually a color which contrasts more with the primary and secondary colors, and therefore, it should be used with moderation. It is common to use a complimentary or split-complimentary color for this (see below)

You can and should use these types of colors for every outfit you wear, if it’s a casual outfit, a work outfit, or, of course, a formal outfit. There are some combinations that go for more formal outfits, while some combinations go with casual or sport outfits. Usually darker colors are seen as formal, while bright color combinations are seen as sporty and fun. The color wheel is not something used just in art, it is used for clothing too and it’s the result of many, and we mean many years of experience.

The Color Wheel

The color wheel is very useful when you want to combine colors in a way that is pleasing to your and everyone else’s sight. Below we will demonstrate some of the most common ways to combine the colors of the color wheel. Choosing colors by looking at the color wheel is highly useful for people who don’t know how to choose colors. Of course, some people can choose colors from instinct, but if you analyze the combinations they make, you will see they follow the same rules, just that in an unconscious way.

Analog Colors

The analog colors are those colors which lie on either side of any given color. Often these are color schemes found in nature. An outfit that makes use of analogous colors usually feels harmonious. The secondary color, as described above, can often be an analog color.