the power of the palette

Do me a favor: the next chance you get, walk up to your wardrobe, take a picture, and then make a list of all the colors you see. You might have a sea of neutrals (like me), where black and whites mingle with beiges and creams. Or you might have a ton of denim blue in all shades from chambray to deep wash. Or are you someone who loves the visual abundance of all the jewel tones and all the brights?

Hands-down the biggest shift in my making came when I stopped to define my wardrobe palette – which range of colors I was happiest wearing – and committed to sticking to that palette for all my new purchases and makes.

This doesn’t mean you need to restrict yourself to black and white, of course (unless that kind of simplicity inspires you, as it does my mother!). But it is extremely helpful to take a look at your wardrobe favorites with an eye to color: what range of colors are you already working with? And if you have any outliers, how often are they getting worn?

If you’re like me, you might have two or three wardrobe mainstays: in my case, they are off-white/oatmeal, navy blue/denim, and charcoal grey. These form the backbone of my closet choices, and I can put together tons of outfits with just these three shades. These form the foundation of your palette.

The question then becomes, how many other shades are fun to play with? Do you have three or four more that give character to your outfits? Colors that make your heart happy, or cause people to give you compliments when you wear them? Here’s where you can add a bit of spark to your day-to-day. Depending upon how much variety your eye craves, you might have just one or two ‘character colors,’ or you might throw the door open to a bunch. But I do find it helpful to keep a rein on the number of colors you’re working with in your closet: too many, and it will be harder to make choices when it comes to yarns or fabrics to work with – or you end up shopping without a sense of what will mix in well with what you already have.

Of course, you can work with a professional stylist and have your ‘colors done’ – this helps you identify which tones and shades work best with your skin, hair, and eyes. But once you get that list of possible colors, it’s up to you to narrow it down to what is manageable: what’s the right number and array of colors in your personal palette that lets you express yourself with joy but without overwhelm?

Personally, I keep my palette to a short list of ten:

• White/off-white

• Oatmeal

• Light grey

• Charcoal grey

• Navy/denim

• Light blue/chambray

• Camel

• Ochre

• Teal

• Olive

The first four are my foundation colors, and together they represent about three-quarters of my wardrobe. These neutrals (white/off-white/oatmeal, light-to-dark grey, and light-to-dark blue) are usually at least half of what I’m wearing on any given day; and each of them has the advantage of going with any of my remaining character colors. Camel, ochre, teal, and olive are the other elements I throw in for leavening: they add interest and character to an outfit (and are also fun colors to knit or sew with - my eye just enjoys them).

You can also flex your color choices seasonally: in winter, I tend to stay closer to the white/cream end of my palette, and softer, lighter blues and lighter greys are in the mix. Among my summer clothes are more saturated tones like turquoise and all the shades of denim and chambrays; then when the days get shorter in Fall, I bring in olive and ochre and colors that are closer to what I’m seeing on the trees outside.

[My hairstylist would remind us at this point that if you change something about your appearance, like bleaching or dyeing your hair a vastly different color, you may find you need to shift your color palette around! When I went redheaded briefly, I had to put a ton of my lipsticks in a time-out! And now that I’ve gone platinum blonde, I have to balance out the whites and off-whites with a bit more contrast so I don’t fade into the woodwork.]

Once you’ve identified your core set of colors (for a particular season or year-round), see if you can’t restrain your future makes and purchases to this palette. It can be hard, I know, to resist that cool new yarn in a pop of color that your eye is really drawn to (ask me about bright orange!), but trust me - given the time you’ll be spending making a piece, it’s so nice to know that it will fit seamlessly in with your other wardrobe players.

I keep this palette firmly at top of mind by carrying around little visual reminders: knot together snips of yarn and tuck that cluster in your wallet, or go to your local paint store and gather up a set of paint chips (which works like the fan deck you get when you have your colors done). If you keep these with you, you’ll have something to refer to when the temptation strikes to pop that fabric or yarn in an outlier color into your shopping basket.

[How do you manage those colors that your eye loves but you just don’t wear? Do what I do with my love for bright orange: keep it to small accessories (my watch band), or other small daily-use items that you have near you but don’t wear, like a phone case, pencil case, or laptop sleeve. I write with purple ballpoint pens for this reason: that’s the only place I enjoy the color purple!]