Do you love the concept of a capsule wardrobe, but don’t think wearing neutrals all the time is right for you? I’m 100% with you.

One of the comments I get the most often is how nice it is to see a capsule wardrobe with color. Personally, I agree! I understand the appeal of neutrals - they can be timeless, play very well with other colors, and make for a very versatile wardrobe, but I think I would get bored if I wore only neutrals.

Beyond creating a capsule wardrobe with color, understanding the basis of color theory can help you make better use of your wardrobe. Understanding how colors relate to each other and how to best pair them can open your mind to combinations you may not have thought of before, and the good news is that color theory is very easy to learn!

What is color theory and how does it apply to my closet?

In the simplest of terms, color theory is a set of guidelines on how to use color and the effects that different combinations have in a design, or in this case, in an outfit. It is best represented by the color wheel, which was created by Sir Isaac Newton, and it displays three main categories of colors: primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.

Primary Colors

Primary colors are those that cannot be mixed from any other colors, and the combination of which creates all other colors we see in the world. There are only three of them: red, blue, and yellow, and they sit equidistant to each other in the color wheel.

Secondary Colors

Secondary colors are mixed from two primary colors. There are also only three of them: orange, green and violet. Secondary colors also sit equidistant to each other on the color wheel.

Tertiary Colors

Tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary color with a secondary color. There are TONS of them; if you think of a color wheel, the wheel itself is 360 degrees, so there are one degree variations of tertiary colors all around the color wheel.

For the purposes of this video, I keep it very simple with only six, but you can see how these can vary depending on how much of the primary or secondary color is added to the mixture.

All the colors that appear at the edge of the color wheel are called ‘pure colors,’ and they represent colors at their highest intensity (meaning, they have not been diluted by white, black, or grey). In order to create the many different hues we see in nature, pure colors need to be manipulated in some way.

Color vs. Hue

Oftentimes when we use the word ‘color,’ what we are really trying to convey is a color’s ‘hue.’ If you see a beautiful baby blue sweater in a department store and think ‘I love that color!,’ what you really mean to say is that you love the hue of the sweater. The word color refers only to pure colors, while any variations or dilutions of those are referred to as ‘hues.’

There are three main ways to manipulate a color to create all the hues that we can see in the world.

Tints

Tints are any pure colors with the addition of white. As you may imagine, pure colors get lighter as more white is added to them, creating different tints of that pure color.

In the diagram below, white has been added incrementally to the same primary red circle to show how the color changes from pure red, to baby pink. Pink, is interesting to note, is not a pure color on it’s own, but a tint of red.

Shades

Shades are any pure colors with the addition on black. Contrary to tints, shades get darker as more black is added to them, and can even present as black with a slight undertone. In the diagram below, you can see both the tints and shades of the same primary red.

Tones

Contrary to tints and shades, which only manipulate pure colors, tones are manipulations of any hues with the addition of grey. This is how we get muted tones, like ‘dusty rose’ and even some pastel tones (see what I did there?). Here, you can see all of the same tints and shades from before, with a bit of grey added to them.

All of the tints, tones, and shades of a pure color form a color family. When building a color plan, or color scheme, any color from a color family can be used to create a harmony or contrast to other colors.

Color Schemes

Successful color plans, either in a design or in an outfit, almost always feature a dominant color and have other colors play more of a secondary role. In order to know which colors play nicely together, we refer to the color wheel.

There are two main ways to use color in an outfit:

Contrast: uses colors based on difference, colors that have nothing in common with each other (think of red and green, they don’t share a color at all).
Harmony: uses colors based on likeness, colors that share the same base. For example: violet, blue, and green all share blue.

Within these two pillars, there are several color schemes that serve as guidelines on how to pair colors together for a successful color plan.

Monochromatic Color Schemes

Monochromatic color schemes use only the tints, tones and shades of the same pure color. In order to create a successful monochromatic design, it is important to select hues that vary in intensity, otherwise the design can look a bit flat.

This is a good example of a monochromatic outfit. The difference in texture of both black items gives the outfit a bit of interest.

Complementary Color Schemes

Complementary schemes use colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel and have nothing in common. These can be a little bit too shocking on the eye, but in order to use them, we can use different hues of a pure color to tone down the intensity and make it more pleasing.

This is an example of a red and green complementary scheme without the harsh contrast.

Analogous Color Schemes

Analogous schemes feature one main pure color, and a few neighboring ones that all share a common color. It can make for a very pleasing color palette that is very easy to match, so it’s a good place for beginners to start experimenting with color pairings. However, I don’t recommend that you only use analogous colors for your entire wardrobe without any pops of a complementary color, because analogous color palettes will either always be warm or always cool, and it’s important to have some variety in your wardrobe.

Analogous-Complementary Color Schemes

This scheme uses the complementary color of the main featured color in an analogous scheme. This can be a very beautiful option for beginners as well, especially someone who knows they look good in specific tones. The complementary hue adds interest to the outfit without clashing.

This would be a great color palette for a lawyer, for example. Pops of color while still being elegant!

Triadic Color Schemes

Triadic color schemes use three colors that sit equidistant to each other on the color wheel (think of primary and secondary colors). Triadic color schemes can also be a bit jarring on the eye, which is why they are often used in marketing, but manipulations of the pure colors can make for a beautiful color palette.

I do recommend that if you are using a triadic color palette, you use different color intensities. Using only tints or only shades will have the same clashing effect as using the triadic pure colors.

Pure color triadic schemes are common in cartoon characters, but can be too much in real life!

Split-Complementary Color Schemes

This scheme uses the two colors adjacent to the featured color’s complement on the color wheel. These combinations tend to be very pleasing to the eye.

Even if you haven’t designed your wardrobe with a specific color palette in mind, I hope this gives you an idea of how you can start using the different guidelines of color theory to combine your clothes in ways you haven’t thought of before.

This is the first video in a series I am starting on my channel all about color. I want to show you how you can best use color to make the most out of your minimalist wardrobe, starting with the very basics of color theory, to picking colors for your capsule wardrobe that will work well with your complexion, all the way to how to create a color palette that you love! If you don’t want to miss the next videos in the series, don’t forget to subscribe to my channel before you leave! You can click here to do so.

Understanding the Basics of Color Theory Will Drastically Improve Your Wardrobe