A quick guide to putting color in your outfit

So you’re young and you have a closet full of clothes — some you remember buying, some your family bought for you, some are from that time your friend dragged you to a thrift shop. How do you put these random clothes into a cohesive outfit? What about clashing colors? Your mom told you not to wear navy and black, but why? Isn’t there a thing about wearing white after Labor Day? Or was it Arbor Day? Most rules you’ve been told are bullshit, but there are a few guidelines based on the ways that pigments are made that can help you make your outfits either stand out or blend right in.

Here’s your guide to figuring out how color works (or doesn’t) in your outfits.

Our weapon: the color wheel.

Before we get to clothes, we have to talk about color theory. Theory is all about the the addition or subtraction of color. There are a lot of different color systems — CYMK for printng and RGB for TVs. Clothes use a pigmentary system, sometimes called RYB (for red, yellow, blue) — this just means that you get colors by mixing real world things like inks and dyes. If you had an elementary school art class, this is the system you’re thinking of.

All the color in your clothes can be described as a hue, tint, tone, or shade based on how far it is from the base color. When you combine one of the three base, primary colors (red, yellow, blue), you get a secondary color. Adding a primary and a secondary color makes a tertiary color and so on. When you combine all colors into one, you get brown, the chromatic neutral. When you remove all color, you get black, the achromatic neutral. Neutrals are named this because if you include a neutral in a color palette, it generally won’t affect it too much. Clothing in particular also has a place for almost neutral colors, which can act like neutral colors in most scenarios.

The most important color in your outfit is your skin.

Before we even talk about which one of your shirts matches the belt that your mom gave you, we have to talk about the most important piece of color you wear: your skin. It’s tempting to think that your outer skin color determines what colors look good on you, but that’s just not true. First, any color can look good on someone if they find the right shade or hue. Second, it’s your skin undertone that tells you what, generally speaking, looks good. Finding your undertone can be done in a few ways, but the three most common tests are the closet test, the arm test, and the jewelry test. These will tell you if you have a neutral, warm, or cool undertone.

Once you know you’re undertone, you can determine which colors should dominate your outfits. Obviously, this is just a guide. There are exceptions to this, but generally speaking, people with warmer undertones should stick to warmer colors in their outfits and cool colors as accents and people with cooler undertones should do just the opposite.

Finally, some schemes to make your outfits work.

Keep it simple. A monochromatic outfit is a very striking look good for going out to an event or party. It usually appears very modern and clean, particularly if done with a suit or slim dress. Using only colors based on a single hue does bring up the risk of having colors that are too similar. You never want colors to almost match. They should either be the same or distinct and different. Monochromatic outfits tend to lengthen and slim the body.

Family ties. Analogous color schemes are made from colors from the same family (red and blue make purple, for example). These schemes in an outfit tend to be a little more restrained than a high contrast outfit. These color schemes are good for the office or for an event where you don’t’ want to draw too much attention to yourself. Warning: pairing warm colors with cool colors, even if they are next to each other tends to draw a lot of attention to the colors and contrast.

Contrast. Complementary pairs, contrary to the name, rarely compliment each other when paired in equal amounts. This is because they are the highest contrast pairs you can wear. Some people even say to never wear complimentary colors on the same outfit. Since one part of the pair is always cool and one is always warm, you should pick the half of the pair that looks better on you and build the outfit around that color. Use the other color in a few accents, such as a pocket square or handbag. This will draw attention to those accents and make your outfit stand out.

Accents, accents, accents. A split complementary color scheme is really good if you have a favorite color that dominates your wardrobe and you want to introduce new colors. For me, I took all my blue dress shirts and started pairing them with patterned orange and purple ties. The key with this is to let one color dominate the look and use the other two as accents.

Poised and balanced. This is one of the most common color schemes. While it’s core is made up of three colors, most people only use two (blue suit with a red tie is a very common look on guys). This limits some of the fun you can have. Since we’re introducing three or more colors in this scheme, be sure to use muted shades and tints to make sure your outfit isn’t louder than you. This scheme is really useful if you have a lot of accessories or layers.

Lots of color. This can feel really scary, but comes up most when you introduce patterns. It can be a little tricky to pull off, but when you do, it looks amazing. With four colors, you can either let one color dominate and use three as accents or balance all of them out more evenly. One thing to keep in mind is that if you do introduce a pattern or print, let it be in control. Let it direct the other pieces of your outfit.

No bias. This kind of outfit is relatively simple to assemble, but tend to either be the center of attention (in a bad way) or fall into the background. Many people would advise to never wear all neutrals and to never mix neutrals, but they are just wrong.

Tips and tricks to keep in mind.

Dress for the occasion. The brighter the color, the more attention it draws. This is really useful at a party or a bar, but not appropriate ate formal or business occasions. Additionally, people tend to wear darker shades in the winter and autumn and lighter tints in the summer and spring. This comes from the fact that darker clothes absorb more heat than lighter clothes. Traditionally, springtime is when you bust out the pastels you haven’t gotten to wear since summer. Need more instruction? We have a flowchart.

The buddy system. Generally, every accent you introduce should have a buddy that it right next to. A tie should match a pocket square. Belts should match the shoes. This provides some balance to an outfit and prevents you from looking too top heavy or bottom heavy.

One metal at a time. To go for a more masculine look, jewelry needs to be restrained: a watch and cuff links, maybe a wedding band all with simple metals and neutral colors. For a more feminine look, jewelry can take center stage of an outfit with elaborate costume necklaces featuring a lot — if not all — of the color of an outfit. No matter what, try to keep jewelry to either all gold (or gold colored) or all silver (or silver colored) since mixing them can make an outfit unnecessarily loud.

Rules aren’t rules. The cardinal rule of style is that there are no rules. Your clothes should be a way of expressing yourself. Everything in this guide isn’t meant to restrict you — you can ignore it! This is meant to challenge you to try new things with color.

Try it yourself.

Do you think you want to try out some outfits? Print off the Accord Color Wheel and try adding some new color combinations to your next out. I suggest hanging it up right next to your closet.