Why I rarely wear pastels
When you follow my block already for a while, you know that my favorite color is black. I already loved black when I was a toddler. Yes, and if there were a darker color than black, I would wear it!
Concerning colors, I have a confession to make. I am not into wearing pastels at all. They wash me out! They don’t let me play up the dramatic contrast of light skin with olive undertone vs. dark color. They compete with my skin for the contrast to the dark brown eyes and ash brown hair. I even wish I had inherited my mom’s eye color for an even starker contrast! Her eyes were nearly black with a slight brown undertone. You barely could see her iris! So beautiful. <3
Beautiful young pastels
Don’t get me wrong. I love these pastel coats in clear light blue, or clear light pink. Clear pastels (not muted) are so stunning on our light blonde sisters. Think of Rosie Hunnington-Whiteley or Karlie Kloss in their stunning pastel brown camel coats. <3
Pastels with warm undertones look perfect on red heads with cooper undertones or strains in their hair or on strawberry blondes. These pastels even look romantic when the item is lace. These looks are head-turning – think of Nicole Kidman in her pastel apricot-pink lace dress on the red carpet years ago. <3
Pastels that look plain old
There are pastels that make you become invisible in the crowd. I can’t recall that I ever saw a person who looked stunning in them. But I remember that all people who wear these colors have one thing in common. They just look old. They are non-flattering. These pastels are the ones that I never liked and never will like: Soft (muted) pastels like greige, surf crest, sand, lavender, mauves, violet, viola, beige, Dutch white, egg shell, sandy beach, blossom, spun pearl, Spanish white, cherub, Mexican red, vista blue, or whatever fantasy name these so-called Old People colors may have. What a waste of black and color with a lot of white from a color mixing point of view!
How to wear pastels when they are not so you
As you know, I am a ballroom dancer. Thus, some performances require to wear pastels. How do I pull them off? A week prior to the performance I start tanning with self-tanning lotion to reduce the skin pastel contrast. Prior to the performance I put on makeup, tons of makeup. You wouldn’t even want to see a closeup. You can find an example of me wearing a salmon pink ballroom gown at the link.
Furthermore, I try to look for a pastel color that is on the slightly deeper side like salmon pink or brighter side like a pastel hot pink. Going down the Snow White road.
And in real life? I keep the pastels away from the face and in small doses with colors that are more me like my dark gray with the pastel pink belt outfit at this link.When I wear them close to the face like in today’s OOTD I add a dark contrast close to the face too.
How do you wear your pastels? Do you also have an ambiguous relationship to a color or group of colors? What are your challenges with respect to the choice of your clothes colors? Let me know how I can help you. Send me an email with your styling challenges.
Ageless Style linkup
Welcome to the Ageless Style Linkup party. Let’s see your ageless style outfits wearing pastels.
Please visit some of the linked up blogs and spread the word about the party for more Ageless style inspirations. Please follow us on at least one of our platforms each. Thank you.
Ana ~ Mrs. American Made blog
Daenel ~ Living outside the stacks blog
Debbie ~ Fashion Fairy Dust bloglovin
Diane ~ Fashion on the 4th floor instagram
Jennie ~ A Pocketful of Polka Dots blog
Jill ~ Doused in Pink instagram
Nicole ~ High Latitude Style blog
Paula ~ Dimples on my What blog
Shelly ~ The Queen in Between blog
Yvonne ~ Funky Forty blog
It would mean a lot to us when you spread the word about the party by tweeting have a look at these awesome outfit inspirations!Thanks for stopping by and linking up! Come back soon.
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Photos of me: G. Kramm
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