How to Wear Analogous Colors

Schematic view to explain what analogous color are

Post author:Nicole Mölders
Reading time:7 mins read

I am very happy to introduce you to Lorna Mai who is a professional color expert from the UK. You may know her as the writer of ~~The Colour Queen~~. She is the author of this post on how to wear analogous colors to look slimmer, younger and more vibrant and effortlessly stylish.

Contents

How to Wear Analogous Colors
How You Can Wear Analogous Colors Together
Who Can Wear Analogous Colors?
Host’s Comments

By Lorna Mai

You may be wondering what analogous colors are and how they relate to fashion. Analogous colors are those colors which are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. Sometimes designers when designing their collections, whether it’s in clothing or home interiors, will use the color wheel to aid them when combining colors together. Whenever you watch a catwalk or see outfits designed by the best designers, careful thought is put into their color combinations. Take some time to familiarize yourselves with the interactive color wheel linked above and see if it will inspire you to create new color combinations. Below is a diagram of the analogous color scheme in outfits.

How to wear analogous colors together

Analogous colors are usually a set of 2 or 3 adjacent colors on the color wheel.
There is a dominant color, a supporting color and possibly an accent.
The dominant can be either a primary or a secondary color.
They blend well because they’re so similar to each other but often lack contrast.

Who Can Wear Analogous Colors?

In essence anyone can. However if you were to ask who looks amazing in an analogous color scheme, I would have to say those who have a low contrast level in their natural colorings. In other words, if there isn’t much contrast between your hair, skin color and eye color (usually Summer and Autumn skin tones) then analogous colors look great on you as you appear more blended in your appearance. I have very dark hair and pale skin, so strictly speaking I look better in colors that are more in contrast with each other.

For me, when I put together an outfit with analogous colors, I only loosely stick to the color wheel by wearing colors that are near enough adjacent to each other plus I stick to just a couple of sequential colors as I feel this is more realistic for me.

Example 1 of outfit in adjacent colors yellow and green — Example of outfit in analogous colors by Lorna Mai

Analogous color outfit in orange and yellow — Orange and yellow example outfit with dress and color in analogous colors by Lorna Mai

Example 4 Lorna Mai wearing analogous colors peach and yellow — Analogous colors outfit with skirt and top in peach and yellow by Lorna Mai

Example 5 outfit in turquoise, blue, violet — Turquoise, blue, violet example of outfit with analogous colors by Lorna Mai

Example of outfit in analogous colors turquoise, blue, violet — Example outfit in analogous colors of turquoise, blue, violet by Lorna Mai

Example of wearing analogous colors with blue skirt and green top — Blue and green analogous colors for skirt and top by Lorna Mai

Are you inspired to learn more about wearing colors? Are you interested in regular top tips on wearing colors and styles (especially if you’re over 40.) Or do you have any questions on wearing colors together?

Have you heard of an analogous color scheme? Do you ever look at the colors in the color wheel for color inspiration?

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Host’s Comments

Lorna Mai explained one of the difficult to pull off, but incredibly stylish color combination. When you are new to using analogous colors, start with what works with a neutral of your best colors. More on easy looks in analogous colors.

You can find more color combinations strategies in my Styling Fashion Colors guides like how to wear pink over 50.

You can practice and improve your color-combination abilities effectively with my Fashion Coloring Pages e-book. It is a great resource for great color combinations and how to find inspirations for new (to you) pairings. Best, you can print each outfit page and color it in different combinations as often as you want. Doing so allows you to compare and reach which combinations speak to you.

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