Following up on the thread on summer style (which helped a bit but I'm still lost) I thought we should start a thread specifically on color and contrast. I read the entry on masculine style regarding contrast, and part two, (as well as his recent post on contrast patterns) but when I got my personal evaluation from Tanner, he said that I'm a high contrast, which I found surprising since I'm brown with black hair. His rationale was that the brown skin forms a high contrast with a white shirt that I wear underneath.
Then I saw this style guide from realmen real style:
Brown skin and black hair, or tan skin with lighter brown hair are examples of medium-contrast. The key to outfits for medium-contrast men is simply avoiding extremes -- complementary colors in very bright shades will be too contrasting, while muted analogous colors in very similar shades of brightness will look washed-out. Triads are a good choice for medium-contrast men, since they offer good balance without being too aggressively different.
Now I'm confused. I've rocked both the white shirt - black blazer and pink shirt - blue blazer and pink/light purple shirt (medium contrast?) with decent success but am looking for a bit of a change for the summer.
All this contrast stuff sounds great in theory, but how do you actually put this into practice? In the summer months since it's harder to wear a blazer, scarf, vest, etc in the heat, color is a great way to work fashion in your favor when it's harder to distinguish one's self through layers or accessories. But it seems like there's very little info online in terms of breaking down the color wheel and showing it in practice - yes, I know about primary colors, complementary colors, etc. But I rarely see examples in practice.
I think understanding color is an easy, inexpensive way to up one's fashion game. Anyone has some good pics to post that specifically illustrate the science of contrast and skin tone?
Then I saw this style guide from realmen real style:
Brown skin and black hair, or tan skin with lighter brown hair are examples of medium-contrast. The key to outfits for medium-contrast men is simply avoiding extremes -- complementary colors in very bright shades will be too contrasting, while muted analogous colors in very similar shades of brightness will look washed-out. Triads are a good choice for medium-contrast men, since they offer good balance without being too aggressively different.
Now I'm confused. I've rocked both the white shirt - black blazer and pink shirt - blue blazer and pink/light purple shirt (medium contrast?) with decent success but am looking for a bit of a change for the summer.
All this contrast stuff sounds great in theory, but how do you actually put this into practice? In the summer months since it's harder to wear a blazer, scarf, vest, etc in the heat, color is a great way to work fashion in your favor when it's harder to distinguish one's self through layers or accessories. But it seems like there's very little info online in terms of breaking down the color wheel and showing it in practice - yes, I know about primary colors, complementary colors, etc. But I rarely see examples in practice.
I think understanding color is an easy, inexpensive way to up one's fashion game. Anyone has some good pics to post that specifically illustrate the science of contrast and skin tone?