(Photo 1: Malibu beach, summer 2011; Photo 2, 4, 5: vintage turban and belt, Free People top, MinkPink dress, Kate Spade necklace, Cutler & Gross sunnies, CC Skye cuff, LF socks, Jeffrey Campbell shoes, Photo 3: a necklace display at a Los Angeles flea market, fall 2011)

***

I always say, “Life is greener when it’s candy colored,” yet it’s funny how something so simple can be so feared! COLOR! Mixing it, matching it, mismatching it… what direction to take, what paths to avoid? Bright reds and pale greens… for me? Deliciously perfect for an afternoon of shopping, spending, splurging! Please, yes, thank you! Yet they can make someone else utterly nervous, distressed, and insecure. My heart melts for this widespread panic; I’m gearing up in my Swarovski crystal-embellished armor (you think I’m lying…ha!) and fighting it to the core—my sweet colorphobics!

Isn’t it, after all, that color is what brightens our day? Makes us smile? Adds a glimmer of peace and luster to an otherwise dull palate of boring shades of grey and beige?  (A fashion synonym for boring is, in fact: BEIGE!) To conquer your color palate is to conquer your confidence.

Wearing two colors in one look, also known as color blocking, can instantly rev up your style. Start using the basic color wheel to experiment with mixing brights. Primary colors: Red, Yellow, Blue, can each, separately, be mixed ferociously, fearlessly with a secondary color: Orange, Green, Violet.

Think…

• Red and Violet: Score!
• Blue and Green: Score!
• Yellow and Orange: Score!

Rich, deep tones (primary colors) work well with lighter tones (secondary colors) because they don’t compete for the same attention—they compliment one another. Colors encompass qualities like hue (the actual color), tone (the lightness or darkness of the color), and chroma (the saturation, purity and intensity of the color), and the more you fancy yourself a Master Leprechaun of the rainbow, the more secure you will be while color-block dressing. Go bold, or go {Beige}!

Although it sounds so easy on script, going into your closet and grabbing two items from opposite ends of the rack {don’t we all color coordinate our wardrobe?} is a battle of textbook dressing vs. pushing the envelope. But a shimmery ocean blue silk top with clean-finish grass green skinny jeans and a lilac-infused Lucite cuff is a recipe for instant success, and that is undisputable your Honor!

There is, however, one glittering evil temptation that a fashionista must remember as a DON’T: the risk of dressing in the colors of your local sports team. An LA power chick should not wear yellow and purple together, same goes for a chic New Yorker in blue and orange, and a cutting-edge Floridian in sea foam green and orange. Gasp, horrors, O-M-G if your fashion is mistaken for… {costumery}!

Like all things in life, there is a time and place for everything. Going Beige is downright chic for an office meeting, a dinner with the in-laws, and a job interview…wait, all of those events sound like a snooze-fest…go figure {Beige}! So for a greener life, a life with butterflies, rainbows, lollipops and smiles, throw some candy color into the mix!

xo, elshane