Fashion is Art

As I've incorporate more art in my life, I've picked up an increased interest in fashion. Being someone who used to always go with the neutral colors such as black, gray, cream, and pastel colors I always have to challenge myself to add color to my wardrobe. I always think "oh, I don't look good in this color" but some friends of my who are supporter of me venturing out of my neutrals, assure me it doesn't look as horrific as I think. Their assurance and encouragement has gotten me to browse stores for brighter colors and my closet has started to bloom. Looking at fashion blogs has inspired me as well. I'll see outfits that just *pop* and *dazzle*, not necessarily with shiny diamonds but rather the combination of contrast, emphasis, and uniformity.

I'm going to get a little more artsy technical here. While there is variety in personal taste, there are some basic concepts that generally apply as far as what our eyes are drawn to. Our eyes are drawn to areas of interest such as bright colors (which is why safety signs are red and yellow. Black and gray probably wouldn't work as well :P ).

We are also drawn to contrasts- contrast in color,  contrast in pattern, contrast in texture. With clothing I like to have something bright but also a neutral color that balances it out. I personally don't want to be a walking wild explosion of colors. I like balance. Our eyes also notice contrast in pattern. If everything I wore was all polka dot- shirt, pants, jacket- my eyes would be overwhelmed to say the least. Balance is key. Something patterned, something plain. Sometimes two patterns can look good together when they contrast each other, but it can be a bit tricky. I have yet to challenge myself with that. Contrast in texture is another thing I'm learning from the fashion blogs. One of the reasons why I enjoy the look of a tweed jacket is the contrast of the coarse bumpy interesting texture against a simple smooth shirt.

Emphasis is something that is more eye catching than the rest. Usually using bright colors creates an emphasis. Our eyes like to see at least a part of a picture or part of an outfit to pop out. For those musicians, I think music is a great example. A great piece of music flows- it takes you on this musical adventure where part of it is more quiet and slow and then BAM you get to the chorus and volume gets loud and upbeat. Same thing with our eyes. We like it when something goes BAM. Contrast also creates emphasis. If I had a red necklace against a red shirt, yes, I'd be a whole lot of emphasis but if I wore a white necklace against a red shirt, the contrast in colors would be an emphasis that makes the look more interesting. Sounds a bit confusing huh?

Uniformity is also important. We need to find a way to tie together the many different things we've put together. A well chosen outfit it one that looks complete because it has been unified with something, often times the use of color. In general I'd say I like to have 3 colors in an outfit. All of them don't need to stand out but they just need to be noticeable. For instance, maybe I will complete a look with by wearing orange earrings that match with an orange bag. Maybe I'll wear a necklace with a cobalt blue color to it to match the blue stripes on some shorts.

Well, I hope this was interesting and gave you a little insight into art- everyday art :) Here are some outfits I wore recently. Maybe you can identify some of the concepts I talked about :D

Happy Sunday!
-M