Creating a Color Story

Color stories are common for apparel collections. A color story is a palette of colors which designers use to identify individual garments as part of a collection for a season or line. Retailers use color stories to organize product and create a visually appealing display. Check out the current shipment of fall apparel for Lauren Ralph Lauren (available at Macy's):

Which colors do you see in this color story? Furthermore, think about why a color story is useful when you are shopping.

Did you know that a season's colors and prints are determined up to two years in advance? Forecasting companies use data research upcoming trends in color and fabric to determine what will be popular for the season they are researching. However, culture (pop culture, street culture, the arts) also has some influence over upcoming trends. Once colors are determined, fabric mills will dye fabric which they will then bring to trade shows for designers to look at and ultimately buy sample yardage for the collection they're working on designing.

Think about it: your favorite mustard yellow sweater from last fall was determined to be a popular color back in fall 2010. Crazy, right?

When I am pulling together an outfit, whether for myself or for a cluster of mannequins, I try to keep an eye out for pieces in a similar color story to create a cohesive outfit without looking monochromatic. Here are two outfits I styled in May of last year which provide a pretty good example of a color story:

In the first photo, my color story was cool with teal and seafoam green, anchored by black. In the second photo, my color story felt nautical (and cool, again) with navy/white stripes, blue, and a pop of yellow to warm up the look a bit. While mixing several colors can be impactful (ie: colorblocking), it's often much easier to stick with one or two main colors and one accent color. One of the reasons designers stick to a color story for a collection is to encourage shoppers to buy multiple pieces at once. Basically, color stories provide a one-stop-shop opportunity for people who might otherwise have a hard time coordinating outfits.

All of this said... I generally like to jam as many colors into an outfit as possible. As easy as color stories can be, in my book, there's nothing wrong with going for gold and dressing as a rainbow!