Showing Your Colors: A Designer's Guide to Coordinating Your Wardrobe

by Jeanne Allen

Shows the color combinations which can be created with fifty-three basic colors, discusses wardrobe selection, and includes advice on picking accessories.

Genres: Nonfiction, Fashion

128 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1986

Reviews

[Denise みか Hutchins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought a copy of "Showing Your Colors" from a library book sale.  I could tell right away it was dated; the fashions depicted were terribly 80s/90s (tucked-in t-shirts everywhere! Brings back memories of elementary school...) but I purchased the book despite this because, as an illustrator, I believed the color combinations could still be useful inspiration.

My initial instincts in both cases were correct: this book is very much a child of the decade in which it was written (published 1986, the year I was born!) but it's still very useful for finding color combinations, at least for a visual artist (maybe not so much for someone actually trying to use the book to style their wardrobe).  This definitely isn't an end-all--there are a great deal many more colors to pair beautifully and stylishly--but it has so many great, well-organized options that it was well worth the fifty cents I spent on it.  I plan to keep this book handy whenever I'm working on a character-based illustration in physical media.  Changing colors is easy in digital programs, but for physical media, there's very little one can do to change colors if one decides the combination isn't working after all. It'll be useful to see colors already combined on a human figure in print instead of experimenting randomly on my own, wasting time and materials.

Something useful this book has aside from dated fashion advice is a glossary of fashion terms.  Some were actually very elucidating!  I probably won't go back to this book for the reading ever again, not even the glossary, but at least the wordy portion was interesting first-time reading (sometimes because it was hilariously out-of-touch from a modern-day perspective and sometimes because it was genuinely fresh thinking to me).  If anyone else comes across this book, don't bother with it for real-world fashion advice.  Consider other purposes for the color combinations (art, home decor, scrapbooking, gardening?) and if you find one for yourself, only then might this book be worth your time.  Otherwise, look to books published in this decade for your fashion advice :)

[Irene Adler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book you read so much as flick through.

When you have the blahs about your wardrobe or home and need a colour injection.

[Night · Rating 3 out of 5]

For whatever reason, I found this book kind of interesting. Don't get me wrong, it is dated but as 80's style has had a comeback, maybe? Either way, the writing wasn't bad and it was interesting to read the author's theory on why some colors work better together than others and I loved visually seeing the various color combinations. Despite it being dated, I did get some ideas on some color combinations to try in my own life.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be fair there isn't an appropriate rating system for Showing Your Colors.
It is both 'amazing' and horrifying. I cannot stop flipping through this book.

fave passages:
This compact book allows you to scan more color possibilities than anyone could dream up in a year.

Color coordination is, of course, only one-third of the wardrobe development process. The other two considerations are shape and texture. These last two subjects, however important, should only be considered after color selection is made.

Seriously?

This book was a little bit of fashion therapy. It's not me that was the problem, It was the 80's.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

My go-to book for planning knitting and sewing projects.