How to Introduce Colour to your Closet!
Add colour to your wardrobe this fall! This year's color palette is inspired by bold colours, textures, animal print, and metallic accents.
Often, I find that plus size women are told they should only wear black — but that’s not true at all. You can wear whatever you want (I promise). If you’re loving black and it makes you feel confident with your curves, then way to go, keep doing you! But if you find you’re looking wistfully at racks of colour and don’t know how to start, or you’re just looking to branch out – then we’re here for you.
It can become a habit to avoid colour because it feels more complicated to style and we like to stick with what we know. But just ease yourself into it.
Adding colour also doesn’t mean you have to dive straight into neon. A little pop of colour can be as small as trading in a black shirt for heather or cream.
We’ve put together four outfits to get you started with mixing up your wardrobe. Everything featured can be found in our online store or in our storefront in Cobourg, Ontario.
1) Start slow with neutrals
Pair blue jeans with a cream turtleneck and peplum blazer.
These blue jeans are spiced up with silver piping to follow your figure and pop your curves. Slip on a cream turtleneck or one of another neutral shade.
Ease into colour with neutrals. This outfit is great if you’re not yet feeling comfortable enough to reach for the bolder shades because it plays with a lighter palette. Throw on a blazer to give your outfit an edge, the one pictured is a textured blazer from Cold Water Creek and is flecked with gold.
The cut of this blazer will create more shape for you rather than adding bulk — the peplum design brings the material in above your waist, and then flairs out slightly just above where your jeans will button up. This kind of cut will make for a really flattering silhouette. The pleats and detailing around the collar make this blazer a neutral that’s far from boring.
Continue the gold detailing into your accessories with gold accents on this cream purse and a fine-link chain. Finish the outfit with either a leather or tan bootie. This will keep the outfit stylish and more casual than professional.
2) Go for subtle tones
Edge colour into your outfits with colours like burgundy, and dark-tone greens and blues. For this outfit, we’ve paired a burgundy shirt with army green pants. Neither colour is fighting for the spotlight, instead, they compliment each other.
The burgundy shirt is another peplum fit, it’s tunic length, so it’ll be a little longer than a regular t-shirt. You can let it fall overtop of your pants, or you can tuck it in at the front or on one side just in front of the hip. This will add length to your leg if you’re working with a high-waisted pant.
Accessorize with a tan or beige purse and layer these gold necklaces from Stella and Dot – layering is big right now because it makes any outfit seem more stylish while keeping up the effortless-chic look. We’ve also thrown in some gold hoop earrings. Gold jewellery blends well with most colours so it’s a great accessory choice for when you’re experimenting with your wardrobe.
For this look we’ve thrown in a brown wide-brim hat and either a brown suede bootie or a leather sneaker. Both shoe choices are “elevated casual.” The leather sneaker is funky and fun, and the brown suede bootie will stand out, feel more casual, and be more practical than a heeled leather boot.
What makes this outfit work is that it’s a combination of muted tones like burgundy, dark greens, tan, and gold. They come together to create a fall-tone palette rather than singling out a pop of colour.
3) Make the most of accents and patterns
For this look, we’ve started out with black leggings as a base, then built onto that with a light button-down shirt from Maurice’s and an army green jacket overtop.
The colour focus is on the button-down which is white with accents of peach, burgundy, green, and blue. Plaid patterns like this one can bring in many touches of colour at once so it’s important to be careful how you use colour with the rest of the outfit – more colours, especially at the focal point of your outfit, will make it slightly easier to cause clashing (pairing colours together with don’t compliment each other).
We’ve gone with a black base for this outfit because the shirt brings in a lot of different pastel tones and has a knit texture up the sides – so there’s a lot going on with one shirt. The black leggings ground this outfit and might make you feel better about venturing out of your comfort zone with the top.
We’ve gone for army green again with the jacket which blends well with the other colour accents used – it’s not clashing – and it ties in with the shade of green in the button-down. For the shoe, the blue slip-on matches with the shirt’s blue pastel accent, or you can opt for a lined, brown boot if you’re on the move for the day.
Accessorize with a wine-coloured purse with gold accents, little gold hoops and a bracelet, and a layered gold chain for some understated elegance.
4) Work with textures as well as colour
For the last look, we’ve gone casual! These grey ripped jeans are super cool, rolling up the cuff will taper them a bit at the bottom, so they’ll show off your ankles and give the rest of the jeans more shape.
We’ve also picked out a black t-shirt with a teal and white graphic. Paired with the jeans and a long, white open-knit sweater, this top goes from being a band tee to a piece which is pulling the whole outfit together. The teal, over-the-shoulder purse pops the teal in the shirt, the same way the knit sweater pops the white.
Teal isn’t a pastel or a super bright tone, so using it as the central colour accent with white and black gives this outfit an edgy feel. It takes the black and white from being safe and plain to being funky – this outfit lets you use black, but also reinvents it.
Pick between textured cheetah print Air Walk slip-ons or silver-toed Dr. Martens sneakers (either choice is a good choice). The orangey-brown cheetah print pops with the teal accents, but the sneakers tie in with the silver hoops and bracelet.
Hopefully this is enough to get you started with colour – if you’re feeling overwhelmed at the idea of styling a whole outfit, just swap out one item in your everyday wear for a little bit of colour until you feel more comfortable. Alternatively, stick to the colour palette you’re happy with and swap in new textures or patterns to get a little adventurous.
Browse our online store or come by the Kathleen’s Wears if you’re looking for anything we mentioned in this post or a little extra guidance when it comes to colour. We’d love to help you find what you’re looking for.
Drop us a message through our social channels or send us an email if you have any questions or need help styling.
We’re here for you!
Kathleen, this is terrific! I wish I could buy all the outfits because you have combined the items so well and your text is energetic, positive, reinforcing, and informative.
Well done Kathleen.