Colour Palette Trial

During the past few weeks of the fcp course, we have been developing ideas on a possible colour trend to focus some work on. Choosing this story itself was quite difficult, as I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. I have always used pastels and slightly quieter tones when associated with fashion photography or media previously, and so I decided a change was in order. Therefore, I decided to use block primaries; red, blue and yellow which have been used together in a bright contrast to create a vibrant look. Using this colour story, I collected clippings from magazines and took photographs to create an idea of how these colours have been previously used in both the fashion and lifestyle industry. I particularly looked at the YSL block patterned dress (as shown here); which was initially inspired by the famous artist, Mondrian, and became popular during the 1960’s, and used this to help me create a colour palette based on all the information I had collected.

Choosing the right shades of blue red and yellow was particularly difficult, as although this was a clashing and bright palette, I still wanted them to work well together, and not be too ‘in your face’ that they would not be wearable as fashion. Taking this into consideration, I dulled down the brightness of the yellow so that it was still a stand out colour, but could be interchangeable in future with both the red and blue. I also decided to incorporate some neutral colours into this palette to add complexity, but also more options for designs; as I had found many designers use these bright primary colours with more basic colours to make them stand out even more against these plainer shades. Beginning with black and white, I then altered them slightly so that the white had a hint of cream in it, and the black a charcoal colour, as felt this would add more sophistication to the palette rather than using these stand out basics. I also altered the placement of these colours so that they were ordered from lightest colour to darkest, as in my opinion, this works best to the eye and makes each colour eye catching.

sing these finalised colours, I then looked at the volume and proportion of each colour section. Beginning with using the bright primary colours as the main focal points of the palette, I decided to use the blue as the dominant colour, as found that on my mood board, around half of these photographs used this cobalt blue. I then used yellow as the next largest colour section due to 30% of the images using yellow, and only around 20% of the images I liked used red, causing me to decided to represent this with giving it a much smaller section of the palette. Taking the YSL dress as inspiration, but adapting to suit the research I had done, I separated the colours in block patterns using the white and grey as separators. I really like the way that this created a fashion-focused and influenced palette which really represents the information I had previously collected about these colours. I also feel this gives the palette more depth as has deeper connotations behind it which link well within the fashion industry.

 

However, I also wanted to experiement with opposing proportions, using the grey and white as main colours with the primary bolds as accents. This is shown in the colour palette created below, however I do no like this one as much and much prefer the YSL block inspired one above, as feel this better represents the theme I am trying to portray and the findings I collated during research.

I plan to continue experimenting with the proportions and tones of these primary colours in order to ensure they are perfectly representing my ideal colour palette. I hope that by doing this, will give me a better understanding of where to go with the next task, and will act as a cue to the colour themes I may use throughout this project, and what proportion of colour I should be using most and least. I really enjoyed this task, and can't wait to see what we do in next weeks seminar already!
#fcpreflection