Patterns -v- Plains

A friend and long term client of House of Colour sent me through this link earlier in the summer with the comment ‘I’m speechless!’   

From the raft of comments that bounced around social media it clearly hasn’t rendered everyone speechless!  The majority of comments, humorous though many were, merely shared the opinion that they didn’t like the outfits.  However, opinions abound in the 21^st Century, it doesn’t take much of an invitation for them to fly generously and freely in the absence of action.  And with the Games now behind us (didn’t they do well!) the reality of the action, predictably far outweighed any commentary on the outfits.

So, with the caveat that the quality of the photograph may well be distorting the colour I’m going to lend my opinion. This is unusual for me because I generally prefer to ‘live and let live’.  If someone makes a different choice to one I might make, or selects something I actively dislike, I question them to understand what is driving their choice - criticising it says more about me than them.

Opinion 1: Select colours for a garment or outfit from ONE colour season to get the best benefit.



When it comes to choosing clothing with patterned fabrics I frequently despair.  I somehow missed learning about the colour wheel in school and so, it appears, have many fabric/pattern/designers.  Many beautifully styled garments appear ruined by the uneasy combination of colours the designers have selected.

  

These examples reinforce my belief that any discipline requiring participants to combine colours needs first to understand the colour wheel.  Further, when these colour combinations are to be worn by people, an understanding of how these colour families (we call them seasons) relate to the myriad of skin tones so that a range can be designed as close to the mid-point to suit as many as possible or, as Kettlewell intend, to cover all seasonal options so there is something for everyone.

‘Designed by textile artist Jilli Blackwood, the uniform includes turquoise, fuchsia and navy tartan’

This all sounds fine, until you discover the background is caramel (see below).  Navy and turquoise can bridge the gap between cool and warm tones but fuchsia is firmly rooted in the cool spectrum as much as caramel is in the warm.  To all you foodies out there, that’s like putting ketchup on your apple crumble or sugar on your bacon!

Opinion 2: Don’t mix patterns

At the age of 5, my friend’s daughter showed up wearing all her favourite clothes!  On a 5 year old it was cute and funny to be so ‘busy’, not classy, sophisticated or elegant though.  Patterns are fabulous but please show them in their best light by complementing them with a supporting plain and probably in a neutral colour.  If you MUST mix patterns, then learn how to recognise those that match in scale or at least genealogy. I believe we respond positively to balance and harmony and this is a wonderful example of inharmonious scale, colour and style all pulling in different directions – a tug of war with more than 2 ends!

The dresses are a nice touch, but at what point did Jilli think a ripple pattern would support and complement a tartan?  Looking at her appearance the answer is clearer, but therein lies the difference between creating an outfit which makes a statement reflecting your unique personality and designing uniforms and dressing for the masses.

One response tweeted ‘It’s refreshing and a definite surprise’ !

My fervent prayer is that fabric and pattern designers learn how to harmonise and complement – leaving competition to the athletes! 

The Hidden Cost of Discomfort

15 years ago I bought my first adult bike.  Thanks to injuries sustained in a motorbike accident several years earlier I included front suspension and at the suggestion of the sales assistant, a suspension seat post. 

I loved riding that bike and regularly rode around the local lakes and meadows, into town and took the children to the ‘ice-cream’ park!

And then one day, disaster struck; it broke.  (Overly) confident from my regular riding, I discovered it was almost as cheap to buy a replacement bike as it was to repair it; a quick test ride around the car park and I was the proud owner of a new bike.

12 months later I realised that the bike was hanging dormant in the garage, I had stopped riding; why?  It hurt! The height of the handle bars was too low and, combined with the angle, left me with significant wrist pain after 10 minutes of riding.  And let’s say the contribution of the suspension seat post, I’d forgotten to specify, was sorely missed!

We often say to clients that we will wear something 2 or 3 times before regularly overlooking it in the wardrobe in favour of something else if it’s not comfortable.  Unfortunately, that recognition doesn’t always filter up to the conscious mind and so those items that we liked and spent good money on, reside as squatters in our wardrobes under the illusion that they will be worn again, one day! 

If it is a relief to take your clothes off at night, be sure that something is wrong. Clothes should not be a burden. They should be a comfort and a protection.

Ellen Swallow Richards

How many times have we tried to replace a favourite item with little success?  I was so comfortable on my original bike, I hadn’t realised which bits of the specification were important. 

I used a recent activity holiday to test out some different specifications and realised that the fundamental mismatch between my architecture and this new bike meant that the sensible solution, if I wanted to return to riding, was to admit my mistake, cut my losses and purchase another new bike – this time paying attention to replicating the original specification which had clearly worked.

Frequently, with our clothes, we don’t recognise what it is about an outfit which makes it enjoyable to wear, (colour, style, pattern, fabric, texture, fit, flexibility, durability, quality etc) which is why the replacement is never quite the same.  I’ve often felt this is partly due to the fact that we’ve never learnt what we need or quite what the comfort gives us!

I've been quite a late developer on the clothes front, but I've suddenly realised it is one of life's joys.
Benedict Cumberbatch

With the onset of this glorious summer, so the inspiration to try a little more exercise gained momentum and I’ve ventured out on a few early mornings.  My body’s memory of painful riding is fading; the more I ride my new bike, the more inclined I am to go again.

My usual forays are either 30 minutes on my own, or a slow amble of not more than 1 hour with the children.  On seizing a rare opportunity to go for an hour a few months ago, I discovered my helmet was the wrong shape for my skull and gave me a painful headache L.  I don’t expect you’ll be surprised to learn that I’ve enjoyed experiencing the wind in my hair of late! 

BUT, I had a friend who once said ‘£10 head, £10 helmet’ and he had a point – it saved my life on the motorbike.  So, guess where I went today?  That’s right, to buy a new helmet!

I’ve long suggested to clients that they wear a new outfit, especially shoes, around the house for a few hours at a time to make sure they are comfortable before that important occasion. 

I have a clear memory of one client who, just prior to heading off to Cyprus for her dream wedding, fortunately took this advice.  Her dress and lace overcoat were finished but on collection, and one final try, she discovered she’d lost weight.  The dressmaker hastily altered the dress for her and sent her happily on her way.  On arriving home, she asked me around to help make sure everything was perfect and we discovered that in haste, the lace overcoat was not re-tried at collection and thus had not been altered to accommodate the weight loss.  With a few days to spare before departure, and an obliging local seamstress, she still had time to fix it.

More than that, on ‘test driving’ her shoes around the house she discovered that 30 minutes was the absolute limit before that the ankle strap became uncomfortably tight.  A quick visit to the local cobbler to fit an extension piece and all was well.  We often laughed about how different her experience of her wedding might have been, distracted by an ill-fitting coat and painful shoes.

So here I sit, tapping away on this blog entry, wearing my new bike helmet (mine is silver J). Do I feel stupid? Not really! The children are in bed, my husband is at work and I’m not expecting anyone to arrive. 

I’ve adjusted the tension 2-3 times - I won’t be stopping every 5 minutes to adjust and readjust.  I’ve also used a pair of scissors to trim an irritating piece of ribbon where it has been frayed near the stitching on the chin strap.  I don’t tend to carry scissors with me on bike rides - that would have been just a little annoying!  Time well spent.  And more than that – if after an hour it doesn’t feel good, I can take it back to the shop for a replacement or refund having thoroughly tested it.

I love this quote from George Harrison:

There is one thing I have learned and that is not to dress uncomfortably, in styles which hurt: winkle picker shoes that cripple your feet and tight pants that squash your balls. Indian clothes are better

My ‘Indian Clothes’ don’t look so ‘Indian’ but I’m with him all the way on the comfort, it's a false economy to ignore it!