Outfit Color Scheme: Primary Colors

Oddlilbean
by Oddlilbean
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If you've read any of my past posts, then you know how much I love color and playing around with different color combinations. I've also mentioned briefly that I'm an elementary school art teacher, and that has honestly been a surprisingly huge influence in how I've started thinking about pairing different color combinations together. This is not because I need to dress the part in clothes that sometimes seem like they were dyed in some weird mixture of rainbows and unicorn vomit, but more so because by teaching the color wheel and other art elements over and over again, I also gain a better understanding of the concepts and how to implement them in things like...my outfits. So, with this post, I'm going to focus on putting together outfits using the primary colors (blue, red, and yellow), which will hopefully give you inspiration for your own styling when playing with colors.

The two outfits above are pretty standard and straightforward on what you would expect for combing red, yellow, and blue together in an outfit.


With the first outfit, I've done what I've mentioned before in past posts where I "sandwich" the colors or patterns. What I mean is I take one of the colors, in this case red, and I have a style element on the bottom in that color (the leggings), and I have a style element on top in that color (the necklace), with the rest of the colors and elements sandwiched in between to help give a unified look. (Everything in this outfit is thrifted)


With the second outfit, I originally almost went with a black or red shirt, which was fine, but at last second I decided to switch it to the yellow shirt to help pull out some of the yellow in the dress print and also to really bring the focus on the dress on the straps since this is a dress I made, and I was really proud of how it turned out! I also designed a matching head scarf, which I'm thinking of making more of at some point with some other scrap fabric. (Everything else is thrifted)

This outfit is less intense than the previous two. I picked up this White House Black Market dress at Goodwill a while ago, and I loved the cut and quality of it (plus it still had the belt, which is rare!), but the color is a little bland for me personally, so I styled it with different accessories that are primary colored to give it a pop of color and make it a little more fun. The blue element is very subtle with the earrings, but not everything needs to be the same intensity.


This outfit is back to turning up that intensity scale with a bright red floral lacey dress thrifted from Goodwill. I added the red headband and red leggings, and I could have continued to keep it in the monochromatic family with a red jacket and necklace, but at the time I actually didn't have any red outerwear, and it was pretty chilly out since I needed something. Again, something neutral would have worked fine, but I wanted something more eye-catching, which is why I went with the toned-down yellow jacket also thrifted from Goodwill. Since I was already playing with adding more color, I decided to go full primary and add the blue necklace instead of the red necklace you saw in previous pictures (both also thrifted from local flea markets).

For the last outfit, it is mostly self explanatory with the red and blue. Instead of having that typical bright yellow you except for a primary color scheme, I opted for the cream/tan color of the sweater and scarf and gold of the earrings, which all border in the yellow family . Everything but the dress is thrifted. The dress is a Calvin Klein dress I bought for my high school graduation ten years ago and amazingly still fits and in great condition, so I still use it a lot for layered looks like this one since it offers such a nice base because of its beautiful solid blue color, but that's a post on layering for another time!

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Oddlilbean
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 3 comments
  • LunaR1776 LunaR1776 on Jan 26, 2022

    I have a lot of the dreamy mustard yellows in my wardrobe but want to add more reds.

    (I predict I’ll say a variation of this next sentence on most of your posts 😅) You have the quirky tips I’ve needed. I want my quirkiness to show in my outfits.


    I adore the back of that dress, the criss-cross.. the buttons… it’s really special. Makes me think of helping grandma put clothes on the line, holding the clothes pins for her.. while she wears her duster dress she wore when she did chores. 🥰 I remember her clothes pin bag had a big button on it (I also have her button collection- that I just can’t allow myself to mend or enhance anything with but mom says I should try something I’ll wear- that grandma would have wanted me to use at least some of them haha)

    • Oddlilbean Oddlilbean on Jan 29, 2022

      I'm glad you find my tips helpful! It's funny because I have the opposite issue in my closet where I have ton of red and just a few yellows but have been working on adding more.


      Thank you! And that's a lovely memory 😊. You could add them to the clothes you wear and then cut them out if you ever want to get rid of the clothes so that way you don't lose any of the buttons. I have a lot of clothes and accessories from my grandparents that I like to wear as a way to remember them 🥰


      I'm realizing my comments never posted as a reply to yours, so I'm reposting and fixing that with this comment. Too bad I can't delete the hold ones. Oh well 😓

  • Oddlilbean Oddlilbean on Jan 26, 2022

    I'm glad you find my tips helpful! It's funny because I have the opposite issue in my closet where I have ton of red and just a few yellows but have been working on adding more.


    Thank you! And that's a lovely memory 😊. You could add them to the clothes you wear and then cut them out if you ever want to get rid of the clothes so that way you don't lose any of the buttons. I have a lot of clothes and accessories from my grandparents that I like to wear as a way to remember them 🥰

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