>> I like all the links to capsule wardrobes and colour seasons.<<
Yay! I'm glad I could help.
>> I'm not so great at fashion, and I find the 4x4 wardrobe makes sense to me.<<
I have found the 4x4 wardrobe a fantastic capsule for when you need a good selection of clothes in different types. If you made one for each season, or sets for different purposes like home and work, you could easily fill a closet this way.
For a weekend to a week, I highly recommend Whatever's Clean 13. You literally cannot clash that. It has a couple of cool tricks using this template. 1) It's arranged in a spectrum, so you can go cooler-warmer or casual-dressy, etc. 2) If you put all your patterned pieces (plaids, florals, etc.) in one row, they will never be worn together so they won't clash and don't have to match each other.
>> My problem is in figuring out how to match colours. <<
Okay, there are some hacks for that.
1) You can use standard rules.
* All the neutrals (black, gray, white, brown, tan, cream) go with each other, although some specific shades work better than others; you can't clash neutrals. To avoid boredom, consider animal prints or colorblocking.
* One bright color with one neutral is also a pretty safe bet. Most of those look good. Some are very common, like blue/white, pink/gray, red/black.
* Lighter and darker shades of the same color almost always work too: navy/sky, red/pink, violet/lavender, etc.
2) Adaptive equipment helps too:
* Upload a photo of your face to Color Chromatic to get suggestions of colors that would look good on you. Colors that are close to each other on the wheel will probably match too. The pastels are on the inside, the darks are on the outside, and if you follow an arc you see shades of one color.
* Use color theory. You can actually buy a pocket color wheel to carry while shopping to help you match things. Warm colors usually match each other; cool colors match each other. Using contrasts is harder to get right.
* Start a capsule wardrobe with one garment or piece of jewelry that uses 2+ colors. As it was made by a professional, those colors will almost certainly match. Buy other things in solid colors equivalent to those represented in the example.
* Search "clothing capsule" and what you want -- "blue" or "summer" etc. -- and look at pictures until you find a set you'd enjoy wearing. Print out that image (for store shopping) or bookmark it (for online shopping) and then try to find pieces that match those as closely as possible. Here's a main page for 4x4 since you like that.
4) Minimize shopping to avoid stress. A good way is to rely on a basic wardrobe plus accents.
* Use a Common Wardrobe in whatever color(s) or purpose you like. These things will go with a wide range of other garments.
* Use the French 5-piece wardrobe. The idea is to rely on a classic core and add just 5 new things per season. In your case, it'll be easier if you buy a set of 5 things in the same or similar color together, so you know they match, rather than one at a time. Here's a periwinkle F5 with gray & white common wardrobe. If you update your wardrobe twice a year, then chuck out the previous year's F5 from that season, and you'll minimize the chance of clashing while keeping your wardrobe fresh.
5) Buy things in sets.
* Many designers make a "line" of garments meant to mix and match. If you buy a several of those, they'll go together. Vacay is a great example, despite the expense, because they show how to add a few essentials from your wardrobe to their capsule, like this Hamptons set. To make it into a larger wardrobe, add: a denim jacket, long blue jeans, a white cardigan, a white midiskirt, white shorts, a coral sweater, coral capris, a short-sleeved T-shirt of each color, and a long-sleeved shirt of each color. If you don't add more patterns, everything matches. If you want more diversity, though, consider a tricolor tie-dye, floral, or Breton stripe.
* Get on a manufacturer's website or store rack and buy a bunch of different garments all in the same color. Frex, Vacay uses a lot of black, white, and navy so that most of their garments match easily. Building a 4x4 or Whatever's Clean 13 this way is a snap. One navy 2-piece dress, one navy/white 2-piece jumpsuit, 2 navy convertible dress/skirts, 2 navy tops = two 4x4 cores. Do a Core of Four each in white, navy, and black -- that's most of a wardrobe, just tie it together with some bicolor prints.
* When you find a garment you love, buy it in several colors. Any package of 4 compatible T-shirts = 1 Mileage Four unit in the 4x4 template. 7 different flannel shirts + jeans = autumn wardrobe.
* You can also find sweater sets (cardigan and blouse) or twinsets (top and bottom) which are fantastic if they have a pattern because they match each other but can be mixed with other solid colors. Vacay sells 2-piece dresses and rompers designed for maximum versatility. If you are willing and able to pay a premium to reduce closet stress, this kind of clothing is an excellent investment.
* Most things sold in sets will be compatible. Frex, a batch of T-shirts in red, yellow, blue, and green will all go with jeans. I made a Disability Pride Flag capsule post along these lines.
* If you pick your favorite of the Pantone colors offered new each season, it will be easy to find things in it and you will be "in fashion." You can buy a 4x4 or French 5-piece set that matches, and call it done.
6) Conversely, you can emphasize one thing.
* I had a professor who wore only purple, counting jeans as indigo. It worked for her. If that's too much, consider a single category. My partner prefers black t-shirts with pictures or words on them as his "uniform shirts" because he can wear them without needing to worry about color matching, as he favors black or gray pants.
* A wardrobe emphasizing one-piece garments will minimize the amount of matching required. Here's a dress capsule for example.
>> I'm fairly certain I'm Warm Spring, with the possibility of being able to wear Warm Autumn. <<
Well, you're confident of "warm." Use that as a search term. Some ideas:
>> I certainly like the Spring and Autumn colours from the "comparing features" link better than Summer or Winter.<<
Always pick colors you like and feel good in.
>> I just don't know how to pick colours that match with each other, or with the neutral colours, to get a coherent look.<<
As mentioned above, color + neutral will usually look good, and even if not the best possible match, won't look garish.
>> I really wish we had stores here with staff like the ones at Shrewd Dude. That would make me life so much easier. <<
I wish that too. It's why I describe them; maybe someone will try the ideas here. On the women's side, they have Basic Babe. Classique and Cinq Francs are more upscale but still easy to shop in. Then there's 4x4 for Her and 4x4 for Him, usually placed side-by-side. Feel free to prompt for those if you'd like to see more.
>> But at most stores with clothes for female bodies, either the staff is just there to do a job and not much help for fashion, or they dress or act far more ... preppy (snobby) than I want to deal with.<<
Yyyyyeah. I ran into one place where the staff pestered me, wanted to write my name on the fitting room door, and there were only three sizes none of them standard ones. 0_o (Lady, ignore the tits stuck to my chest and look at my face, do I LOOK like I'm having fun in here?) If I hadn't already found a hard-to-find item, I would've bailed. But I never went back there.
Re: Capsule Wardrobes
Yay! I'm glad I could help.
>> I'm not so great at fashion, and I find the 4x4 wardrobe makes sense to me.<<
I have found the 4x4 wardrobe a fantastic capsule for when you need a good selection of clothes in different types. If you made one for each season, or sets for different purposes like home and work, you could easily fill a closet this way.
For a weekend to a week, I highly recommend Whatever's Clean 13. You literally cannot clash that. It has a couple of cool tricks using this template. 1) It's arranged in a spectrum, so you can go cooler-warmer or casual-dressy, etc. 2) If you put all your patterned pieces (plaids, florals, etc.) in one row, they will never be worn together so they won't clash and don't have to match each other.
>> My problem is in figuring out how to match colours. <<
Okay, there are some hacks for that.
1) You can use standard rules.
* All the neutrals (black, gray, white, brown, tan, cream) go with each other, although some specific shades work better than others; you can't clash neutrals. To avoid boredom, consider animal prints or colorblocking.
* One bright color with one neutral is also a pretty safe bet. Most of those look good. Some are very common, like blue/white, pink/gray, red/black.
* Lighter and darker shades of the same color almost always work too: navy/sky, red/pink, violet/lavender, etc.
2) Adaptive equipment helps too:
* Upload a photo of your face to Color Chromatic to get suggestions of colors that would look good on you. Colors that are close to each other on the wheel will probably match too. The pastels are on the inside, the darks are on the outside, and if you follow an arc you see shades of one color.
* Use color theory. You can actually buy a pocket color wheel to carry while shopping to help you match things. Warm colors usually match each other; cool colors match each other. Using contrasts is harder to get right.
* Try some fashion apps.
https://insideoutstyleblog.com/2016/03/readers-favourite-style-and-wardrobe-apps.html
https://www.lifewire.com/best-color-matching-apps-4178379
3) Get someone else to do the matching for you.
* Start a capsule wardrobe with one garment or piece of jewelry that uses 2+ colors. As it was made by a professional, those colors will almost certainly match. Buy other things in solid colors equivalent to those represented in the example.
* Search "clothing capsule" and what you want -- "blue" or "summer" etc. -- and look at pictures until you find a set you'd enjoy wearing. Print out that image (for store shopping) or bookmark it (for online shopping) and then try to find pieces that match those as closely as possible. Here's a main page for 4x4 since you like that.
4) Minimize shopping to avoid stress. A good way is to rely on a basic wardrobe plus accents.
* Use a Common Wardrobe in whatever color(s) or purpose you like. These things will go with a wide range of other garments.
* Use the French 5-piece wardrobe. The idea is to rely on a classic core and add just 5 new things per season. In your case, it'll be easier if you buy a set of 5 things in the same or similar color together, so you know they match, rather than one at a time. Here's a periwinkle F5 with gray & white common wardrobe. If you update your wardrobe twice a year, then chuck out the previous year's F5 from that season, and you'll minimize the chance of clashing while keeping your wardrobe fresh.
5) Buy things in sets.
* Many designers make a "line" of garments meant to mix and match. If you buy a several of those, they'll go together. Vacay is a great example, despite the expense, because they show how to add a few essentials from your wardrobe to their capsule, like this Hamptons set. To make it into a larger wardrobe, add: a denim jacket, long blue jeans, a white cardigan, a white midiskirt, white shorts, a coral sweater, coral capris, a short-sleeved T-shirt of each color, and a long-sleeved shirt of each color. If you don't add more patterns, everything matches. If you want more diversity, though, consider a tricolor tie-dye, floral, or Breton stripe.
* Get on a manufacturer's website or store rack and buy a bunch of different garments all in the same color. Frex, Vacay uses a lot of black, white, and navy so that most of their garments match easily. Building a 4x4 or Whatever's Clean 13 this way is a snap. One navy 2-piece dress, one navy/white 2-piece jumpsuit, 2 navy convertible dress/skirts, 2 navy tops = two 4x4 cores. Do a Core of Four each in white, navy, and black -- that's most of a wardrobe, just tie it together with some bicolor prints.
* When you find a garment you love, buy it in several colors. Any package of 4 compatible T-shirts = 1 Mileage Four unit in the 4x4 template. 7 different flannel shirts + jeans = autumn wardrobe.
* You can also find sweater sets (cardigan and blouse) or twinsets (top and bottom) which are fantastic if they have a pattern because they match each other but can be mixed with other solid colors. Vacay sells 2-piece dresses and rompers designed for maximum versatility. If you are willing and able to pay a premium to reduce closet stress, this kind of clothing is an excellent investment.
* Most things sold in sets will be compatible. Frex, a batch of T-shirts in red, yellow, blue, and green will all go with jeans. I made a Disability Pride Flag capsule post along these lines.
* If you pick your favorite of the Pantone colors offered new each season, it will be easy to find things in it and you will be "in fashion." You can buy a 4x4 or French 5-piece set that matches, and call it done.
6) Conversely, you can emphasize one thing.
* I had a professor who wore only purple, counting jeans as indigo. It worked for her. If that's too much, consider a single category. My partner prefers black t-shirts with pictures or words on them as his "uniform shirts" because he can wear them without needing to worry about color matching, as he favors black or gray pants.
* A wardrobe emphasizing one-piece garments will minimize the amount of matching required. Here's a dress capsule for example.
>> I'm fairly certain I'm Warm Spring, with the possibility of being able to wear Warm Autumn. <<
Well, you're confident of "warm." Use that as a search term. Some ideas:
https://www.theviviennefiles.com/2012/10/another-common-wardrobe-warm-colors.html/
https://www.theviviennefiles.com/2017/11/warm-winter-common-wardrobe.html/
https://www.theviviennefiles.com/2015/08/a-summer-common-wardrobe-in-warm-tones.html/
https://www.theviviennefiles.com/2014/09/a-4-by-4-wardrobe-in-teal-wine-olive.html/
>> I certainly like the Spring and Autumn colours from the "comparing features" link better than Summer or Winter.<<
Always pick colors you like and feel good in.
>> I just don't know how to pick colours that match with each other, or with the neutral colours, to get a coherent look.<<
As mentioned above, color + neutral will usually look good, and even if not the best possible match, won't look garish.
>> I really wish we had stores here with staff like the ones at Shrewd Dude. That would make me life so much easier. <<
I wish that too. It's why I describe them; maybe someone will try the ideas here. On the women's side, they have Basic Babe. Classique and Cinq Francs are more upscale but still easy to shop in. Then there's 4x4 for Her and 4x4 for Him, usually placed side-by-side. Feel free to prompt for those if you'd like to see more.
>> But at most stores with clothes for female bodies, either the staff is just there to do a job and not much help for fashion, or they dress or act far more ... preppy (snobby) than I want to deal with.<<
Yyyyyeah. I ran into one place where the staff pestered me, wanted to write my name on the fitting room door, and there were only three sizes none of them standard ones. 0_o (Lady, ignore the tits stuck to my chest and look at my face, do I LOOK like I'm having fun in here?) If I hadn't already found a hard-to-find item, I would've bailed. But I never went back there.