ysabetwordsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2021-06-13 03:49 am
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2021-06-13 03:49 am
Entry tags:
Maybe-Colors for Unisex Dressing
Previously I mentioned the use of maybe-colors in unisex or nonbinary dressing, so I decided to list some examples. The neutrals (black-gray-white in cool, brown-tan-ivory in warm) are unisex, but most people want accent colors. There are also some oddball neutrals that mix warm and cool tones.
Maybe-Colors
Amber
The stone amber is fossilized tree resin, which is most often yellow to orange, so amber as a color usually means yellowish-orange. But the stone can also be other colors like brown, black, red, blue, or green. Amber is readily available in synthetic and natural fibers. Some traditional leather tanning methods yield various shades of amber too.
Chartreuse
This is a vivid yellow-green, sometimes called acid yellow or acid green. It appears most often in synthetics and often carries a luminous quality. It's one of the boldest accent colors.
Glas
This Celtic color word is most often translated as blue or green, but it can also mean gray, silver, or black. It really means "ocean-colored," and like the ocean can be calm or ominous. It's a good term for a cool, watery color that looks different depending on the light or what you wear it with. This color appears a lot with overdyed natural fibers, either two dye baths or dye over naturally tinted fiber, and some natural dyes also produce this range.
Greige
This is a pale blend of warm beige and cool gray, making it sort of a light taupe. The mix of warm and cool means you can wear it with either, and it's one of those colors prone to shifting with the light. Quite a lot of unbleached, natural fibers fall in this range such as hemp and some wool. Greige is a light neutral, worth considering if you don't like white or ivory.
Feldgrau
This is a cool gray-green, sometimes with bluish tones. It is the cool counterpart of olive, which is a slightly brighter yellow-green. Warm-toned people often use olive as a near-neutral base color, and feldgrau can serve the same purpose for cool-toned people.
Hazel
Most often cited in eye colors, hazel is a blend of blue, green, and/or brown, rarely with gray tones. It's often used as a catchall for any ambiguous color in this general range. It tends to be warm, but can mix warm and cool tones. Its brownish or grayish versions can work as a medium near-neutral base color.
Huathe
Another Celtic color term, this one has been translated as dark gray, brown, or purple. It really means "terrible-colored," and is typically cited as storm-colored or bruise-colored. It's kind of like taupe, but spookier. You can sometimes get a good huathe from walnut hulls mordanted with iron. If you just want to fuck with people, consider huathe as a dark neutral.
Iolite
The stone iolite is bluish-purple, sometimes with grayish tones, but changes color from different angles. It's another that often appears in overdyed fibers, but shot-silk can duplicate its color-changing ability. This is also a known failure mode of indigo dye, so watch for it in marked-down or outlet-mall jeans.
Mauve
This color is pinkish-purplish-gray across quite a wide range, appearing in both natural and synthetic fibers. It can be obtained from a variety of bark and lichen dyes. It's a soft color that many people find reassuring. Interestingly, if you like craft-bleaching T-shirts, black, coffee brown, and midnight blue all have a chance of fading to mauve. Top-quality tie-dye colors also creep to mauve if you do single-color tie-dye with them. Ice-dyeing and snow-dyeing will also get you some fantastic maybe-colors thanks to the magic of chemistry and physics.
Orchid
This is a bright pinkish-purple. Many orchid flowers actually are this color. It appears mostly in synthetic fibers. Sometimes people call it "thistle" but thistle flowers tend to be pink. An easy place to find it is fancy men's dress shirts, which have a lot of different almost-but-not-quite-pink tints. It's an eye-catching accent.
Oxblood
This dark red can have brownish or purplish tones. It's easy to find in leather, especially dressy shoes, but also appears widely in autumn clothes. Because the color is used by both genders, a fun switch is wearing a shoe style for a gender contrary to your appearance or the rest of your clothes, and oxblood chelseas make a great unisex shoe that isn't sneakers. This makes a very interesting choice of base color for your leather goods.
Rust
This is a fairly bright shade of orangish-brown. It has slight variations in russet, fawn, and fulvous. It's a base of autumn palettes and goes with most warm colors. It is widely available in natural fibers or leather, but harder to hit in synthetics. Some sheep come in a surprisingly bright shade of rust, almost orange. If you want an eye-catching near-neutral as one of your base wardrobe colors, rust is a good bet.
Stone rose
A grayish-pink color, this shows in some desert flowers, and certain lichen dyes. This color is just plain hard to find, but like other not-quite-pinks, great for messing with expectations.
Taupe
This is typically brownish-gray but can have purplish tones. It balances warm and cool shades, so it can go with either. You see it a lot in wool, suede, and synthetic ultrasuede. Lots of people wear this as a medium or dark neutral, especially for their leather goods.
Teal
Balanced between blue and green, teal is like a dark turquoise. It can lean either way, which influences whether it matches better with warm or cool colors. It's widely available in both natural and synthetic fibers. This is among the most popular accent colors.
Yellow-grey
Most people can't even see this one, because it requires being able to see yellow and blue colors at the same time without merging them into green, and standard human eyes don't do that trick (although there are ways that may simulate it). But there are references to it in Celtic tradition, it's an eye color in that gene pool, and I see it most often in sunlit stormclouds. I've also seen it in sheep wool, but I doubt anyone is dyeing this on purpose. You could probably get it by overdyeing soft yellow on light grey wool or blue-gray on blonde wool. If you can find or make this, it would be another interesting base color for messing with people, and looks spectacular if you have the matching eye color.
Maybe-Colors
Amber
The stone amber is fossilized tree resin, which is most often yellow to orange, so amber as a color usually means yellowish-orange. But the stone can also be other colors like brown, black, red, blue, or green. Amber is readily available in synthetic and natural fibers. Some traditional leather tanning methods yield various shades of amber too.
Chartreuse
This is a vivid yellow-green, sometimes called acid yellow or acid green. It appears most often in synthetics and often carries a luminous quality. It's one of the boldest accent colors.
Glas
This Celtic color word is most often translated as blue or green, but it can also mean gray, silver, or black. It really means "ocean-colored," and like the ocean can be calm or ominous. It's a good term for a cool, watery color that looks different depending on the light or what you wear it with. This color appears a lot with overdyed natural fibers, either two dye baths or dye over naturally tinted fiber, and some natural dyes also produce this range.
Greige
This is a pale blend of warm beige and cool gray, making it sort of a light taupe. The mix of warm and cool means you can wear it with either, and it's one of those colors prone to shifting with the light. Quite a lot of unbleached, natural fibers fall in this range such as hemp and some wool. Greige is a light neutral, worth considering if you don't like white or ivory.
Feldgrau
This is a cool gray-green, sometimes with bluish tones. It is the cool counterpart of olive, which is a slightly brighter yellow-green. Warm-toned people often use olive as a near-neutral base color, and feldgrau can serve the same purpose for cool-toned people.
Hazel
Most often cited in eye colors, hazel is a blend of blue, green, and/or brown, rarely with gray tones. It's often used as a catchall for any ambiguous color in this general range. It tends to be warm, but can mix warm and cool tones. Its brownish or grayish versions can work as a medium near-neutral base color.
Huathe
Another Celtic color term, this one has been translated as dark gray, brown, or purple. It really means "terrible-colored," and is typically cited as storm-colored or bruise-colored. It's kind of like taupe, but spookier. You can sometimes get a good huathe from walnut hulls mordanted with iron. If you just want to fuck with people, consider huathe as a dark neutral.
Iolite
The stone iolite is bluish-purple, sometimes with grayish tones, but changes color from different angles. It's another that often appears in overdyed fibers, but shot-silk can duplicate its color-changing ability. This is also a known failure mode of indigo dye, so watch for it in marked-down or outlet-mall jeans.
Mauve
This color is pinkish-purplish-gray across quite a wide range, appearing in both natural and synthetic fibers. It can be obtained from a variety of bark and lichen dyes. It's a soft color that many people find reassuring. Interestingly, if you like craft-bleaching T-shirts, black, coffee brown, and midnight blue all have a chance of fading to mauve. Top-quality tie-dye colors also creep to mauve if you do single-color tie-dye with them. Ice-dyeing and snow-dyeing will also get you some fantastic maybe-colors thanks to the magic of chemistry and physics.
Orchid
This is a bright pinkish-purple. Many orchid flowers actually are this color. It appears mostly in synthetic fibers. Sometimes people call it "thistle" but thistle flowers tend to be pink. An easy place to find it is fancy men's dress shirts, which have a lot of different almost-but-not-quite-pink tints. It's an eye-catching accent.
Oxblood
This dark red can have brownish or purplish tones. It's easy to find in leather, especially dressy shoes, but also appears widely in autumn clothes. Because the color is used by both genders, a fun switch is wearing a shoe style for a gender contrary to your appearance or the rest of your clothes, and oxblood chelseas make a great unisex shoe that isn't sneakers. This makes a very interesting choice of base color for your leather goods.
Rust
This is a fairly bright shade of orangish-brown. It has slight variations in russet, fawn, and fulvous. It's a base of autumn palettes and goes with most warm colors. It is widely available in natural fibers or leather, but harder to hit in synthetics. Some sheep come in a surprisingly bright shade of rust, almost orange. If you want an eye-catching near-neutral as one of your base wardrobe colors, rust is a good bet.
Stone rose
A grayish-pink color, this shows in some desert flowers, and certain lichen dyes. This color is just plain hard to find, but like other not-quite-pinks, great for messing with expectations.
Taupe
This is typically brownish-gray but can have purplish tones. It balances warm and cool shades, so it can go with either. You see it a lot in wool, suede, and synthetic ultrasuede. Lots of people wear this as a medium or dark neutral, especially for their leather goods.
Teal
Balanced between blue and green, teal is like a dark turquoise. It can lean either way, which influences whether it matches better with warm or cool colors. It's widely available in both natural and synthetic fibers. This is among the most popular accent colors.
Yellow-grey
Most people can't even see this one, because it requires being able to see yellow and blue colors at the same time without merging them into green, and standard human eyes don't do that trick (although there are ways that may simulate it). But there are references to it in Celtic tradition, it's an eye color in that gene pool, and I see it most often in sunlit stormclouds. I've also seen it in sheep wool, but I doubt anyone is dyeing this on purpose. You could probably get it by overdyeing soft yellow on light grey wool or blue-gray on blonde wool. If you can find or make this, it would be another interesting base color for messing with people, and looks spectacular if you have the matching eye color.
Re: Yes ...
I did that! I went out yesterday looking for more shirts, and I happened to find a t-shirt that was almost identical in colour to the oxblood pants I bought. *happy flap* I almost got a plaid flannel shirt that had oxblood and other colours too, but I ended up not loving it as much, so went with other shirts instead.
Those other clusters sound useful too. I might looking for shoes or a purse at this point, or some jewellry since those seem the most likely and most versatile; I have some beige and brown neutrals that I think would pair well with the oxblood. An outer shirt might work too, though I'm less confident in my ability to find one of those that I like.
Re: Yes ...
Woohoo!
>> I almost got a plaid flannel shirt that had oxblood and other colours too, but I ended up not loving it as much, so went with other shirts instead.<<
If you like plaid flannel, keep an eye out for it. There's often some sort of oxblood, burgundy, maroon, etc. because flannel is a fall/winter fabric and those colors fit the cool dark seasons. Plaid is great as an integrator because it combines two or more colors. Plus you can wear a flannel shirt buttoned up, or open with another shirt underneath it. Outdoorsy stores like Rural King, Big R, L.L. Bean, etc. tend to have a good selection of flannels. Shop now and you could catch end-of-season sales; the spring things will arrive soon if they haven't already. Flannel will return with the fall things in mid-to-late summer.
Think about what other colors you'd like to wear with oxblood. Beige works with either purplish or brownish versions, but brown tends to work only with the brownish maroon version. Watch for the bright browns that may be called saddle, whisky, or cognac. Navy works with most. I've seen forest green too. Sometimes in the women's section you'll see the purplish burgundy with pink. If the pink is added in small stripes, it can make an eye-popping accent.
>> Those other clusters sound useful too. <<
I'm happy I could help.
>> I might looking for shoes or a purse at this point, or some jewellry since those seem the most likely and most versatile; <<
That makes sense. If you like men's shoes, don't overlook those. Oxblood has some of the snazziest dress shoes. Sometimes it appears in women's shoes too.
>> I have some beige and brown neutrals that I think would pair well with the oxblood. <<
Get those out and test them against the oxblood you have just collected. The beige is an excellent bet; it goes with most colors. Brown will depend on its color and the version of oxblood.
>> An outer shirt might work too, though I'm less confident in my ability to find one of those that I like.<<
Options include:
* Plaid flannel, which is absolutely worth waiting until you find one you love.
* Button-up cardigan that can be worn alone like a sweater or over something else.
* Open-front cardigan that can only be worn over something else, but some people like the flowy style.
* V-neck sweater that can be worn alone or over something else, especially if made with variegated yarn or a multicolored design worked into it.
* Sweater vest.
* Waistcoat.
* Suitcoat or blazer.
* Shawl or shawl-vest, very popular in the Southwest over a blouse and skirt.
Think about what kinds of garments you like to wear and what silhouettes you prefer. Consider practicalities; I don't like things that swish around so much that they snag. If possible, try to collect a more-shaped (like a suitcoat) and a less-shaped (like a flannel shirt or loose cardigan) outer top, to give yourself options.
Since you're a fibercrafter, you also have the option of making something for yourself. Hence why I included references to oxblood yarn. Consider combining it with other colors you like, such as navy or forest green. A neutral is good, but beige is the best bet and that one's light enough to stain easily. Either keep it small or go with something stain-resistant like acrylic, because beige wool won't stay beige for long. :/
Re: Yes ...
I like the look of plaid flannel, but I find it often doesn't look good on me, so I have to be really particular. I do have a blue/black/white plaid one that actually looks good, so I may yet be able to find a serviceable oxblood one.
>> If you like men's shoes, don't overlook those. Oxblood has some of the snazziest dress shoes. Sometimes it appears in women's shoes too.<<
I will keep that in mind. I think I might see if I can find a pair of suitable shoes for my monthly reward in a few days.
>>Get those out and test them against the oxblood you have just collected. The beige is an excellent bet; it goes with most colors. Brown will depend on its color and the version of oxblood.<<
This is a good idea. It also might be a good idea to wear the item I'm trying to match the next time I go shopping; I'm not so good at recalling colour from memory.
>>Think about what kinds of garments you like to wear and what silhouettes you prefer. Consider practicalities; I don't like things that swish around so much that they snag. If possible, try to collect a more-shaped (like a suitcoat) and a less-shaped (like a flannel shirt or loose cardigan) outer top, to give yourself options.<<
I tend to go for button up cardigans myself, or sweaters of any kind. I do have a few open front cardigans, but they are not usually my first choice.
>>Since you're a fibercrafter, you also have the option of making something for yourself. Hence why I included references to oxblood yarn. Consider combining it with other colors you like, such as navy or forest green. A neutral is good, but beige is the best bet and that one's light enough to stain easily. Either keep it small or go with something stain-resistant like acrylic, because beige wool won't stay beige for long. :/ <<
This is true. I would be most likely to make a shawl I think, or perhaps a scarf, so beige might be alright there, but I will definitely keep the suggestion of stain-resistant yarns in mind. Most of what I buy does tend to be acrylic anyway, since I mainly shop at mainstream craft stores.