Now that you’ve had a week to mull over the bellydance costume color theory from Part 1, I’m going to make it even more complicated! ( Once again, all photos are from http://www.tigercolor.
So, now that you know all of your colors and you’ve decided which ones you like and gravitate to. Now what? Do they even look good together? What would I pair it with?
Here are a few ways to go about it:
Complementary colors
These are colors that are on opposite sides of the color wheel. They can be tricky and must be chosen carefully as full on primary colors put together can be jarring. HOWEVER if you want something to stand out, this is the way to go.
Analogous Colors
These are colors that are right next to each other on the wheel. This is a very harmonious color pairing, soothing and pleasing to the eye. Green to blue, makes sense, right? Make sure to use enough contrast with each color so that they blend but don’t meld into each other and all look the same. Usually one color is dominate, the other supports and the third is an accent. For instance, the green is the dominate, the lighter green supports and the blue is the accent.
Triadic Colors
Tri- meaning three. Three colors are chosen in a triangle shape on the color wheel, evenly spaced. Isoceles for those geometry nerds.In this case, there is one dominant color and the other 2 are accents.
There are quite a few more but I think that our costumes are typically limited to a few colors- unless you get a patterned fabric but that’s a whole other animal.
Now, take a look at your costumes, which one of these theories do you use the most? Which are you lacking? Maybe that’s where you should start for color combos to spice up your dance closet!