Bright Winter (BW) is often described as both eclectic AND regal – and it is, and it can be. Contrast and excitement are built in to the palette, but on a Bright Winter, these saturated colours acquire context and look natural and appropriate. The wearer makes the palette work, and the palette enhances the wearer.
As is traditional and rightly so, Bright Winters wear the corporate uniform of black and white equally well alongside the other two Winter tones.
True Winter’s utterly cool black and white are clear and beautiful on a true winter, but a 12-tone Bright Winter needs a dose of sunlight to melt the ice; the trick is to chose a neutral-cool black and white.
Step one: here is where we begin…
What if our BW wants more than the traditional B&W corporate look? Here is one of (hundreds) of alternatives that our Bright Winter may chose:
Depending on the need and work place culture our BW can go to the extreme ends of their 12-Tone palette with their accent choices. We could keep it safe by using 12-Tone Corporate 4.5 “Black” and 1.1 “White”. Here instead we have added a statement Corporate 1.7 “Red” for the top, replaced the black jacket with Corporate 6.9 “Royal Blue” and the skirt with Corporate 3.5 “Black/Brown”.
In the final collage the Pucci scarf has suggested a different way of looking at this tone. The curlicue design is feminine, fun and retro, a very different feel to the more blocked and abstract designs often associated with BW palette. Accessories help us personalize, and convey subtle information about ourselves on a more uniform choice of standard dress.
Jacket – Corporate 6.7, shell top – Classic 6.3, dress – Corporate 3.4/Classic 7.9
In this collage series, colour has been treated as whole-of-garment blocks (as tends to be conventional for corporate wear), but many readers enjoy pattern, have a natural sense of scale and design, and will gravitate to this more intricate use of their palette. The vintage scarves featured have been used to explore these additional possibilities a little.
Next up: Soft Summer Corporate!
