Fashion

[ashurioo]

Okay, so here's the deal, my ability to match colors and patterns and prints is in the negative. I have no fashion instincts whatsoever. Recently I found a pair of "burnt" olive skinny cargos, I also found a colorful Aztec style hi-low tank top. I really like the two items, buuuuuut, I personally don't think they go together. I've done some digging and people are saying that olive is a very versatile color and that it's harder to find something that DOESN'T go with it than it is the other way around. The tank top is multiple different colors, starting with black in the background, then it's got light and medium blues, red, a very mild yellow, and white. If, by this point, you already know whether it might go good together or not and you're astonished that I don't - I went years thinking red and blue didn't match. I still don't really like that pair together on two separate items. Yeah, that's how bad I am. I really, truly can NOT tell. So, please, can someone tell me whether that kind of top would go with olive pants? Or is the top too busy for olive?

[ANewHue]

From what you describe I would say it's a definite GO.

[Barbara in Virginia]

IMO the best way to see if things work together is to hang them on a hanger and then stand back 2-5 feet. If you get up TOO close and look to see if some color is an exact match, it almost never works. Color changes color. That is the eye mixes colors that are adjacent to each other and you get a much more realistic effect by stepping back. Also, different hues and values of color have different wave lengths which can determine how and WHEN the eye perceives them. It is also important to look at colors in the lighting in which you are going to wear them. Different artificial lights cast different colors on objects. It is difficult to get a good blue that doesn't become muddy when exposed to artificial light, for instance, as most artificial lighting throws some yellow which will muddy or gray out the perception of the blue. When I was still working as a high end residential designer I ALWAYS checked any blues I was using in different lights. A really good blue -also in paint- is one that doesn't muddy or gray-out under artificial light.

Clear as mud?!!! Start experimenting yourself and you will start training your eye. Have fun!

[Sister Golden Hair]

It's a no for me but I wear very neutral colors. I would put a cream top with the olive pants. Then I would add a pretty scarf with a olive and cream design.

[lolakimono]

Do you have pictures of both?

[Harpa]

Sometimes it's just a matter of matching warm colors w/ warm colors, and cool colors with cool.

If you have a cool olive, then cool tones would look best with it. I find olive to be very neutral, but subject to either the warm side or the cool side.

Don't know the shade of your olive, but Aztec colors to me suggest warm, in spite of the blues. I think you'd be better off pairing this w/ blue jeans (the shade blue of the jeans matching your top) or black, or any one of the colors in the top.

The busyness has nothing to do with it, unless the other half of your outfit is also busy somehow. Cargos generally have extra pockets, exposed snaps, and you might want to take that into account.