How you wear black - matte vs. shine; textures; w/other colors etc.

[softgrey]

glad you like it quirky...
chanel...
you are so right...peach and mauve are great with black...

gorgeous dress on the left......

 

[cbcb]

you seem to have similar colouring to me...
the darker your hair i find....
the better you will look in black and the easier it wiill be for you to wear...
it does get more difficult as we age...
then you need to lighten it up by the face...
ie-add a pretty pin y your shoulder or nklc or a light top under your blk jkt or cardi...

Thanks - good advice. One way to kind of lighten up by the face is just not have small necklines - my reflective skin is lighter than anything I'm likely to wear anyway - I love *reasonably* deep scoopnecks and that is probably one previously-unthought-of-by-me reason. I also go easy on the eye makeup, which I've always needed to do anyhow. I love a little 'vanilla' crayon (I think I have a Bobbi Brown now that's good, actually an eyeshadow base) above the top lashline. Also, and I know this varies by person, but I can do a lot more with brown or brown/black mascara than black. The other thing I've learned over the years is that if I really need to lighten up the look I can lighten my brows. There were some gorgeous Coco Chanel ads some years ago that showed dark brown hair, very pale skin and lighter eyebrows, very fab.

 

[softgrey]

completely!!

the open neckline thing is a VERY good point...
i have also been told repeatedly by make up artists not to really wear a lot of eye make up...
with dark hair and eyes...it's almost like make up in itself...
nice idea with the vanilla crayon above the lashline...
i usually add a little just under the brow as a highlight...
i think i might need to switch to brown mascara for day now that you mention it...

i'd be too afraid of the 'orange' factor to ever lighten my brows...
i have a serious aversion to that bleached 'orange' ......

...

 

[cbcb]

A good study in blacks and mattes vs. shines etc. is on Faust's blog here (scroll down to DEMEULEMEESTER - there's a men's and women's collection)...
http://fashion-critic.blogspot.com/

Here's one photo from it:

and SoftGrey, there was a look from the men's collection that reminded me of the thing you said about wearing light colors by the face... I will try an adaptation of this, I think, if I can find any lighter pieces in my closet to do it with!

 

[softgrey]

ann demeulemeester is the queen of mixing all textures of black and creating an incredible amount of depth and interest...

...

i am really starting to crave black leather again...
this sort of comes and goes with me..
i always like leather...
but lately it has become a real craving...



as in leather clothing...
but somehow i'm craving suede for shoes...
and chiffon/silk ( or anything sheer and drapey) for tops...

hmmm...

 

[im an illusion]

i hate it when blacks don't "match"

 

[Feline]

I think varying shades of black can look good, same as varying the texture. Black with purple, black with bright pink or black with light grey are my favourite contrasts, but I do wear black with black quite often as well.

 

[splashofcolour]

Like someone said before, black is possibly the hardest colour to not look good in, so that's why I love it.

Sometimes it can go horribly wrong, like people who dress head to toe in PVC or leather, but with the right mix of textures it can look great. Personally I like to wear chunky knits with wet look, faux leather or satin leggings/trousers because though knits and shinier materials both make an impact they also tend to tone each other down when worn together. I also love wearing finer draped knits to give black a more feminine look.
You also can't beat a smart or adrongynous black and white combination.

What I think really makes or breaks an all black outfit though is the footwear. You can have an amazing combination of clothing but the wrong material shoes can totally ruin it. Anyone else agree?

 

[lafindesiecle]

Almost all of my favourite designers work in limited colour palettes and have a focus instead on architecture, fabric, texture... they're all obvious - Rick Owens, Rad Hourani, Anne Demeulemeester, Gareth Pugh, Katie Gallagher, Helmut Lang...

I have a handful of those strangely shaped / drapey / etc tops from Complex Geometries and whatnot -- while they have them in colours also, I don't think they would work as well if they weren't black... I've been wearing this loose hooded shroud type dress in a solid cotton but then wearing a long drapey burnout scarf/vest over it tied around and around with the ends hanging loose a lot, things like that... or black silk blouses with lots of layered metal necklaces... I think keeping the monochrome dark palette lets you call a lot of attention to all aspects of the clothing OTHER than the colour, and also makes any of your accessories really pop.

I also am a big fan of uber short skirts, matte black tights, and obscenely high wedges -- if any of that were coloured, it would call too much attention to the shortness of my skirt + the high heels would look too trashy...

I am extremely pale, have green eyes, and usually dye my hair a very vibrant red -- I feel like those things speak for themselves and wearing too much colour at all is dangerous and looks clownish, tacky, or childish. I do have a handful of very, very brightly coloured shoes though and I love wearing all black with cobalt blue or red or bright green shoes... or similarly very bright colourful nail polish.

personal examples...

 

[lafindesiecle]

... i will add that it's INCREDIBLY HARD to find anything in your closet when 90% of your clothes are dark though... it's like being blind, i have to rifle through the hangers to feel for that silk skirt or wool sweater or tshirt or whatever... haha

 

[softgrey]

Like someone said before, black is possibly the hardest colour to not look good in, so that's why I love it.

Sometimes it can go horribly wrong, like people who dress head to toe in PVC or leather, but with the right mix of textures it can look great. Personally I like to wear chunky knits with wet look, faux leather or satin leggings/trousers because though knits and shinier materials both make an impact they also tend to tone each other down when worn together. I also love wearing finer draped knits to give black a more feminine look.
You also can't beat a smart or adrongynous black and white combination.

What I think really makes or breaks an all black outfit though is the footwear. You can have an amazing combination of clothing but the wrong material shoes can totally ruin it. Anyone else agree?

what you're talking about is mixing soft textures ( a chunky knit) with hard textures (anything shiny...)...
and that is always a winning combination of textures because they balance one another...

soft meets hard...
always good....
B)...

the key is balance...

 

[Zarina]

I often have to wear a completely black outfit due to the dressing code for some concerts. However a bit of white is allowed and I love the monochrome look so that is a good solution for me. Otherwise I try to mix different textures like matte wool with shiny patent or to choose clothes with some interesting draping, bows, frills or something.

 

[modern jap]

black is great as leather, whether its a bag, jacket, or shoes. cannot go wrong.

Linea Pelle Dylan Medium Tote and Kim Kardashian
Lineapelle.com

BelStaff Lizz Leather Jacket
stylebop.com

Giuseppe Zanotti Black Shoes with Golden Chain Detail
stylebop.com

 

[softgrey]

I used to be known for wearing all black...
I almost never wear all black anymore...
I don't even know what happened?...

 

[softgrey]

I wore all black today with the exception of a silver lame scarf - but it was tucked in so it really looked like I was in all black...

felt weird, tbh...
...

 

[softgrey]

I used to be known for wearing all black...
I almost never wear all black anymore...
I don't even know what happened?...

I figured out what happened...

...
I got a striped cat and it's too hard to keep all the hairs off all my black things so I've been wearing more and more grey...

...

oh mr mochi...
the things I do for love...

 

[MulletProof]

I feel really silly whenever I end up in head-to-toe black, it usually happens when I oversleep and that results in a crisis in the morning ("oh great, got lost on your way to Supreme? 40 seconds left to do MUCH better than this! CHANGE THE SHOES FFS!!").

What I probably overdo the most but don't feel too bad is navy (bit of navy and a lot of black, a lot of navy and a bit of black, back and forth).. I'm trying to cut down the excess cause it's been years and just integrate more colors, I like green.. green with black, but like tree in the middle of the summer green, not military. Jewel tones and black I loooove.. shiny fabrics. Like what the guy designing at Demeulemeester did but no to the overall look.


[livingly]

 

[Drusilla_]

I like to wear all blacks with one black-and-white printed piece mixed in, like a polka dot blouse or something, and with a decent mix of textures (silk blouse, wool skirt, patent leather or suede shoes, and depending on weather, some tights.

But many days they end up mixed with some other colour, usually a dark or subdued one like navy, forest green, burgundy, etc.

So the outfit is either like:
black dress, navy cardigan, black lacy tights, navy ballet flats
black leather jacket, black jeans, black tshirt with some graphic (in colours) on it, black suede Pumas
black jacket, gold top, black trousers, red or gold low heel flats
black jacket over printed dress