As far as I can remember, this assemble was one of the first colour blocking that I ever came across back in the 80/ 90's and it was a real daring gamble. Princess Diana who was well-known for her love to play with colours, made history with this daring outfit back then and it was a true show stopper.
When I started learning about fashion during my teen years, it was taught to us that there are certain fashion rules to apply when it comes to dressing, especially when you are bigger build or curvy, such as women of larger build should always dress in black or dark coloured clothing so that they would look relatively slimmer as dark colours in particularly black tends to 'trick' the eye that you will look slimmer.
Hence I am pretty sure that many of us if not all of us curvy women bound to have not one but several black or dark coloured clothing in our closet.
But today, this fashion rule, though it is still widely applicable, gone are the days where larger / curvy women only dress in black or dark colours. Don't expect us to be 'in mourning' our whole lives. Fashion has evolved and curvy framed women CAN wear colours!
Only remember to keep it simple and not to wear too many colours at one time. We don't want to be looking like 'Clumsy' the clown do we? Go with either two or the most 3 colours to an outfit, depending on the cut of the clothing and colour play your outfit.
It's always best to refer to a colour chart like the one below if you are unsure of what colours go with and which colour suits you best.
If unsure of the colour block, try using Neutrals such as Black, White, Navy, Brown or Grey. It's a good start for those who are new to this trend. From here, slowly build your confidence and explore more colours by mixing the Neutrals with some colours (refer to colour chart). Later when you are more confident, let out your creativity and mix the colours but always remember to keep the 2 or 3 colours at a time rule.
Another trick to wearing colour block is to maximise your curves by wearing a darker shade at the areas of your body that you don't want people to pay attention to. This will create a more subtle look, at the same time distracting the eye from spotting your body flaws that you wish to hide from.
In fashion, accessories compliments the outfit. So pay great attention to details. You can maximise your accessories by incorporating colour blocking to your outfits, examples like shoes, handbags, scarfs, bracelets, earrings, belts and necklaces.
Colour Blocking trend isn't new to the fashion world but the trend seemed to have 'disappeared' for a while but in the late 90's it given a new breath of fresh air with the popularisation by the popular TV series Sex & The City. And Sarah Jessica Parker's character which was known for her outrages fashion sense was so popular that even Sarah herself build her own personal style based on her character from the show.
Below are further ideas of colour blocking for the curvy fashionistas from casual to formal and anything it between ...
The link below (taken from one of my favourite local plus size brands) is a short article that gives further tips on colour blocking dressing for curvy women.
http://www.flowclothing.com/blog/colour-blocking-for-curvy-girls-part-1.html/
http://www.flowclothing.com/blog/colour-blocking-for-curvy-girls-part-2.html/
Body confident celebrities such as Kate Winslet was one of the few who popularised this look with her many colour blocking outfits, and many other celebrities started to follow this trend.
Another of my favourites is Colleen Rooney who has successfully given colour blocking a whole new style chic look for the curvy ladies, be it in her designs or when she wears it.
More curvy celebrities looking their best in colour block.
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