Sans socks

You walk by a man or woman and are immediately drawn to their sense of style: the trim fit of their mackintosh, the subtle sight of cuff emerging from the sleeve, how their trousers fit perfectly into their spring wellies. However, unless you fancy yourself a synesthete, you may have missed out on what made the outfit truly great.

I don’t fancy myself a synesthete — and, while we’re on the subject, am not entirely convinced by the concept of hearing/tasting/feeling colors — and by that respect sometimes overlook the simple, subtle, sometimes arbitrary uses of color that can make an outfit outstanding.

For instance, say we were to add color to the description above. Let’s say that we have not a mackintosh, but a navy mackintosh, azure cuff, heather grey trousers, and traditional hunter green wellies; suddenly, the look has become something else entirely. It’s what George Clooney does, that Cary Grant never could.

The Sartorialist – a style blogger showcasing photos of the stylish around the world — utilizes the palettes of the people he photographs to illustrate what makes certain outfits so remarkable. However, when reading through comments left on the blog, it seems that the aspect of color is often lost among the labels, cuts and comments like "Where can I get that jacket?"

One Swiss graphic design student, though, decided not only to be aware of sartorial color interactions, but also to utilize them as a design resource in for his blog Wear Palettes. The blog was created in conjunction with The Sartorialist – and Colour Lovers, a site dedicated to monitoring and influencing color trends, in order to successfully create a resource for design and sartorial color inspiration.

The function of Wear Palettes is essentially to extrapolate colors from Sartorialist images and create practical color palettes to be used as inspiration for fashion and design. These palettes are shared with the very popular site Colour Lovers and its extended readership.

What is truly remarkable about this concept is its ability to illustrate the seamless connection between style and design, a concept that is all too often overlooked.