Winning Color Combinations: Triadic combos mean three’s a company

Learning how to combine your colors into winning combinations is a skill that takes some time to master. In this series, we’re looking at some of the common color combinations and how you might use them to create more interest in your outfits. In this post we’re going to talk about a Triadic color combination. And once again. nature will be our inspiration.

A triadic color scheme uses three colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel. If you're trying to be precise, each color should have three spaces on the color wheel between them. A triadic color scheme could include red, blue and yellow. A more muted version might use pink instead of red.

Another trio could be a combination of Purple, Orange and Green. Using more muted versions of these colors like lavender, peach, and mint green will create a softer look.

And yet another triadic combo would be Blue-Purple, Red-Orange, and Yellow-Green. In their pure form this color combo will be quite dynamic. But you might wear it in more muted shades or even pastels for a calmer look.

Or you might choose a Blue-Green, Yellow-Orange & Red-Violet trio. By choosing one color as the main color and using the others as accents you can reduce the visual intensity of these combinations as see in the bird below. Imagine a teal dress, red-violet shoes and purse and a yellow-orange necklace. Striking, but a little more subtle than if you wore these colors in equal proportion.

If you have red hair and a blue- eye then you can simply wear a complimentary shade of yellow and you will have created a triadic color combination.

Take a look on your palette to see if there are any triadic color combinations in your personal color harmony. Then experiment with wearing those three colors in different shades and proportions until you find the combo that works best for you.