Building The Best ‘fit Using Color Theory
Building The Best ‘fit Using Color Theory
By Ashen D. Freeman
Color is an integral part of outfit planning and fashion. If you don’t know what colors go together, you can’t match or clash as you please. Out of a small sample of 18 Sandia students 66.6% of them agree that color is of vital importance, however, only 38.8% explicitly plan their outfits. With this article, I hope to encourage you to take your outfits to the next level.
Most are familiar with the traditional color wheel that contains three primary colors, three secondary colors, and six tertiary colors. The color wheel is separated into warm colors and cool colors. The warm colors are Red, Orange, Yellow, Red-Purple, Red-Orange, and Yellow-Orange while the cool colors are Green, Blue, Purple, Blue-Green, Blue-Purple, and Yellow-Green.
Even if you don’t know the specific terms for these colors, you most likely know of them. The primary colors are red, blue, and yellow as they are colors that are organic and cannot be mixed. The secondary colors are purple, orange, and green as they are the mixtures of the three primary colors. Lastly, the tertiary colors are all of the “in-between” colors, Red-Orange, Yellow-Orange, Yellow-Green, Blue-Green, Blue-Purple, and Red-Purple. There are also the neutral colors of black, gray, white, and brown which are accompanied by the near-neutrals which are a long list of shades of black, gray, white, and brown.
Each color has four different aspects, hue, tint, shade, and tone. Hue of a color is the most saturated version of that color. Tint is the pastel version of a certain color. Shade is the desaturated version of a color that often appears as the near-neutral gray tone of that color and is often confused with the tone of a color that is the neutral version of that color. These aspects are important when it comes to planning a monochromatic color scheme for an outfit, a monochromatic color scheme is made up of different shades, tints, tones, and hues of a single color.
There are five different color schemes, complementary, split-complementary, triadic, analogous, and the aforementioned monochromatic color scheme.
Fashion’s Indigenous Roots
By Ashen D. Freeman
11/22/21
For hundreds of thousands of years, human beings have been expressing themselves and their culture by fashioning themselves. The method of fashioning often varies anywhere from body piercings and tattoos to jewelry and garments. Indigenous peoples around the world have used fashion as a way of preserving aspects of their culture and maintaining transitional practices among their communities. This has affected the way that the modern clothing industry has grown, and in some cases encouraged appropriation for the sake of profit. For example, the beadworks and woven patterns derived from Native American handiwork have been mimicked or copied in many of today’s popular designs and prints. These woven or beaded patterns often have meaning far beyond the actual design itself. Historically, in the Navajo culture, weavers used brightly colored diagonal lines to represent mountains, objects, and animals that reflected their lives and surroundings. These blankets and pieces of cloth held deep personal meanings and modern versions of these practices still exist today, holding the same level of significance. When large corporations mimic these patterns to create “stylish” new pieces of clothing to drive a fashion trend, they mock the historical significance of the designs themselves.
According to Keya Clairmont, an indigenous artist that uses dance, photography, and illustration for self-expression, the mockery is blaring and offensive. She told 303 Magazine, “When I see high fashion copying designs/beadwork and just slapping print on a dress orimitating beadwork on jean jackets, etc., it infuriates me because they commodify it and totally diminish the whole reason of why we do the things we do.”
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, let’s remember the influence that indigenous practices have had in every aspect of our lives, not just our closets.
Sources:
Mehert-Ab, E. (2021, January 4). Native American Creatives on Honoring Tradition And Fighting Cultural Appropriation. 303magazine.com. Retrieved November 16, 2021, from https://303magazine.com/2021/04/native-american-fashion/
Tracing Native American Influences on Modern Fashion. (2016, January 11). Southwest Silver Gallery. Retrieved November 16, 2021, from
https://www.southwestsilvergallery.com/blog/tracing-native-american-influences-on-modern-fas
Christmas Decorations Throughout the Decades
By Siera Galvan
12/3/21
Throughout history, Christmas trends and decorations have been around before any Sandia student has been born! Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December,
and for centuries, traditions and religious practices have been kept alive throughout each generation. History.com explains, “ Popular customs include exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, attending church, sharing meals with family and friends and of course, waiting for Santa Claus to arrive.” I think one of the most important festive activities is decorating a tree. After all, the magic that comes with Christmas starts with the tree and the decorations on it! Modern christmas trees usually have tinsel, a tree skirt, ornaments, lights, and a star right on the top of the tree. In fact, decorating trees wasn't even a new and recent thing.
According to marthastewart.com, ancient Egyptians and Romans decorated trees as a celebration of new seasons. Near the mid 1800s, trees were decorated with fruits, nuts, and homemade cookies! If you celebrate this holiday, think of all your decorations and traditions. Do you decorate the whole house? Do you light candles on the windowsill? Do you have an angel or star decoration for your tree that has been passed down from generation to generation? At some point, a question will pop into your head: When did all these trends and traditions start to become a yearly thing? Artificial trees were created in the 1800s, and in the 1920s, string lights became super popular. Before, everyone had an artificial feather tree, pom-poms, ribbons, etc. were hung on a wire. In the 1930s, string lights became a lasting trend and were actually strung around trees. It even became super trendy in New York city, which spread through other cities, and just like that, it became a tradition. To some of us, this next trend will sound like a fairy tale, but in the 1950s, toy trains became super popular! Bustle.com illustrates that, “Lionel Corporation, a bestseller for toy trains, peaked in sales at the time — everyone wanted to wake up to a small train symbolizing the “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” effect families were looking for.”
Just around that same time, artificial snow became a thing and people started to sprinkle it around the house or on the Christmas tree. In the 1960s and the 1970s, tinsel and small villages were being used as decorations and became a super popular trend world wide. In the 2000s, people got tired of artificial trees and started getting real evergreen trees to decorate! For the remainder of the years, caroling became more popular, cards and hit songs were dropped around Christmas, and Christmas movies began to get super popular. In the end, Christmas decorations have come a long way, and everyone has their own unique way of celebrating. What kind of decorations do you use for Christmas?