Due to our boxes of Crayola Crayons in grade school most of us are familiar with the terms primary, secondary and tertiary.  There was something very magical about that yellow box with its multicolored waxy tips pointing up.  My favorite was the box of 48.  Even now, many years later, I can still remember how thrilling it was to buy that fresh, new box of crayons each September.

Color is very invocative.  Therefore it is very important to understand the language of color when you mix colors in your apparel, jewelry and home furnishings.

Primary colors are blue, red and yellow.  These are colors in their pure states – not combined with any other colors.

Secondary colors are violet, orange and green.  These colors are a mixture of two primary colors. 

• red and yellow = orange
• yellow and blue = green
• blue and red = purple.

Tertiary colors are a mix of a primary color and a secondary color. For example, turquoise is a mixture of blue (primary color) and green (secondary color).

Complementary colors are those colors that are opposite each other on a color wheel.  Look at the simple color wheel shown on this page that I drew using my box of 48 Crayolas. 

Three sets of complimentary colors are connected by lines: red and green; orange and blue; purple and yellow.

A complete color wheel, available at any arts and crafts store,  will show the complimentary color combination for many other secondary and tertiary colors. 

It is visually very striking to pair complementary colors.  The key to pairing complementary colors is to make sure that one complementary color is dominate.  Check out the picture at the bottom of this page for an example.

For example, a red dress paired with an emerald or green jade necklace is attractive.  Whereas a red top teamed with a green skirt, unless you are an elf, is unsightly.

If two complementary colors are paired with equal strength your eye does not know where to focus thus creating an impression of disharmony. 

This technique is often used by designers for their runway designs to attract the eye of the audience.  However, using this technique does not translate into wearable everyday clothing.

Missing from the color wheel are all neutral colors: black, white and brown.  If you think about it these three colors can be combined with any of the colors on the color wheel for a harmonious look.

The character of color:

Intensity – a color that is very intense is strong and bright – not muted.  For example, a bright scarlet red as opposed to a brick red that has brown tones.

Tone – this term represents how light or dark a color is.   An easy way to judge tones is to make a black and white copy of different colors.  By examining the copy you will be able to easily judge which colors have no tonal contrast. This is very important in deciding which colors to combine based on the effect you wish to achieve.

• Harmony of tone involves combining colors with no tonal contrast.  When looking at your black and white copy these colors will be almost the shade of grey. 
• Contrasts of tone is the exact opposite.  Colors that show up light and dark in a black and white copy are contrasts of tone.  The most extreme of this combining of color is the combination of black and white.

Hue refers to the degree of red, blue or yellow that is found in the tertiary colors.  So in other words – varying degrees of hue lie in the colors shown between two primary colors on a color wheel.   The combining of a muted (mixed with another color such as grey) green and muted blue is an example of mixing similiar hues .

Want to send a message with the color that you wear?  Black is the color of power.  Navy is perceived as being a reliable and trusted color.  This makes Navy a good choice for a job interview.  Beige and Brown are nonthreatening colors for events in which you just want to blend in.