YEARS ago, I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing anything orange, let alone orange with pink, or purple, or even white, all on the same outfit!
Times have changed, though, and colour blocking, also known as the trend of using two or more colour blocks in a single ensemble, is bigger than ever now.

Essentially, it is breaking the rules of pairing everything that was traditionally thought as “safe”.

Colour blocking is not a new trend, but it has definitely made its way back into our stores and won’t leave until we’re all colour blocked out! You can’t walk past any decent clothes store without being drawn to the colourfully-dressed mannequins on their windows displays.

Orange and red

The fun thing about colour blocking is that there are hardly any restrictions. You can colour block on anything from bags to shoes to accessories to clothes.

This trend has been really popular since last season and is spilling on to spring/summer, so don’t limit yourself to muted warm shades or pastel florals – get in with the colours.

If you still have any doubts as to why you should get with the programme, here’s another good reason: colour blocking can be used to hide your flaws.

The trick is to strategically place the darker colour block around your problem areas (flabby arms, stomach bulge), and keep the rest of your outfit light-coloured. Don’t draw attention to your flaws by wearing bright colours.

Although it may not seem like it, but there are a few rules to colour blocking – for starters, do not combine more than three colours, and keep them focused on one item.

Kim Kardashian does it great here

What we mean by that last one is choose whether to colour block your shoes, bag or clothes. You may look a little too cartoon character-ish if you go overboard with the colours.

You can’t go wrong with pink, as this colour pretty much goes with anything, but its best matches are red, purple and coral. However, if you really want to stand out, why not match pink with yellow?

Iman bravely steps out in yellow and baby blue

When it comes to blue, try and mix the hues – teal, baby blue, electric blue and the other blues look great together, and throw in something yellow for that extra jazz.

With orange, white is a definite winner (there are some beautiful orange and white pieces in Zara at the moment), but purple, green, brown and red go well together as well.

Yellow is one colour many shy away from because it is a “dangerous” colour to wear if you’re not super confident.

Several fashion sites warn against using mustard yellow in colour blocking, but bright or muted yellows go well with pink, green and teal.

Ashley Greene experiments with this hot pink number

Colour-blocking doesn’t mean just putting large chunks of colour together, it can be incorporated into stripes and other patterns too. Think multi-coloured tiered dresses and skirts.

Be mindful of details – contrasting colours already draw so much attention so avoid having too many frills, zippers or pockets. You can still accessorise but downplay the colours a little.

One tip several fashion blogs recommend for colour block newbies is to start with tops and jackets matched with regular jeans. Then when you’re confident enough you can expand colour blocking to the rest of your look.
Whatever your choice of colour, cut or style, these rules are mere guidelines for those who are unsure of how colour blocking works.

Lastly, no matter what colours you choose to step out in, remember to wear them with confidence! If you can look at yourself in the mirror and think “I look hot”, then there shouldn’t be any reason for anyone else to think otherwise.