choosing a color concept

I am sure that one of the first questions that popped into anyone's mind who got an invitation to the royal weding was..."What on earth will I wear?" And rightly so, the event was televised around the world and photographers caught people at every possible angle. Yet, inspite, or maybe because of that...there were so many fabulous outfits that truly highlighted the wearers. Including of course, both outfits worn by Meghan Markle...but that is another blog post. For now I want to look at how and why Karin Gibson and the Kingdom Choir nailed it.

The Enchanting Color Concept

PINK: expresses compassion, nurturing, unconditional love, understanding. It softens the passion and power of red with the purity and innocence of white. Clearly, deeper pinks communicate more passion and energy. Pink is feminine and romantic, affectionate and intimate, thoughtful and caring. 

BROWN: expresses quality, loyalty, trustworthiness,  honesty, sincerity. It relates to the hardworking, the industrious and reliable, with both feet planted firmly on the ground. There is a sensuality: a sense of warm, engulfing one in calm and comfort. Brown is a frugal color - not associated excess or waste in any form. But also a color of sophistication, elegance and quality.

GOLD: expresses success, abundance, prosperity, prestige, sophistication, value and elegance. Gold in its physical state is one of the most valuable and easily traded commodities on the global market place. And in art expresses higher ideals, wisdom, understanding and enlightenment. In Christianity, golden mosaics and icons enabled viewers to appreciate and believe in the brilliance, splendor and divinity of the Lord. Gold expresses the warmth, generosity, compassion of a  patron sharing wisdom, knowledge and wealth with others. And finally, confident and eye-catching, gold draws attention to itself.

WHITE: is totally reflective, awakening openness, growth and creativity. You can't hide behind it as it amplifies everything in its way. And expresses cleanliness and purity,  offering a sense of peace and calm, comfort and hope as well as a sense of order and efficiency. 

The Powerful Color Effect

The various shades of pink capture and draw our eyes to the singers lips, focusing on their amazing voices. Of course, they have fabulous voices and would have sounded as amazing even wearing  potato  sacks. But the charm and joy of seeing them visually so united simple added to the joy of their verbal unity. Companies that contact me for help with a uniform will often say they have chosen a color that suits everyone - but in fact this is often not the case. Olive green, for example, is a wonderful shade but not actually contained within everyone's physicality. Had each person worn olive green there would have been unity, but not an actual representation of their skin, and lip colors. The group was united by a color that actually repeats each member's coloring.  With pink we have a shade that highlight's everyone either in skin, lips, gums. I am choosing to call the overarching shade pink but of course for each woman it was slightly different. A skin tone caramel rose, bronzed gold, rose blush and more. Tinged with white, red or brown, the skin and lip shades repeated each women's coloring and then created harmonious unity within the group.

Purposeful Style Choices:

THE CHOIR: This was dressing for power and passion contrasted with charm, sweetness, enchantment and delight. The power and passion came from how the shades of pink  highlighted the wearer, zero-ing in on their lips as they so passionately sang. We first heard powerful voices singing, and then the camera zoomed in on these delightful pastels shades. We were uplifted and enthralled by the tension between strong and soft. By choosing a clear but soft color palette the complexities of textures: the joy of sequins, soft feathers, brocade visually present a whole.

KAREN GIBSON: a leader needs to take responsibility for being the captain of the ship, and be willing to be identified as such. Beyond her voice, Ms Gibson was dressed as a leaders. She wore the most dramatic sleeves of the group because she was the one using her arms to control the performance. The cut of her sleeves helped her resemble a powerful bird in flight and contrasted with the pink of love and generosity . The dramatic sleeves were completely attuned to her passionate directing and as a beautifully full-figured woman the fluid fabric graciously draped, swayed and owned the space. And as she radiated power, clarity and passion and beauty so did the simple, clear cut and shine of the fabric. The visual weight of her silver hair was visually matched by the weight, shine and drape of her hair.  A wonderful lesson in how to show up to fulfill your purpose!

So much more to say, but as Bishop Curry remarked...gotta stop somewhere.