Coordinating colors: purple

I've added far more purple to my wardrobe as of late than I probably should have. The round glasses were one thing, but then there was the cheap sweater dress from Hong Kong, and now, my two latest additions, a purple crocheted convertible shrug/stole and a purple shawlette with lacy border. Both of these last two items were pattern tests via Ravelry, and, for some reason, dark purple -- plum? -- yarn is what I came up with.

The problem is, I don't love purple. It's not that it doesn't flatter me -- I think it's all right, or at least better than other colors, like beige, orange, yellow, and brown, but I find it hard to wear because I feel like it clashes with most of the other colors I do wear -- cyan, magenta, black, white (yes, you can see growing up in a printed-matter-oriented household has had far-reaching effects on me). Last year, I've also been on a gray kick, which helps. Gray and purple go well together.

Purple and white, contrary to what I thought a week ago, is not where it's at.

But yesterday I found a combination that's perfect for the time of year, works well together, and allows me to wear a color that really isn't the best for me, according to my self-administered seasonal color analysis: Mustard and purple. Perfection. And because the mustard was in the form of opaque tights that I've been lusting after for nearly a year but just couldn't bring myself to lay 80 kuai (~$12) on at Uniqlo (finally spotted them at Trust Mart of all places for 25 kuai, w00t), they were on my legs, not near my face, and therefore not making me appear washed out and pale (heaven forbid!)

And the color scheme designer agrees with my assessment. (That's a fun tool to play around with if you're ever stuck for what colors to put together for, say, a design, or an outfit.)

For more on color analysis, see Wikipedia's rather extensive entry on the topic.