Combining bold colors requires fashion awareness and a good dose of courage. That is why the color-blocking style never goes out of fashion and has kept returning to red carpets and catwalks since the 1960s.

The look is made for special occasions - make a lasting impression with your unconventional color taste! In everyday life, your color block also shows a special sense of fashion and lets you express your personality through your styling.

Stay on everyone’s mind and stand out from the monochrome crowd with your color-blocking outfit inspiration.

Colorful and trendy: What exactly is color blocking?

What exactly is color blocking, and which outfits is this style suitable for? In principle, you can incorporate color-blocking looks into any style. With a colorful trend bag, you bring color to any Casual Chic style.

For feminine and elegant looks, you can also combine business-casual pieces in pastel shades. The answer to the question “what is color blocking?” differs in every context.

At work, a statement piece in rich green or red, combined with subtle cream tones, white, or black, is enough for color blocking. At a wedding, you can combine several contrasting garments in yellow, green, orange, or pink to create a floral color-blocking style with vibrant colors.

8 Styling Tips - How does the trend work?

Colors evoke emotions - use your color-blocking elements to express joy and fun. Brightly colored fabrics turn outfits with clean cuts into feminine fashion statements. Spice up formal looks with simple color-blocking tricks and bring color into your style:

1. One accessory, one statement: Color blocking with just one eye-catcher

Bright colors are perfect for turning monochromatic outfits into true color-blocking highlights. Our ZOÉ LU Kinda Caribbean changeable flap in bright turquoise looks as though it would taste like sugar.

The bag’s sugar-syrup color draws everyone’s attention - exactly how you add a sweet finishing touch to your tone-on-tone outfit. If you use a bag in a bold color as a color-blocking eye-catcher, you can choose the same tone for accessories, skirts, or tops to bring even more color into your outfit.

2. Pastel magic: Pastel shades as a secret styling weapon

Color blocking does not always have to be bold. Outfits with muted colors in dark green, violet or dark blue become more vibrant with pastel-colored pieces without losing their sophistication.

An elegant addition to your colorful summer dress is the MAGIC BUBBLE changeable flap from our ZOÉ LU range.

Fashion tip: The subtle lilac color with gold studs as decoration works as a color-block element with all shades of yellow and red, right through to rich pink.

3. Mix & Match: How to combine a bright color with a subtle one

Why not reverse the color scheme: pair basics in bright colors with subtle pieces to add casual accents. A simple counterpart to our colorful statement bags is the ZOÉ LU KINDA CHIC changeable flap that you can order to match your BEST BUDDY bag from ZOÈ LU.

The cream color can be combined wonderfully with bold colors and pieces featuring clearly defined color zones.

4. Mix It Up: Tips for combining patterns

Classy color blocking works best with solid-colored pieces without patterns, but patterned pieces can also be elegantly incorporated into color-blocking outfits with a little fashion sense.

Fashion tip: When using several patterned accessories or garments, stick to the same style. Combine stripes with stripes, dots with dots, and checks in different sizes. A mix of different patterns can quickly look overloaded.

With our GOLDMATE changeable flap for ZOÉ LU bags grounds your color-blocking look. 

5. Back to Basics: Simple pieces for maximum impact

Color blocking works best with clothing featuring straight cuts and no frills. Too many accessories and details take away the colors' special effect.

The LA MINI Açaí changeable flap from our ZOÉ LU range is a wonderful example of monochrome elegance. The candy-colored styling of the bag does not take away any of your look's sophistication, while still pleasing the eye as a small explosion of color.

6. How to style color blocking in muted colors

Muted colors such as brown tones, olive green, cream and gray tones can be freely combined to create an autumnal and nonchalant style.

You can also make color highlights stand out in your makeup or accessories with this styling. Our classically designed leather-Changeable flap MATCH ME The natural taupe color makes ZOÉ LU BEST BUDDY bags combinable with all smart-casual styles. 

7. Choose neutral components for your look

Eye-catching candy colors stand out particularly well when paired with simple basics in black or white. If you feel that your look is a little too much, simply replace one element of your outfit with a basic piece in a neutral color.

Whether you use a bag, accessories or your bust to showcase vibrant color-blocking colors is entirely up to you.

8. Color harmony: Why monochrome is not boring

Color blocking does not necessarily mean that colors from different parts of the spectrum have to come together in your outfit. Styles with harmonious color contrasts are just as interesting to the eye when you coordinate the shades properly.

Instead of a classic dark-blue two-piece, you can also wear a memorable business-casual style in light blue or green at the office or in everyday life. 

Our Favorites: Pink and Orange as the Ultimate Color-Blocking Stars

Our favorite color-blocking trend is the fruity combination of pink and orange. These summery, warm shades create a feminine summer look that is perfected with accessories in cream or white.

Outfits in pink or rose are paired with the bright orange LA MINI PAPAYA A changeable flap for colorful summer dreams. Outfits in orange or delicate apricot shades get a KINDA PRINCESS A changeable flap adds a feminine color-pop element.

The biggest no-gos at a glance: What you should avoid!

One of the most common mistakes when putting together color-blocking outfits is the use of too many colors. Limit yourself to two contrasting colors or coordinate a color scheme with different colored pieces. 

Color blocking does not mean irritating the eye. Stick to simple patterns or combine solid-colored pieces.

A major no-go for an elegant color block style is choosing low-quality fabrics, as otherwise feminine outfits can quickly look doll-like. High-quality materials such as silk, merino wool or cashmere wool make color block styling look intentional and skillful. 

Conclusion

Color blocking runs through all fashion trends and is hardly inappropriate for any occasion. You just need to know which color scheme is appropriate for which situation - from subtle styles with muted colors to wild color blocking with vibrant pop colors, anything is possible.

You can adapt your fashion color palette to the season and style it to be more or less eye-catching depending on the occasion. 

FAQ

Is color blocking a current trend?

Major fashion houses and urban trends have repeatedly embraced the color-blocking style since the 1960s. Garish color combinations and contrasts are fashion peaks of pop culture and are still part of youthful fashion styles today.

What are the best color-blocking combinations?

You can style color blocking fashionably by combining bold colors such as pink, orange, and red.

Another way to create striking color-blocking styling is by combining complementary colors such as red and green, blue and orange, or violet and yellow.

Create a more casual, understated look with pastel shades or by combining muted colors with bold highlights.

Which colors do not go together?

There are no fixed rules for color-blocking styles like there are for other dress codes. However, a color combination such as white-pink-red makes it difficult to create the desired effect and instead makes you look rather cute and girly.

Team colors or Christmas colors can also distract from the desired retro look. When choosing colors, stick to retro styles and trend colors from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s for cool outfit inspiration.

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