A Dictionary of Color Combinations, the cult book of IT Girl

It is titled A Dictionary of Color Combinations and, published for the first time in Japan in 1933, is a cult book between influencer And fashion creator which use it to create looks inspired by the hundreds of colors combinations contained in it.

The hashtag Dictionary of Color Combinations On Tiktok and Instagram he has collected, for a year now, millions of views. Content creators such as Canadian Lauren SundayNew York Yolande and the Wardrobe Curator Italian Alessandra Benedetto They recover as they browse the pages of the book, choose a combination (of two, three or four colors) and reinterpret it in the creation of an OUTift that is always original and, at the same time, balanced and harmonious.

In the constant flow of digital trends, this editorial rediscovery has something surprising or at least very interesting, so much so that I have led me to the purchase. I found myself in my hands like this A precious booklet – small in size, very rich in content – capable of transmitting all the grace of Japanese culture and the charm of the past.

Everything, starting from the consistency of the paper and measures (just 10 x 16 centimeters), speaks of a distant world, both in space and over time, elegant, delicate and attractive. Inside I found dozens of possible combinations For my (and not only mine) favorite color of the moment, the popular Butter Yellowwhich in the volume finds correspondence in the two shades Pale Lemon Yellow And Naples Yellow, together with a multitude of fascinating colors since the name: so I discovered that the Purple Drub it combines perfectly with Deep Lyons Blue and al Khaki, The Yellow Orange atIvory buff and al Grayish Lavender… and I was taken by one irresistible desire to start experimenting The most daring combinations, in the look but also in the interior furnishings (I would recommend it to those who were renovating the house).

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«The original work in six volumes Haishoku Soukan (which in Japanese means Complete collection of colors combinations, editor’s note) from which the book is taken was published between 1933 and 1934 “, reads the second of the cover of the edition that I purchased on Hoeplidated 2010 for the types of Seigensha. “It was completed at the beginning of the Showa era, a turbulent period between pre-war and post-war, but also permeated by a new atmosphere brought by the influence of western culture”.

Artist, teacher, costume designer and designer of Kimonothe author Sanzo Wada It was in advance of the times in the development of color combinations that combined traditional and western influences, helping to lay the foundations of contemporary chromatic research. Based on his original work in six volumes of the 1930s, this bilingual edition – Japanese and English – proposes 348 colors combinationsfascinating and not discounted as the graphics of the volume itself.

To the first is added a second volume, A Dictionary of Color Combinations Vol. 2, which includes two further Wada works published between 1935 and 1938, and which contains 72 color schemes inspired by the Japanese seasons and another 165 taken from fashion, interior design and graphics of the first half of the twentieth century.

Armocromista ante litteramSanzo Wada (1883–1967) lived in an era in which the concept of chromatic combination was not widespread, and color samples containing extremely rare specific patterns. Its chromatic combinations they have roots in theTraditional Japanese aesthetic, in nature with its seasons and in the arts. Bringing them to today’s wardrobe is more than just a tendency, much more than one (infallible) method to infuse color to your look without risking wrong combinations, it is a tribute to the past, an invitation to slow down, to observe, and to rediscover the color as a language and cultural heritage.