Traditionally, color-blocking is thought of as the exploration of taking colors that are opposites on the color wheel and pairing them together to make interesting and complementary color combinations I. am a huge fan of color. H U G E. I have to say my favorite decade, style-wise, is the 80s where electric pastels and bold primaries reigned supreme. I thought that’s actually when color-blocking became popular, but after a quick history search, I found out that color-blocking was actually introduced to the fashion scene in 1946, debuting on the stage of Yves St. Laurent for his Fall/Winter show.
However, color-blocking has really been around even longer. One of my favorite artists, Piet Mondrian, developed his Neoplasticism style by the early 1920s.
Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1929
Side note: There was a Mondrian at my favorite resort, Nemacolin, that I haven’t been able to find a picture of or even figure out what it’s called and it’s driving me absolutely crazy. If any art lovers could help me track down the Mondrian where there are little hearts in the intersection of some of the lines, you’ll be my best friend!
Color-blocking for the home is a great way to add a splash of, well, color. I love that modern interpretations can be minimal or flashy. My favorite type of color-blocking is anything that reminds me of Memphis Design.