Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Fall Style Continues..Choosing your Colours


There is a lot of confusion about colours out there...

Years ago, it was all about getting your colours "done" - were you a Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter?  I had friends who would host parties and we would have some random lady tell us what to wear!

And then it become more complex - were you a clear, deep, warm, cool, light or clear Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter? Oh dear!  If you want to take a look in depth, visit this website or take a look at The Power of Style by Bobbi Thomas.


source

I found this almost impossible to do when there was so much information.  Perhaps I have some kind of learning disability to learn this kind of stuff?  My daughter sat down, looked at me, looked at the chart and said: "Well it is obvious that you are a clear spring".  I was glad it was obvious to her, as it was less so to me..

From the Chic Fashionista Website:

Clear Spring (eg. Heather Graham)

    Eyes: Turquoise blue, green, topaz (brownish)

    Hair: Medium to dark golden brown, or even black-brown. Or a very bright, golden and deep blonde hair

    Skin: Bronze, deep warm brown, brown-black, light ivory, light peach, porcelain


Clear Spring color palette seasonal color analysis

Your coloring is high contrast and full of saturation. If you have dark hair you can be mistaken for a Winter but the apparent warmth in your coloring tells you otherwise. But you may still flow into the Clear Winter palette. Learn more about what it means to be a Clear coloring and what colors to wear.
Examples of celebs with Clear Spring color palette: Heather Graham, Emilie de Ravin, Brittany Snow
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After the early discussions around colour (which I have recently dug up via the Bobbie Thomas book and the web, the next big colour analysis stuff I ran across in life was Trinny and Susannah's What You Wear Can Change Your Life - remember them and that book? 

Don't get too close - they will grab your boobs!

I bought it in 2005.  Trinny and Susannah abandoned the seasonal colour lingo and simply used: cool and bright, warm, and mid-tones.  Then they had pages and pages of colours and which ones were right for you and which colours went together.  It was at that point I felt that the fashion industry was perhaps out to confuse us, though I know - colour theory is critical to being pleasing to the eye.

You can see their colour charts on this website.

There was apparently a lot of debate about their colour ideas as evidenced in this Colour Me Beautiful discussion.

Around 2011 I discovered Joe and Jesse's book, Life in Colour.



Those sweet men had also abandoned seasons for Sun, Moon, Earth or Star. You can read more about this on their website or buy the book.

According to their book, I would be a moon:

MOON
Moons have blue-gray eyes without any gold, brown, or green flecks, or dark gray, brown, taupe with a black line around the iris. Your skin is pale and translucent with blue and pink undertones. You usually burn first when you tan, and your skin turns red, not bronze. Moons hair color ranges from dark ash brown to ash blonde, or an almost pinkish red. Your best colors are royal blue, ripe strawberry, and your worst colors are mustard yellow and bright orange.


One helpful thing is that at the back of the book there are detachable colour charts for your type so you can ideally buy your optimal colour type.

Of course, in the end, these are just guides.

Really, we can often find tricks to make any colours work for us if we are willing to use scarves and makeup and jewelry. 

Having said that, the ideal thing is to build a wardrobe that is mostly composed of the colours that make you feel lovely and pair them with neutrals for your optimal wardrobe.  We've all experienced buying or trying on that outfit in a colour that we just love, only to realize that it is a colour that completely washes us out. 

I will say: the three books I mention above all have their merits.  For me, the clear spring colour palette is the most true.  However, Bobbie's book is fun and interesting/informative, as is the Life in Colour book.  I find Trinny and Susannah absolutists and a bit wearing by times, but there is some good information there as well. 

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One thing we must discuss before we leave colour is changing hair colour.

For me, that has meant going from a brunette with natural red highlights to a red head.  This colour change suddenly allowed me to wear a couple of colours I never had been able to before. 

I know that this is also the case for women who allow their hair to or naturally grey or white.  I think there is always the need to "check in" with your colours to see if they are still working for you.

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And finally, the heart wants what it wants.  A colour may look good on you and you dislike it.  Or it may look wretched on you, but you want it - hello fatigue jacket from H&M - you are in NONE of my colour charts.  Wear it anyway.  Perhaps add a scarf in one of your colours or just say "screw it" and sally forth as if you own the world.  Cause you do own the world! 

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Hope this has been helpful for some - I know it has been for me! 

Tomorrow: Wendy's Fall/Winter Stay-at-home-and-get-discovered-as-the-next-great-writer style!

Have a great day out there and stay safe!




 

36 comments:

  1. Hi Wendy, it all does get a little baffling, doesn't it? I am super pale, but not translucent pale, blue undertones don't work on me, but blue does, I can wear white but not ivory, I have brown hair, but sometimes it looks red, etc!

    I tend to wear colours that make me feel nice, or ones that make people say "you should wear that colour more often!" (unless I just don't like the colour).

    I am looking forward to tomorrow's post!

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    1. Hi Abby! I think you are right - we should pay attention when people give us compliments. However, I used to work with a woman who would say that everything I wore looked beautiful on me, which of course it did not! :-)

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    2. Aw, that is sweet! Yes, it is still important to dress in a way that is "you." I used to buy more of the styles that I got compliments on, until I realized that I was dressing only according to what looked good, and not what felt like "me."

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    3. that is the key right - otherwise you feel like you are in a bit of a costume!

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  2. I never get proper results from these tests. I once went to a pro to get the perfect red for myself as I dreamt of wearing palomaesque red lipstick but even the professional had to admit and say - you just dont suit red even though you are technically a prime candidate with your hair and skin but then her assistant came in to help as it was getting just that dire and she said i had too many different and clashing undertones due to mixed race ( mum korean and dad blond and blue eyes) and i had green understones which clashed with any red...But these are fun to read through regardless!

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    1. Ha! I KNEW it! I think it is very hard to say definitively what someone's best colours are or ruling things out. Plus, there are so many darn colour shades!

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  3. Great fun to try to figure out; I could never decide what season I was except obviously not winter. I am a dirty blonde, can tan, blue eyes with some green. Is there anyone who does not look wonderful in aqua? All these systems are entertaining.

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    1. Well I always thought I was winter - go figure!

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    2. I look crap in aqua as well LOL, although I don't know why that makes me laugh.

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  4. The colors thing confounds me. I was told once in the 1980s that I am a Winter. Or maybe part Fall. I give up, I just know what I like. Right now, for wardrobe, I like navy/camel/gray/burgundy. I have not been in the mood for black at all lately, but maybe that's a summer thing.

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    1. HI Cate - I think the no black is likely a summer thing, but I know that sometimes I go through moods with black - it can seem gloomy sometimes, not glam!

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  5. Reading all these style advice books I would be surprised if you weren't confused and developing a new process with each new read. My hair is strawberry blonde but used to be darker red and a lot of people repeat the old mantra that redheads should wear greens. With the exception of yellow that is the worst possible color for me. I guess I have become so skeptical that I wouldn't take anyone's advice. Well, maybe if Tim Gunn were in my dressing room I'd listen to him but that is about it! At least he takes into account shapes and proportion, which is where I think most people go terribly wrong and need the most help. But that's just me. It's interesting to see your many processes.

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    1. Honey, if Tim Gunn was in the dressing room with me, we might never leave - just pour some champagne and work away at it all!

      People say that to me about green now that I have full on red hair, but only about 1 shade or 2 shades look decent on me!

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  6. Color. I am a Light Summer and have known this for many years. Fall/Autumn colors are my favorite but I have a hard time pulling them off. Every time i go shopping Hubs always asks "Did you buy another white tee shirt?"...Yep. Neutrals are for me.

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    1. I love fall/autumn colours too, but they look wretched on me..

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  7. I am going to have to go lie down with a cold compress on my forehead.

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    1. Haha! Share the compress with me Tabs. Those charts make my eyes cross. I love colour but when I think about it too much I lose my mind.
      Wendy I think you could write a style book, you explain things very well and you've read so many yourself, there's your research!

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    2. Ok, I used to be winter without a doubt but now that my hair is a dye job and two shades lighter, I think I might be spring.
      Yes, you need to write your own version!

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    3. Oh my God - no! It would be called:

      The Middle Aged Woman Who Doesn't Have a Clue's Guide to Style, Life Changes and Happiness....

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  8. I *think* I am a winter. Beyond that...no idea. I can never tell what "undertone" my skin has. Pink? Olive? Who knows.

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    1. Do you blush pink? I think that is one way to tell..

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    2. I blush an unattractive shade of beet red. :)

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    3. Joe and Jesse say that would make you a sun! makes me think you would be a summer?

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    4. Hmm, not sure but don't think so. The colors suggested (dusty rose, yellow) tend to be some of my worst. Coulda shoulda woulda mentioned above that she has a hard time with these types of quizzes because of her mixed background. I might be running into a similar situation.

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    5. Wow, I thought everyone blushed pink! Poor sheltered Scot.

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    6. Tabs - you have travelled the world - imagine how confused I am! MW - you are just going to have to visit so my daughter can tell you what you are!

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  9. Hi Wendy, I got my colours done in the early 90s, I think I was a spring - I still have a little booklet somewhere with all the swatches. I also have that Trinny and Susannah book, but I haven't looked at it for a long time - it does look complicated. By the way, have you ever seen the web show that they did, Trinny and Susannha: What they did next? Here's a link
    http://trinnyandsusannahwhattheydidnext.com/
    It's hilarious, a total send-up of themselves!

    I'm looking forward to tomorrow's post, hope to get some ideas since I'm at home a lot too.

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    1. I am slogging away at that one! What a pain it is to get it all down! But rewarding!

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  10. I'm pretty good about knowing what colors look best on me. My challenge lies more in defining my style for the work at home life that I live. I really love dressier items than I need or even wear, but I refuse to turn into the mom who lives in yoga pants. Finding the balance and refining my style identity is a challenge as I relate to the menswear inspired looks as much as the glamourous career woman pieces. I'm looking forward to what you share tomorrow.

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    1. Julie - I hear you - I am sitting in my office looking over at my sequin dress and sequin skirt and oh my...

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    2. I hear you (said the woman who had a sequin dress, a gold dress and a sequin skirt in her office...)

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  11. I could pass for either Light Spring or Light Summer. My clothes are more in the Light Summer palette, minus the aqua and the greens. Those don't look good on me, no matter what the experts say.

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    1. Rose - that is what I am talking about! Even if someone says it, if you don't feel comfortable in it, then it isn't correct for you! I have struggled with that! I think that Joe and Jesse are just going to have to drop everything and come see me!

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  12. Well Blogger just ate my comment which was a really brilliant analysis of why someone who is charming and intelligent and judging by her writing has more than a touch of whimsy in her life, wanted total strangers to provide her with rules for being whimsical.

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    1. Oh that is wickedly funny! I am sure it is the sociologist/researcher side of me - I always research, research!

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Kindness is a virtue...