Colours: Approaches to which Colours Suit You Best

Hi Everyone,
Hope you've had a good week! I trust you're relishing this warm weather.
So let's continue our venture into colour; and this week we are going to discuss  two approaches I'm aware of, which are used to determine which colours look good on an individual.

Before laying these out, I will just say that we probably all have at least one favourite colour that we love wearing, that we and we are magnetized to those items handing in our closet because we know it'll pick up our mood, that we will radiate from the inside out and others may possibly comment how fantastic we look! :)

1. Formal Colour Analysis Theories a.k.a. seasonal colour analysis, skin tone colour matching, or personal colour analysis. Most people are probably more aware of the seasonal colour analysis; individuals were classified either as being a "Spring", "Summer", "Fall", or "Winter" and there were certain hues, tints, shades etc. associated with each season.
These theories (some or all) do the following:

• Determine an individual's best colours for clothing and/or makeup which match his/her skin tone, hair colour, and eye colour. These "best" colours will make you "glow" whereas in contrast, other colours will tend to make you look "washed out"
• Determine types of responses from others based on an individual's colour choice(s) e.g.blue & black are more authoritative

2. Informal Colour Analysis Theory by Caryn Franklin (British Fashion Expert)
Having been in the fashion industry for 30+years, Caryn is a fountain of fashion knowledge and is enthusiastic about sharing this knowledge with the average woman. She has written the most amazing books for each body type, detailing which types of tops, pants etc. work specifically for that body type - and they are FREE!!. I will write a number of blogs on body types and will provide key points, but if you like detail, you'll absolutely love having your own personal :) guide! http://www.howtolookgood.com/dress-for-your-shape/
So back to colour analysis; Caryn's approach is radically freeing!
Her colour toning approach does the following:

• Identifies that there is a scale for skin tones, which combine well with similar colour tones 
• Pale skin tone (light in pigment) -> Light colours (light in pigment)
• Mid skin tone                           -> Mid colours
• Dark skin tone                          -> Bright colours (rich colours, dark in pigment)

Light blue tone - Next.co.uk

     

       Mid Blue tone - Next.co.uk

          

                 Dark/Bright Blue - Next.co.uk

• Throws out the primary colours; she proposes that they suit very few skin tones over age 5!
• Suggests you wear the comparable tones e.g. if you have a pale skin tone you will definitely suit light colours and medium colours, but bright colours will be too strong. The opposite would be true for someone with dark skin tone, light colours would wash out the individual.
• Suggests you hold a colour swatch up to your chin (in natural light) to give you a good sense as to whether or not it compliments your skin

My 2 Cents

• The formal colour analysis theories are very accurate and hold enough weight and for particularly important situations it may be to your benefit to wear your most flattering colours
• I believe that you can still wear those colours that are less complimentary to you but ADD in the more flattering colours as accessories, especially closer to your face e.g. if you have a dark skin tone, white might wash you out, but you could add a bright/dark chunky necklace to create balance 
• I think we instinctively know which colours suit us; they're the ones we love to wear. And conversely we know the ones that don't work.
• I believe that what overrides the colour tones we wear is that:
• Colour tones match
• Clothing items fit 
• You wear your coordinated outfit with confidence e.g. "The Emperor's New Clothes" (don't try this! :) )
• Your outfit style is classy & compliments your personality 

Free Colour Analysis:
1. Created by Shari Braendel & Crew (Seasonal Colour Analysis):
http://www.colorenalysis.com/online_color_analysis.html          
2. Created by Pretty Your World (Seasonal Colour Analysis - 12 seasons):
http://www.prettyyourworld.com/free-quiz.html

Other Resources:                                                                                                                                  

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_analysis(art)                                                                                        

2. http://www.thechicfashionista.com/your-best-perfect-colors.html

Next week we will will talk about how to use certain colours to your advantage, to create certain effects :)

cheers,

Kay