The Colour Season theory, forty years later
Forty-some years ago, my girlfriends Merle and Ruth gave me a Colour Me Beautiful analysis for a birthday gift. In 1980, this was the height of fashion. Back then, my new boarder introduced herself by saying, "I'm a Summer, so don't worry, I won't raid your closet."
What a promise: Free from wearing the wrong colours, a woman would be more confident, more attractive, and never make a bad buying decision again!
After work one Friday, Antonio, a hair stylist who had added colour analysis to his services, handed me a stark white smock, then theatrically rotated the salon chair each time that he placed scarves in various hues close to my face— a dizzying effect, because he had also liberally poured prosecco. Even tipsy, I could see how beiges bled me, and was mentally filling donation bags by a half-hour in.
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| The Winter wallet |
I wobbled out a Winter, clutching my official swatch wallet. I was not thrilled: I thought that I'd get to build my own wallet from colours I actually liked, and there was not a scrap of ivory or camel in its accordian-fold. But I spent the '80s in black anyway, shunning the jewel tones that are said to make Winters sparkle. Sorry, Merle and Ruth.
Iterations of the colour analysis system have kicked around like shoulder pads, never really gone, but now, a client can submit photos and then meet a consultant via Zoom—or there's the DIY approach. The original book, Colour Me Beautiful by JoAnne Richmond, is still in print. Image consultant's blogs are stuffed with the theory and examples. (Writer Anuschka Rees' blog series provides a succinct and flexible four-season tour.)
Colour analysis is not based on body shape or size; it's inclusive. Each season is as desirable as the others, provided (and some women are crushed when this happens), one has not been misdiagnosed. There is no goal, no accountability; you leave with a colour wallet, not points booklet.
However, the newly-Seasoned may have a hard time finding their particular palette; I rarely find the blue-violet that I prefer to royal blue. I took heart when one of the new crop of consultants wrote, "No colour is off limits if you keep it away from your face. Work with scarves and the right lipstick shade."
For me, the system falls short because it ignores the link between colour and personality, and, just as significantly, the factors of climate and culture. In sunny, hot locales, dark colours look heavy and out of place. In some cultures, all-black garments on a woman signal mourning, in others, she is read as a fashion editor.
During a mall walk earlier this month, when driving sleet made sidewalks perilous, I admired a Saint Laurent classic black le smoking, and a sand jersey dress formed by a sole snaking seam.
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| Saint Laurent tuxedo jacket in grain de poudre |
The boutique showed clothes only in black, and beiges from cream to caramel. The palette was so somber that I thought, "I guess if you are spending many thousands of dollars on one item, you want a neutral you can wear forever."
Then I laughed at myself: that's a middle-class person's thinking. 'Wear forever ' may not be the key criterion for someone who can drop nearly $8, 000 for a trouser suit. At Gucci, colour reigned; the overall effect was lighthearted; I wanted to bite this silk shirt:
Might be an idea, I thought to wear more red for 2025—the little wallet still in my drawer reminds me that colour is meant to be fun!
Surely my Winter-mate Dame Maggie Smith enjoyed wearing this extraordinary, seasonally-correct blue, black and green faux fur coat, and an emerald green Puzzle bag in her final photo shoot, for Loewe. (If there is a heaven, Dame Maggie, be an angel and lend me your coat.)
You probably know which colours vivify you, and which drain. I found, once I earned my gray hair, that I could wear many colours in the other cool-colour season, Summer. As we roll up the years, colour sense, rather than rigid prescriptions, supports the sense of well-being and pleasure.
Leave us a comment! Do you follow "colour season" advice? Have you found your choices constant, or have they changed over time?
Is there a colour you seek, but has vanished from the merchants' racks?
Comments
Have to say I don't pull out my colour fan much these days but it was incredibly helpful for many years. It wasn't easy to get rid of clothes that didn't look good on me (to say the least!) and it wasn't always easy to find colours I wanted. The right combination of colour, size, fit, etc could be discouragingly hard to find but the palette encouraged me to be patient and not buy just because the item was available. Now everything in my closet works with everything else which is such a pleasure. Also cuts wayyyyy down on my shopping as I can quickly scan a store to see if anything will work for me. All in all my second colour analysis was well worth the cost and the effort.
Like you, I can't wear those jewel colors, but I am still on the "cool" side. My best colors are pink, a deep green and grey. And I'm always on the hunt for a dark blueish grey. Bompard once sold it, but not anymore.
All my life I thought I was "cool" because my mother was so obviously a "winter" and I loved all the winter colours and had been purchasing and wearing jewel tones. However, having the swatches around my face it bacame glaringly apparent that I was warm and a spring - golden and bright warm colours were my best. And once I had my makeup done (blush and lip colours I had never worn - ever) there was no going back. I had finally found a red lip colour that worked for me. Once you see it you cannot "unsee" it..
Since then I have prudently edited my wardrobe down and replaced my basics all in my seasonal palette. Any new additions to my wardrobe have to be in my palette. Boy, does it ever become easy to pack for travel and pull together an outfit. Although I have purchased quite a few new items I have focused on better quality and it has been a much more mindful approach instead of just buying because it is a bargain.
I have let my hair go natural and my new grey hair is a beige warm tone. I feel so much better about myself and I would highly recommend the process.
The morning spent in that London penthouse having my colours done was the most fun and biggest gift I have done for myself in a very long time. It has given me a lot of confidence and I certainly feel less invisible as an aging woman.
I never had my colours 'done' but avidly read books and articles about it. In truth, though, I never felt comfortable with it because it seemed too restrictive for me. As the years went by, i saw which colours looked good on me, and which didn't - and realised that I could wear most colours, as long as I got the shade and saturation right and paired it with the right makeup. I also found some colours looked great on me in summer, but flat in winter.
Like most women do, I eventually refined the neutrals and colours I liked best on me and have been happy to largely stick with them. I sometimes toy with the idea of getting an analysis done, but not to the extent of actually doing anything about it...
That's true in my experience, too, about some colours being fine in summer, but not so pleasing in winter. (And vice versa.) The new generation of colour analysts have expanded the season categories so it is not as restrictive.
I found the experience quite emotional too as I had been dressing all these years in colours my dear mum loved! As it turns out, and if I had really thought about it, I take after my late father who had very much had a "golden" complexion and in the sunshine tanned a golden brown - as I do! My home decor is certainly all in warm tones and my office is all done in Spring palette colours.
Although pricey in CDN dollars I have never regretted it. I just noticed the price has gone up by 55 pounds since I had my analysis done.
i on the other hand was a winter with icy blue eyes and dark chocolate hair. i am not grey enough now to leave it natural (i look like a piebald horse) so dye it a lighter brown which doesnt work quite as well. i think i need to have mine done now
One thing that I have found quite fascinating ( next to how much time we spend futsing in the wardrobe;) is that women of all skin colour fall into the various seasons. Many years ago I attended a colour session where the consultant grouped the attendees into the four seasons. I am a winter with that’Snow White colouring of dark hair, very blue eyes and fair pink undertones skin. My fellow winters were a mix of Asian and Nigerian! Other seasons also had interesting racial mixes the autumns and the summers hosted two men (who do have skin undertones!) We all laughed but our skin undertones told the story, so yes both myself and my Nigerian friend look great in fuchsia even though our actual skin colour is very different.
Sad reality is give me black as a neutral and all the big ticket basics in black. Black always looks good, I never feel pale or washed out in it, nothing that a slather of Nars Cruella or Dior 999 couldn’t brighten up.
….and yes I unapologetically wear gold. I will not be trading it for silver anytime soon.
Men too can benefit from this analysis but good lord, the men's dept. in most North American stores (and even mens specialty stores) consign them to neutrals or washed-out colours.