Hey, Clothing-Conscious Dopers? Do you know your color "season"?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Believe it or not, this is inspired by Francesca’s inappropriate gifts thread. Some people said their moms gave them clothes that were too small, others, too big. My mother is actually pretty good about getting my size right, especially considering that we live on different continents so she doesn’t see me often… but the colors, oh the colors! Sometimes, and lately that’s increasingly often, they are spot on. Other times, I put the clothes on and end up looking jaundiced, or like I have some scary rare blood disease :eek:

I’d love to have my colors professionally analysed, but at the moment we are too broke for that sort of extravagance, so I’ve used books and window-shopping to work it out. I can now see that I’m a dark-haired Summer who can also get away with wearing some Winter colors. (For clothes. For make-up I must stick to Summer colors!) No wonder that’s hard for Mom, who prefers a mix of Summer and Spring colors for herself. But really I think she’s a Summer, too, like me, although much lighter. Hmm…

So for those of you who like clothes and colors - do you know your color season? Did you have it professionally analysed or did you work it out yourself? Is it helpful to you?

2

I’m a “winter” (gray hair, ruddy skin tones), look best in black, ivory, gray/silver, and clear, bright colors. Can’t wear browns or pastels.

I figured it out for myself with some help from my SO.

3

I have even heard of the strange concept of seasons of colour.

However, I prefer bright colours.

People usually complement me the most on my bright yellow, red, or blue shirts, though.

So what season does that make me?

4

I don’t actually know how color seasons work, but I’m willing to guess:

Winter: Black, white, grey?
Spring: pastels?
Summer: Bright colors?
Autumn: Browns?

Is that close? If so, I’d say I’m an Autumn, though I’ve never had my colors done professionally.

5

Great question! I am male, blond hair, early thirties, defined but not too large. My colors are certainly autumn: Light browns, deep wools, dark/light greys, forrest greens. My favorite outfit - I’m a teacher - is Jeans, L.L. Bean forrest green button down, and my corduroy brown sport coat.

I have never been professionally diagnosed for my color scheme but but Mrs.Phlosphr and I share a walk in closet, she gets one half I get the other. And just the other day I was saying, wow, my color’s are very autumnish.

I basically go with colors that fit my skin tone, and hair color… That has always worked for me…

6

I pretty well match Phlospher’s description of himself, but I guess that in accordance with kn*ckers listing, I would have to be summer.

7

The idea of the color “seasons” was popularized (don’t know if it was actually invented) by Carole Jackson in a book called Color Me Beautiful back in the '80s. The idea is that you can find your best colors by figuring out whether you’re “cool” or “warm”, and whether you’re “dark” or “light”. “Cool” in this context means that your skin, hair, and eye colors tend to have bluish undertones; “warm” means yellow or gold undertones. If you’re warm, you should wear colors with yellow, gold, or orange undertones. People who have cool coloring need to stay away from those and choose colors with blue or grey undertones. “Dark” actually means high-contrast, “light” means low-contrast. If you have strongly contrasting coloring, you need deeper, vivid colors; if you have lower contrasts, those colors will overpower you and you need clear or somewhat muted colors.

The names of the seasons don’t make much sense to me, but they’re commonly used:
Light and warm is Spring.
Light and cool is Summer.
Dark and warm is Autumn.
Dark and cool is Winter.
Most color analysis systems divide up the seasons further, using their own terminology.

So a Winter can wear black, white, and bright colors, but needs to stay away from pastels and brown. Pastels “belong” to Spring, as do golden browns and all the peaches and salmons. Autumns can wear the earth tones well. And Summers like me get bluish-greys and browns, and a wide range of blues, pinks and reds, and softer purples (like lavender).

I don’t think it works well as an absolute thing - I think I look just fine in black, even if I’m not a Winter - but it does help narrow things down when you’re faced with rack after rack of clothes and no clue where to start!

8

Your local library will carry books that describe the whole notion of color seasons and your clothing. It’s interesting and it does work, although I’m sure not a slave to it.

Oh and I’m a winter.

9

flodnak Maybe I am missing something but I live in New England, and our autumns are certainly not dark and warm. I understand the color-schemes but Dark and warm are not the scheme I think of when I think autumn. I think more heavy green, or light grey, or crisp blue, earthy brown, or - of course - maple tree orange/red/yellow…etc…etc…Can you tell what my favorite season is?

or maybe I am just Synesthetic .

10

Superman?

Me, I’m a winter. Solid primary colors, black & white. And no paisley!

11

Superman? Only my wife calls me that!

Also, I prefer solid colours, no plaids, or stripes, or paisleys, or whatever. Just keep it simple, one colour will do just fine, thank you.

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I had a hard time with the color system, having very pale skin, blond/brown/reddish hair, and grey/green/blue eyes. Then I picked up a British book called "The Style Guide"which said some people are combination seasons. Yes, I’m a Spring, but I can’t wear pastels and yellows, cause they make me look too pale. I’m better with clear, rich colours.

13

I actually used to DO color analysis. BTW, I’m a winter.

The best way to figure your color season out is to go ahead and actually test what colors work best on you, in natural light.

Quick test:

Get a swatch of pure blazing white cloth - as white as white gets, no shades of cream or gold. Also get a swatch of beige cloth (any golden brown to dark cream color, not grayed or purplish). Swatch size is best if it is at least 6-8 inches wide and as long as the distance across your shoulders (so you can get a clear ‘frame’ of color). Borrowing someone’s shirt/skirt/jacket will do just as well.

Hold each one up under your chin, so the (natural) light reflects from the fabric onto your face, and look in a mirror. Swap back and forth and look at the color of your eyes (including the whites), your teeth, and the space under your eyes. One will definitely make you look better than the other, though it is okay if neither is perfect. If you want to be utterly sure, do the same for electric pink and bright orange.

If WHITE (and/or pink) looks better, you are a cool season (meaning, no yellows in the colors), if the BEIGE (and/or orange) looks better, you are a warm season (meaning, yellows are fine, blues are usually bad). If you aren’t sure, check for patchiness in your skin showing up more in one color than the other, or have someone else look for the under-eye circles seeming deeper/ickier with one color.

If you are a cool, get a nice french blue or solider-blue (very gray-blue) swatch and a royal or cobalt blue (clear/bright/non-grayed) swatch. If the french blue (with the gray) looks better than the cobalt, you are a Summer. If the cobalt looks better, you are a Winter. You can do the same with a dusty lilac (summer) and a pure royal purple (winter). Usually, summers are lower contrast (between skin, hair, and eye intensities) than winters, but not always.

If you are a warm, that’s harder to describe, partly because I simply don’t find that many of them (and partly because they tend to be able to wear more crossover colors). The usual test is peach (pale pinky-orange) vs. deep brick orange. If peach is better, you are a spring, if brick is better, you are an autumn. Chartreuse (spring) and Forest green (autumn) are also possible test colors, though forest looks good on many people (very close to the middle of the color line), where brick is more likely to really show up the difference.

BTW, the seasons are not necessarily the colors that show up in that season-of-the-year, as most seasons in nature have a wide variety of colors. But some of the most obvious colors are more primary in those seasons - such as oranges and burnt browns in autumn, pale yellow-greens in spring, black and white in winter, and soft flower-pinks and gray-blues in summer.

Most people can get away with some colors outside their season. They won’t usually look utterly radiant and stunning in those colors, but good enough. If someone raves about a color on you, make a note of it - it is probably in your season. You can also use this power for evil - I met someone who is a winter but would wear spring colors when she wanted to take a sick day - everyone thought she looked ill, so nobody suspected she was playing hookey the next day. Crossing both the intensity and cool/warm line at once tends to do that.

And then, just to make things messy, there are the ‘outside the box’ sorts of people - Such as springs, who have the hardest time getting the right colors, IME - they tend to have a more limited selection based on their individual coloring intensity, some that just will not do, even if they are technically in the right season. And warms tend to have more crossover in the dark/light range as well, for the same reason - the intensity of their coloring can affect what works, more than for cools (not sure why, but seems to hold true). People of color have more freedom to cross over all over the place because darker skin tones tend to show less of their undertone when reflected light hits.

In other words, if you look good in it, you look good in it, and sometimes that won’t be smack in your usual color season.

The quick version I give on the color seasons (similar to flodnak’s version) is:

Winter: cool (blue-based) and clear (think icy or jewel-tone)
Summer: cool (blue-based) and grayed (think powdery or pastel)
Autumn: warm (orange/yellow-based) and dark (think earthy/rich)
Spring: warm (orange/yellow-based) and light (think sunny)

flodnak, you want to maybe buy your mom a swatch book for your season? I know that different companies still sell them, usually pretty cheaply. If you can’t find one, email me and I’ll get you in touch with someone who has them.

14

WOW!

Thanks hedra, that is interesting. But where do I fit into that?

15

Well color me autumn, then.

16

Alright, I think I’m a summer, but I really could fit a little bit in each category.:rolleyes: These are the colors in my closet at the moment: All shades of blue, all shades of purple, black, dark red, turqoise, aqua, light or dusky pink, white, and navy. And I’m sure there are others that I’m not thinking of at the moment, too. So am I correct in thinking that I’m mostly a summer? :confused:

17

I am a total autumn. I look best in the colors that leaves change in the autumn. I can sometimes fake a spring or summer if they focus around the yellows or oranges but they tend to leave me more washed out looking unless I actually got a good tan going by then.

You don’t need to have your colors professionally done. Get a set of friends and go “window shopping” by putting up single colors (at first) to your face and body and have them tell you what colors accentuate your features best. If other colors start to wash you out (likely browns and burgundys will do this if you are a winter) your friends should be able to tell you. After finding colors that suit you, if you buy primarily those, you will have clothing that will all seem to go with eachother (well unless you get all patterned material it won’t) and have a very nice pattern.

18

I actually fail to fit into any of the color categories. But I do know what colors work on me, what ones won’t, and for certain colors, which shades of those colors I should simply avoid.

What you get from your mother, I get from my sister. She simply can’t seem to understand that I can’t wear some of the colors that she loves, so from her I get browns and golds which (on me) look awful.

19

Amarinth, well we now know that you aren’t an autumn. Perhaps you are a winter or summer.

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royjwood - what color solids? The plaid etc. makes little to no difference at all, as many are mixed seasons anyway. Navy? Blue? Red? Yellow? Orange? Green? Every color in the rainbow (just solids)? Shades with gray (like faded navy or powder blue)? or clear shades like royal blue and cherry red? Colors with orange casts (like tomato red, amber, or brick)? Or colors with clear yellow casts like lemon, chartreuse, or aqua? You have to define more than just ‘solids’ - I wear solids and avoid patterns. Doesn’t tell you much about what colors I picked, does it?

monica - you could be either a winter or a summer, or one of the people who can do bits of either. If more of your favorites are grayed or powdery (regardless of paleness or darkness), you are more a Summer. If more are clear/icy/jewel, then you are more a Winter. The thing that tricks most people is that you can go very pale on a color and still have it be a winter color, and pretty dark and still have it be summery - the degree of ‘trueness’ in the color (lack of gray shading) is what makes the difference. For example, I have an icy lilac shirt that is lovely on me. It is very pale, but it works great. I also have a kind of powdery lilac shirt that I seldom wear because it doesn’t look right. Both are the same intensity of color (pale), but one is clear/true and the other is grayed/powdery. I have a friend who looks utterly stunning in a particular dark navy dress, but the navy is slightly (just slightly) grayed, and her summer coloring just shines in it. She also does gray-blue and dove gray very well.

amarynth - you can just call yourself ‘cool’ then, if the browns and golds don’t work, and you can get away with things in both the gray/powdery shades and the bright/clear shades. There are people who cross over within their color ‘family’ (cool or warm), and look quite decent in many of the shades in either. You may well be one of them. Or you may be good enough looking that even a mis-fire on the color won’t make you look like crud. Color season info is particularly useful for people who are learning what looks good on them, or who want a handy way to categorize when they are shopping. It sounds like you already know both what looks good and how to pick it.

BTW, even with me, a fairly classic Winter, there are colors in my season that just look AMAZING on me, and others that are fine, not bad at all, just not eye-popping great. Unfortunately for my preferences, the wonderful ones are bright true red, navy, and taupe. UGH. Especially on taupe, which is that weird purplish-gray color that isn’t beige and isn’t brown and isn’t gray and isn’t anything identifiable. But it looks stunning on me. I just don’t LIKE it. And who wears brilliant red all the time? Navy is boring. I end up wearing a lot of burgundy (on the purple/berry side of the line, rather than the brick side), purple, royal blue, and black. And navy, because it really works. Even if I find it boring, as a color, on its own.

And I agree on the friends helping you find the season - just make sure you do it in natual light, not under fluorescents - they change the color reflected on your skin too much, so you can get weird results. And remind them to look not at the color of the fabric (which tends to make people select towards colors that look good on themselves) but at your face, so they can see the impact of the color on you.

Last peculiar note. Most people who choose the wrong seasons for themselves choose the season that worked best on their same-gender parent. We learned growing up that, for example, ‘bright blue looks good’ and forget that it looked good on our black-haired blue-eyed mom, and will look like crud on our green-eyed, red haired self.