Wow, this turned into an awesome thread!

For me, I'd say no, I don't vary my colours seasonally. I do however shift the proportions of how much I wear the colours, esp the neutrals. Since I went through my colour analysis thing a couple of years ago now, I know that my neutrals are black, navy and white. I got rid of all my brown, beige, and grey. My colours are saturated and pure. This was new to me, and has taken some getting used to. I even have the odd item in yellow and orange - knowing what shade of
yellow and orange was right enabled me to try this, and it's fun every once and a while, but they are not my
best. In the winter I wear a lot of black, (probably too much), some navy, with colour here and there. In the summer, I now wear a lot more white with colour, and cut back on the black and navy considerably. But not completely, obvioulsy. And my white is WHITE. I've always known this, but used to ignore it - now I try to be pretty fastidious about it.

I think the big change for me is being very picky about the colours I wear, and not getting things anyway, "because they are pretty". I see some of the soft taupes, beiges etc some of you wear so well, and feel twinges of "but I want that too" but they truly don't make me shine. This has made shopping much easier, I must say. I shudder to think what my wardrobe would look like with a broader palette!

Karen, I think it sounds like a great plan!

An interesting post and something I've been thinking about. I found YLF while looking for info on wardrobe building and capsules. I do like a variety of colors and it does change with the seasons, more spring colors in spring, whites and brights in summer, autumnal colors in fall and gray and black with clear brights in winter. I found that I had a range of different styles and colors in my wardrobe, but problems creating cohesive outfits, given the range. At this point, I'm working to limit my business wear, which I don't wear everyday, to black, gray, white and ivory as the base colors. I am also working to limit my winter outerwear palette to black and gray and colors that work with that, in order to make those items, eg: winter coats, boots, purses, etc. more cohesive. I'm also trying to be more mindful of what I do wear in different seasons, and focus on items that work well together, since I find I do tend to dress in a somewhat seasonal capsule mode anyway.

(Aside: that's why your walls always looks so nice, E! I hadn't connected that they were in your colours, too.)

I definitely limit my colours - I'm a warm autumn, so I avoid brights, pastels, muted cool colours (aka Suz's & E's), black, and white. I have a couple of warm but bright spring colours that are pretty good on me, but almost everything is rich, warm, & medium-to-dark earthy. (I like Ralph Lauren's colour palette, but it's usually too muted though earthy. That was something I had to learn, since I like higher contrast.)

When I moved to my tiny city apartment from suburbia, I put most of my stuff in storage and moved in with a select set of items with a limited palette: grey, orchid, navy, cognac. I'm not sure how long I lasted before I started making trips to retrieve first teal, then red...

What I've discovered is that I tend to work with colour "sets" for awhile and then move on.

Yes, my closest definitely has limited colours, but it's not really by design -- it's more that I've learned that I will only reach for certain colours. There's no point buying a rainbow of colours when I only really want to wear black, white and grey.

OK, that's an oversimplification. I also regularly wear army green, navy, dark brown, burgundy, and red. I also own one kelly green top, and one hot pink one, for the rare occasion where I feel like being colourful. But it's definitely true that having a limited range of colours makes dressing easier. Since many items "go", colour-wise, I can focus on silhouette more easily.

It also makes my closet look nice -- everything is sorted by colour, and looks really organized!

Elizabeth, I hope you're holding onto hot pink...it is soooo fab on you!

Gwennie, that's exactly the spot I was in last F/W when I found YLF. There was no rhyme nor reason to anything in my closet. While I liked much of it and I adore color, there were very few passable outfits in all those clothes!

Alasse, you bring up a good point about balancing contrast. I prefer a medium contrast, so if I'm going to try the all-neutral thing, I'll really have to pay attention in order to get it right.

Very interesting, Rachylou! I would never have thought about just moving certain colors and storing others. I probably would have gone for the "take one of everything" route and ended up with exactly zero good outfits!

Aziraphale, you're another one who knows herself well! IKWYM about the closet...the riot of varied colors can still look hectic, even when it's tidy as can be.

How interesting that most of us here limit their colors! I'm with the minority, then, in being an Equal Opportunity Color Wearer ^^

My colors are limited only in the sense that they "go" with me, so therefore will also "go" with each other; clear or bright colors are best on me. But outside of that I've pretty much got the rainbow represented (not much purple, though). Color makes me happy, in all seasons. My colors do change seasonally but it's more a case of the seasonal offerings tending to mute more in fall/winter and lighten in spring/summer. I've been trying to be sure to add more cheerful colors to my fall/winter wardrobe since the more muted shades make me grumpy

That said, I'm MUCH more limiting with my neutrals. They are what ground my color, and having a cohesive base makes it possible for me to play with fun colors.

I don't think it was intentional but my colors are definitely limited. In bottoms, I basically have white, black, gray and navy. So those- along with denim- are my neutrals. I have a number of patterned pants and skirts (probably less than 10) and all of them with the exception of one features black in the pattern.

As to other colors, I like deep red/burgundy, purple, several of blue like aqua and teal, citron/lime green and a dab of mustard

My colors do have some seasonal variation. More bright colors and white in the summer and more of the deeper shades and black and charcoal in the winter.

This is the best post! I HAVE to get back to work but this is so interesting! I'm on board with Viva consciously culling the wardrobe down to something workable, so colour is taking a hit too. I also LOVE what Karymk says about the turning 50 and conducting an Emmanuelle Alt experiment. I very much like the French, pared down, high-quality accessory, basics with a kick wardrobe idea and it's what I'm after too. Again, colour is getting pared down. And fathenry - totally agree. My summer closet looks like someone with no sense of colour (in other words I have everything except for red, which I hate) in there. My winter closet has nothing but black and grey, and by the halfway point last winter (which was horrible) I was ready to throw out everything I owned. There has to be a consistent middle ground. Just as an aside, I find my hardest working neutral colour to be army green. It works with every thing, and I mean everything.

I'm on team pare-it-back

I used to be an "Equal Opportunity Color Wearer" as Aida said and had pretty much everything but pure yellow and lime green in my closet. I find most colors work with my skin tone so everything else was fair game. However, I didn't really reach for everything equally, so I've been trying to update my closet to reflect that.

The last few years, I've been simplifying my wardrobe to be smaller but full of pieces I really enjoy wearing. My colors now are grey, white, navy, cobalt, teal, aubergine, and occasional blacks and blush pinks. In the summer I wear proportionally more neutrals and in the winter more color, but not by a lot (60/40, maybe?). I still have the odd piece from before this simplification in my wardrobe, but we'll see how long they last since I'm loving some of my cohesive pieces much more.

Thank you Carter, Gryffin, and Suz for the closet love. I just realized that I didn't really answer your question, but when I had first read this thread, I'd just finished putting my clothes away on my new velvet hangars (coincidentally just bought before seeing that post on the forum!) and it it was so easy to see my colors. While I am not a planner at all, I do limit my colors in a way. I rarely set out looking for a specific color but I do avoid the colors I know are really unflattering on me - most really warm colors and beige/taupes. The hardest thing for me to learn is to walk away from the really flattering colors that I don't love because those are clothes that get bypassed every time I reach for something in my closet. It is particularly hard when they are colors that other people love on me - brighter cool colors like cobalt and hot pink. Just recently the light finally went on that I really do not feel good in bright, clear colors. I don't decorate with them, and I don't feel like me in them. (But I LOVE seeing them on other people!) Aside from a couple of shades of clear green, I prefer all of my colors to be muddier or mixed - green blues, coral reds, red purples and faded mustard yellows (only as accents). I also prefer colors to be medium tones (with the exception of blush pink) and neutrals to be dark - black, navy and charcoal grey. I am very drawn to oatmeal, but it doesn't love me, so I've compromised on a couple of things that are a grey/oatmeal (if that can even be a color) that aren't super flattering but have a happiness factor that makes them worth it. White is the trickiest of all. Between my hair and my coloring, I just can't pull off as much white as I would like. Again, I compromise and have a couple white items to sort of "scratch the itch" and wear them selectively. So while I don't plan, I do find myself going immediately to the colors that work in stores, and treating the rest as if they are invisible.

I finally had time to read this thread and it's been so much fun! There really is no right or wrong way to build a wardrobe, is there?

For me - my wardrobe is definitely color-focused. When someone looks at my wardrobe, they probably notice just as much what colors are missing, as they notice what colors are represented! Missing colors include: red, orange, yellow, persimmon, neon green, coral, beige, brown - primarily warm colors. Those that are represented include: gray, white, blue (all shades,) pink, blue-greens, black, cream/ivory, all berry colors, etc. - primarily cool colors.

I not only look best in cool colors, but I also prefer them - they are just more aesthetically pleasing to me (in most situations.)

Limiting my colors results in ease of shopping, as well as well-curated capsules. I love being able to walk into the doors of a clothing store and quickly peruse the selection - just going by color - and be able to assess within just a minute or so if there is anything there that I want to pull out and look at. Saves me time - and money!

Also - SarahTheWhite - what??????? Your closet is killing me! It's beautiful! How did you do that????