When the colours you love don’t work for you

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Angie is co-founder of YLF and its resident fashion stylist.

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When the colours you love don’t work for you

— by Angie

on May 30, 2008

Sometimes we fancy a colour that’s unflattering on us, or we look fantastic in a colour that we don’t like to wear. I run into this challenge with clients from time to time and it’s not easy telling someone that they look drab in sage green when it’s their favourite colour. Or when magenta was made for them, but they loath it.

Of course, you also need to know which colours work for your hair colour and skin complexion. Feel free to look at posts in the YLF colour category for some guidance. Here are some recent posts where I talk about different colours and their applicability:

Colour palette for blondes
Brunettes in blue
White, off-white, cream and beige
Yellow: the unexpected star of the brights
Citrus + Neon = Citron
Ink blue: the new black
Can redheads wear red?
Mix it up with white

I scored with my colour palette. I’m able to wear the colours that I love and I’m happy to leave the ones that I don’t. But this is not the case for everyone. Do you wear the colours that you love despite the fact that they’re not ideal? Do you stay away from colours that look great because you don’t like them?

Colour

27 comments · Add a comment

maris olsen

I love the colors I look good in – jewel tones and black and white – the true “winter” color scheme. Occasionally tho I want to wear colors that are very “of the moment” but are not in my palette. THis is not the norm for me – but it does happen once in a while. For example, I recently made a kimono dress from a teal/lime green linen that I fell in love with at the fabric store. I used a solid teal linen for neckline (and hem) bands) that keep the lime green away from my face, and I can happily wear this fresh spring look.

May 30, 2008 at 7:40 am

Sarah

Hm, I’ve never really had this problem. I am finding myself wearing quite a bit of pink lately, and I don’t like pink much. I only wear pink in shades that look good on me; the stores just seem to have a lot of it right now and I keep bringing it home by accident.

May 30, 2008 at 7:55 am

Budget Babe

(website)

ha! i was just bemoaning the fact that i look terrible in most pale colors while dress shopping the other day for a wedding. i love those really desaturated metallics and neutral satin dresses that look great on a girl with olive, bronze or brown skin, but with my ivory complexion they make me look completely washed out. so, i reluctantly went with what i know looks best: a bold red mini! i know i’ll look decent, just sometimes wish i could pull off these other hues too =)

May 30, 2008 at 7:58 am

Sal

(website)

Uuugggh, I tried on the most fantastic, flattering, adorable lilac eyelet dress at Marshall’s last weekend and it made me look like a jaundice victim. I nearly cried. Those pale lavenders and pinks really clash with my skin tone.

I find that, if I just can’t resist wearing an unflattering color up top, I can balance it out with a contrasting scarf or even a big statement necklace. (Pardon the self-promo, but I wrote about that here: http://alreadypretty.blogspot......dd-oh.html)

Nothing to do for the eyelet dress, though. It had a neckline that would’ve been ruined by a scarf or a chunky necklace. I momentarily considered buying it and dyeing it black … but that’s just silly for a girl with a closet as full as mine!

May 30, 2008 at 8:37 am

Laura

I’m coming out of lurking to say UGH I am going through this right now. I’m trying to switch my wardrobe from college student to semi-professional grad student and I can’t figure out which colors look good on me, mostly because I only try on the colors I love. I plan to go shopping soon and try on some blue.. after your blues for brunettes post I feel better about it, but I always have felt so ugly in blue (I think it makes my pale skin look sickly). Luckily I have green hazel eyes, which makes me feel better about my love for green.

May 30, 2008 at 8:55 am

Maya

I have a pretty versatile skin tone. Not too dark, not too light, not too overly red or yellow. I can wear pretty much anything except pastel colors, which I hate anyway.

May 30, 2008 at 9:13 am

The benefit of being dark is that I can carry off the lilacs and fuschias and oranges that many fair people look terrible in, not to mention I do black better too. There are some pastels I look terrible in but since I’m not planning on dressing up like an Easter egg, it’s not a problem.

May 30, 2008 at 9:16 am

San

I am color challanged but I do know that if I have a wnter white turtle neck sweater on I can’t stand it.

May 30, 2008 at 9:18 am

Tanya

I’m a ‘summer’ and tend to like those colors anyway, so that’s what I mostly wear. I also look OK in some clear brigths and black (in contrary to the season theory) so I wear those too. I look awful in most warm/yellow based colors and luckily for me the majority of them I do not like anyway.

There are some colors I like and don’t look good in. For example, citron and coral are some. In this case, I try to wear them as an accessory, or a cami under tops/cardis in more flattering colors. I found a coral top I really like that I’m comsidering getting, but I’ll have to add a scraf/necklace in cream and also probably layer pinkish blush over bronzer to avoid looking sallow. Another group I like but look even worse in are nudes/beiges, which totaly blend with my pale skin. These are harder to make work, so I’ve recently decided to avoid them all together in the future. I will still wear my beige safari jacket and trench with bright/black colored tops and accessories, but once they die that will be the end of beige for me.

May 30, 2008 at 9:26 am

Angela

(website)

I love yellow, but I look horrible in it… so I don’t wear it.

I hate orange, but I look good in it… so I own one orange shirt.

May 30, 2008 at 9:43 am

Rebecca

(website)

For everyday wear, I like and look good in the same colors. Where I run into problems are some occasions, like Christmas parties, where what seems like the appropriate color choices aren’t colors that I wear. I need to be more creative in approaching those challenges and I also need to try to make my own dresses more.

May 30, 2008 at 10:03 am

Patience

I think I often like a color because it looks good on me, at least as far a clothing goes. Or maybe I am just good at prefiltering– I don’t try colors I don’t think will look good on me. I do wish I could do more with yellow; I’m pretty careful about the shades I choose and have actually not owned anything yellow till this season. I also don’t generally like pink, but there are certain shades which look good on me. I got a wonderful deep purply pink blouse which I love. While there are plenty of colors which look good on me, I’m not really sure which are my best colors.

May 30, 2008 at 10:55 am

Carolyn

Years ago I read Color Me Beautiful and learned I was a Spring. After about 20 years the spring color palette still is the most flattering.
My husband is a football coach and that means wearing school colors. The five years that we were maroon was awful! We are now navy and yellow gold. I usually opt for a cream colored turtle neck with a navy jacket. Go Team!

May 30, 2008 at 11:36 am

pamphyila

(website)

Years ago I thought of myself as a blonde & wore blonde colors – Now I realize I am more of a redhead & have adjusted the colors accordingly. I think my taste for color has changed, too. I uses to love turquoise – and magenta – good blonde colors, but I only have traces of that now for the most part

May 30, 2008 at 12:12 pm

Shannon

I wear all colors depending on the season. I have never thought of any color looking bad on me. Maybe I just don’t pay attention. If I really like something and the way it fits I won’t let the color stand in my way.

May 30, 2008 at 12:20 pm

Jeune

With auburn hair, light brown eyes and very pale ivory skin with freckles, I look just awful in black. And I love black. The way I manage to wear it in the daylight is on the bottom only, skirts and pants. At night, it’s better as the light is not so harsh. But, I still wear some more flattering color with it around the neckline. And never silver jewelry, equally awful on me, only gold.

May 30, 2008 at 12:33 pm

Chaula

This is so coincidental – I was thinking about colors and skin tones earlier today and made a note to ask your opinion – I come home and find this post… what a bit of luck!! Here’s my theory – I have noticed that more than the actual color, what matters is the color saturation and intensity. If the color saturation in the dress and the skin are same, that color will look good on you. I could wear a light pink shirt in linen or soft cotton and it washes my skin out. But the same color in silk looks fab because the color’s more saturated in a close knit fabric like silk and strong enough to hold its own against my skin tone.

I began experimenting with colors I had avoided all my life but just in different fabrics and intensity and found many pieces in those colors that look fab. What do you all think? Am I just completely off the mark here or have other people had similar experiences?

May 30, 2008 at 11:16 pm

Julie

Lavender and soft purples (not the regal purple I’m seeing everywhere lately) make me look very fresh and cheerful, which I only discovered by accident. Why are most lavender clothes made for grandmothers? Fingers crossed it’ll be fashionable again soon.

I avoided pink of any sort for years because I hated it, but am now being a bit more adventurous. Dusky, soft pinks look lovely on me, but I can really only bring myself to wear them in summer, if I mix them with other colours I like (chocolate brown, pale oranges, red).

May 31, 2008 at 4:51 am

Nicole

I used to think I looked horrible in a lot of colors that I now realize look good on me. (like grassy and mossy green). I do tend to pair white with certain colors to give it a crisper look–but I don’t necessarily base it on my skin/hair color. I tend to try any color on, and if I don’t like it on me, I pass. But I try not to rule out a color completely. Sometimes a slightly different shade or hue makes all the difference in the world.

May 31, 2008 at 6:10 am

Renee

I tend to look best in autumn colors, I think. The palette of peacock feathers looks good on me too. I can work some pinks and reds. Most pastels look awful on me.

May 31, 2008 at 9:03 am

Baba

What I like about sticking almost exclusively to my autumn palette is that shopping is simplified, and most of my wardrobe pieces coordinate. Call me a slave to formula dressing, but I’ve learned time and again that these colors flatter me while other palettes don’t. Okay, I’ve got some black, but not hear my face!

May 31, 2008 at 9:46 am

The Seeker

(website)

I’m all about colours!!! (Well at least for now) And I like to wear any colour, I think all look nice.
And I like to mix them and clash them and make my experiences.
Of couse same will lok better than others, but I like to colour the Wordl.

May 31, 2008 at 11:01 am

joelle

The only color I think looks bad on me (at least near my face) is black. It makes me look drab and somehow has a hardening effect on my features. That’s a bummer because it’s supposed to be a really slimming color and I really need that right now. So as much as possible I try to just wear black pants or skirt with a different color on top. When I do wear a black top or dress it seems to help when I put a more flattering color between the neckline and my face, usually in the shape of a scarf or necklace.

May 31, 2008 at 10:01 pm

Robyn

I have fair skin and dark hair so I look sickly if I wear pale colors near my face. I gave away all my white and beige t-shirts and blouses recently because every time I tried one of them on I change it for something else. I look best in bright, strong colors and strong neutrals (navy, black, mid and dark grey, brown) I have hazel eyes and coppery high-lights in my hair so I can get way with burnt orange and olive greens.

May 31, 2008 at 11:13 pm

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Very interesting ladies. I take a special interest in colours. It’s sort of my thing. Below are extra thoughts:

o Loads of people don’t actually know which colours they look great in and which they don’t. I run into this phenomenon frequently with clients. People often think they look great in soft neutrals when they actually look drab. People also believe they can’t wear a colour when they can.
o You cannot see colours in isolation. Sometimes you can wear a colour if it’s alongside another colour as Maris points out. Tweaking the hue is another solution as Nicole points out.
o Fabrication can make a difference like Chaula mentions. I can’t wear beige or silver but when the fabrics are iridescent or sparkly, I can.
o You’ll never know until you try. For years loads of us have had the preconception that we can’t wear yellow when we can in fact wear the right shade of it.
o Black is a hard colour to wear. It looks really good on few people. It’s hard to generalize who these people are because there are many variables at play. If you are in a black rut, get out of it fast!

June 1, 2008 at 6:49 am

cathy

I am working out my color issues because I have recently highlighted my hair after being a dark brunette most of my life. Luckily I think there are more colors I can wear now as well as the same brights I could wear before.

June 1, 2008 at 6:18 pm

Len

I’m starting to try being more fashionable, and the thing is that I am completely color-challenged. I’ve been told I’m a spring as well as an autumn and a winter, who am I to believe?

My skin is pale and never tans. The hair is kind of dark blonde, rosy cheeks, light pinkish lips, green-hazel eyes.

Would someone please help?

July 21, 2008 at 8:02 am

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