TG I find my colours can change with my hair colour which I keep blonde - but a very fair ashy blonde works differently than when I have a darker honey blonde or when I wore my hair strawberry blonde. I even tried red hair, but it looked awful on me and DH (who wisely keeps quiet on my choices - told me in no uncertain terms that it was not my best look).

Like you and UmmLila, I love analysis and external validation and style systems are nice benchmarks. However, I always think "How does this make me feel" and I don't stick to rules - whether it is dressing for figure flattery purposes or colours. I like to know the rules and then decide if I will abide by them (or not).

Bijou, so right about hair colour - mine can go very warm; as I mentioned when I cut it so sorry to be repetitive, but I went with a warmer tone, which I was happy with for 5 minutes lol ... and now am trying to cool down again with toner at home. I could see that I *could* almost try to get away with an autumn palette with my hair warm and my eyes quite changeable - but my skin holds the fort on cool and I really see it. It really makes such a massive difference! You always looks lovely in your colours!

Sorry, I'm responding all in a weird order; so many awesome thoughts here!

Brooklyn, I love that attitude - quite right; happiness is probably the most attractive quality of them all.

Slimcat - definitely - there are always compromises. And as the colours in stores change with seasons, so can our personal colours - a tan, some sun-bleaching in our hair, etc ... all these things need to be adjusted for.

Shevia - I'm so grateful you're here for it because you know there is more coming I love this approach - using the systems as a prompt to see how our intuition responds. Brilliant!

Notsaf - I love Gretchen Rubin but will have to revisit this part of her work. Upholder sounds right though

Rachy - I always wanted to be Elsa but I'll take Snow White I agree with you so much on context - I would love nothing more than a beachy Cape Cod style home in a beautiful blue ... but it would look utterly offbase surrounded by the pine trees, maples and frequent snow of my area ...

Really heart-warming thread! I am well into my mid-forties and naively thought that at this age, I should know by now what colours/shapes and patterns suit me without spending a fortune in fashion books (I have never done a colour consultation). Thing is, I finally realised that it's a journey and I that should listen to my inner voice and just try.

I know exactly what you mean about consulting "experts" and really just wanting them to agree with my own conclusion. Makes me feel like I'm right - haha.

Regarding color, I have always been interested but never gotten a clear answer so I tend to take it with a grain of salt. I do think much of it is instinctually liking what looks best on us but now after reading here maybe that's not always true? I also think a lot of it is more to do with contrast and often play with these ideas for myself. I see you as higher contrast with your skin and hair and so I think you look good with colors and tones that have more contrast.

Anyway, I totally agree with everyone to do your own thing and wear what you like!

Fascinating that "experts" can be so wrong. I think what others on the thread have said (Stylefan, Sal, Angie, SarahDB, Jenni, Phoebe, and more -- the analysts may (or may not!) know colour but they don't know you. And therein lies one problem. The second being that colours can only be seen in relationship.

I like you in higher contrast jewel tones, too. I'm sure you'd look good in just about anything but wear what you love!

I like what UmLllla and Shevia said about consulting the experts. I enjoy it and am attracted to it, too, but more as a parlour game. I also read horoscopes, enjoy those personality tests, love to get a tarot reading, etc. I think of it less as a categorization exercise or set of rules or absolutes to follow and more as a way of having fun and possibly sparking a new insight or two (even if the personality tests always come out the same!).

I've mentioned this before, I think, but I've known forever that I look best in some kind of "summer" palette -- it's always been obvious. Though I can take more contrast than the stereotypical "summer" -- and in fact, need more. (For categorizers, that's the Kibbe flamboyant gamine in me coming out.) This is why a bold stripe like a Mariner sweater works on me when technically, it "shouldn't" -- it works with my features and level of energy even if not my colouring, pe se. Summer's colours suit my complexion and colouring -- if what you want is a harmonious, soft blend. But (and it's a big but) -- I'm active, energetic, and full of movement in person so a totally calm palette seems incongruous with who I genuinely am and would feel and look inauthentic. Contrast and lines to the rescue.

In other words -- there's more than one way to interpret what the experts are saying and you should just wear what feels good to you. Eventually, if you put enough of the experts' theories together, you might come up with a rationale for what you know in your heart works. Or you could just go with that in the first place, and save yourself the trouble.

I once had me someone who was supposed to be an expert tell me that I couldn't wear yellow and green in an outfit because you can't mix warm and cool colors.

Like, never mind the fact that it was a very warm military green with a mustard yellow. Let's ask mother nature about it...

Cindy: Mother Nature, thank you for agreeing to answer my questions. Let's start with color theory. Do you think it's acceptable to mix warm and cool colors or not?
Mother Nature: well, if it's unacceptable to mix warm and cool colors, then I've been doing roses all wrong since the dawn of time! Green stems and leaves on a red or yellow rose? What an abomination!

My mom once told me purple didn't go with green, so let's ask Mother Nature about that.

Mother Nature: oh, great, now I'm doing violets and lavender and lilacs all wrong too?
Cindy: but my mom says purple doesn't go with green
I'm being snarky here, but my point is, be like mother nature. Do what looks right to you. There will always be someone who thinks it's wrong, and that's ok. We have to please ourselves, because we are never going to please EVERYBODY else.

Going to respond better later but Cindy, that is BRILLIANT - I love this so much

Oooh Cindysmith:

@Suz - you are so right about energy in the outfit and color combos!
I like to wear soft grey with white but only at home - it's relaxing and neutral. The same would never work for going out or work.
I'm in the cool/soft summer camp, happy with medium and low contrast level but need some stronger contrast when I'm out and about.

So much wisdom and confidence here! LOVE IT.

Phoebe, Brooklyn, Suz, Silm Cat, SarahD8, Cindy and Bijou - YES. That. Exactly.

Helena, I have more examples:

olive, burgundy, mustard, toffee - not my best colours, but I dabble with them because they tickled my fancy at some point......so I went for it. Why not! - but I wear them WITH my best colours to make them more flattering :

• olive with navy, citron and white
• burgundy with tomato red and navy
• toffee with navy and white
• mustard with white, tomato and navy

Cindy, that absolutely made my day! Hilarious!!! And SO true!

I wear mustard --- my worst colour! But hey, Mother Nature knows, it looks really great with blue, my best colour! So keep it away from my face, and bingo!

Sorry I'm falling off on responding as I don't want to keep bumping my own thread, but reading and loving every response ... you guys are THE best, bar none, so much wisdom that sparks from style but applies to all of life.

Nemosmom - those damn lists lol!

xoxoxo

Cindy, you are brilliant! I always wondered about that.

Nemosmom, those lists! Enough of experts telling women what they need in their wardrobes.

Shevia has said what I have realized about myself. I like reading horoscopes, going to psychics (yes I do that), doing quizzes on all sorts of topics but I always go back to my intuition. I wonder if Shevia is a INFP like me. But I don't take any of that stuff too seriously.

Great reading on this post.....

I just wanted to add that I don't think colour choices are static either. I could get away with a huge range of colours in my 20s when my skin was young - sigh!! My worst colours are worse now than 10 years ago.....

And hair colour affects it too - both natural or "chosen" choices...

And I agree with Suz too - personality and the Kibbe factors play a large part.

And I love what you wrote Cindy....

Lol stylefan, I'm an infp too lol!

Hi TG —

You know a good color analysis thread is catnip to me, ha!

I’m all for highly customized analyses but think the “Here’s Your Box” ones are, at best, a jumping off point. MOST of us can push certain color spaces — for you it sounds like blue may be one of them! — though we can’t necessarily push them warmer or cooler.

If you want another rabbit hole and haven’t read Carla Mathis’ Triumph of Individual Style (e-book is 20 US online), her color section gave me so many “aha” moments.

In one part, she shows various pure pigments and their shifts. I've never seen other systems referencing some of the combos she does.

Various systems may do it, but because it’s all split across various “seasons” it’s not obvious. Seeing it laid out as she does made it easy for me to grasp — ok, that pure pigment looks really good on me IMHumbleO, so no wonder I like the [shifted versions, except for when it goes XYZ].

For reference, Mathis uses washed = watered down; tinted = cool or warm white added; toasted = cool or warm brown added (even cool color + cool brown warms up the pigment); shaded = black added; muted = mixed with pure pigment complement.

However, I do think there’s a LOT of room between the colors you posted — even in the more Box-y systems!

For instance, a German company who supplies analysts with swatches etc etc has some gorgeous deep shades on the Soft Summer-Soft Autumn swatch — not sure if the system you were analyzed in kept them all in the light to medium value but...

I’ll add a comparison shot below of some of their swatches below, including the SSu-SAu.

I will say I’m constantly surprised by how deep my own colors are because ON me they often look “bright-esque.” Whereas highly saturated shades tend to jump out and overwhelm.

I noticed a fair bit of your WIWs tend to feature black or fairly saturated shades. Maybe there’s more opportunity to find “your version of”?

IIRC one deep cooler green top that I thought looked great might have been sent off, haha. But assuming you liked that color too it doesn’t mean ALL your shades have to be that deep or just lighter versions thereof.

In truly custom palettes — DIY or pro — you can push those boundaries more without sacrificing flattery and have colors that you couldn’t really wear together at the same time. Maybe it’s a somewhat different *effect* but whatever, right?

For instance: As much as I love so many greens, the yellow-influenced ones will look forever horrid on me...but there are (rare) options out there besides the deep blue-greens that work. If I stopped holding things up and really *looking* I’d dismiss anything not in my existing universe.

Ps re swatches: if you think, “some of those colors look the same across seasons” it’s because some of them are soooooooooo close. And depending on the person, it may not matter!

Pt 2: I know I got distracted by the whole color part of your thread so I’ll just say I think there’s value in exploring things for ourselves — esp if an expert opinion doesn’t sit well.

In my case it was reaching a point with my health where I was no longer willing to listen to “nothing physical really wrong with you” diagnoses. [My self-advocacy came and went in waves.]

Decades later, it was very satisfying to be right but very sad to have lost so much of my life — and money, dear universe so much money — to endometriosis symptoms dismissed as High-Strung Lady Disease.

TG, just tell the world ‘you’re not the boss of me!’

Somehow colour and style analysis passed me by! I think the only style related thing I read was my Dad’s (or Mom’s ?) copy of ‘Dress for Success.’ I can’t ID anyone by season, or Kibbe, or any system’ - let alone myself.

I think personality plays into it too. And at least in your posts on this forum, you come across much more “high contrast” than “soft” if that makes sense.

I struggle with this with my hair. I vastly prefer it buzzed absolutely off. I hate the feeling of hair on my neck or ears, I love the freedom of not having to style it and I love the consistency of it looking the same every day. But people always convince me it looks too harsh, why not let the texture show blah blah. And I give in for a while and then buzz it off again after a few months! Why must I keep repeating this cycle?? Like you I guess I want to look “as good as possible” by society’s standards. And I fear that my own preferences may not be right.

Haha, thanks for sharing your comical new 'analysis' :). This really resonates with me, a fellow perfectionist looking for external validation on my style quotient. Fwiw, I'm thinking these days that I (and many others) can lean warmer or cooler depending on hair color. I also agree with Cindy. Bridget Raes did some posts on color that took inspiration pics from nature. Really made me realize that in nature many colors are beautiful next to each-other that we might not pair. I also once heard an interior decorator comment on the idea that you can't combine differnt types and colors of wood: a forest doesn't contain one type and shade of brown either!

Thanks everyone for adding so much to this thread! I just wanted to comment back on two things that Vix said:

- so right that I think there is a big difference between the colour analysis that's fun to parse and think about and ponder, and this is where the super-detailed and philosophical pieces come in, and on the other hand, the colour analysis that actually helps us shop, which I think we need to be much more realistic about. Case in point, I pulled out my soft summer fan and my cool winter fan, and looked at the colours that are some of my better ones (on the Ssu fan it's the deeper ones that work best imo). Now, although we could probably analyze subtle differences (maybe), tell me how that would realistically play out when I shop? For practical purposes, they are the same. Feeling dumb that I never thought to do this before!

- and more importantly, Vix thank you for sharing your story of how important it is to advocate for ourselves re: your health (and so glad you persisted and got the right diagnosis). And this is a muscle we can build by trusting ourselves on frivolous things like colour. Once again style mirrors life.

1. Cool winter
2. Soft summer (you can spot the very hazy lavendar at the bottom right)
Note my camera doesn't capture the colours perfectly

I like Cool Winter more - clearer tones. The Soft Summer looks a bit warmer and muddier - if I may say it? Cool Winter wins to my eye .

Awwww! RunCarla!

Helena, there are similarities in the palettes! Pick the colours that make you happy, and throw the rest out the window....

Helena, another INFP! how funny.
Interesting about the palettes. I like what Angie said. Pick your happy colours.

Hi again TG —

Yes, I think it’s easy to forget color analysis doesn’t really exist in a vacuum — it’s a wardrobe / shopping tool.

AKA “what looks like crap on me so I can avoid it, and what’s the best available when I need or desire something?”

I mean I have overdyed items For Science and I try to be picky, but sometimes it is what it is out there and you either walk away or compromise.

Glad the palette comparison idea was useful!

Especially since those look like different systems, it’s apples and raisins so absolutely — find your “zones” across palettes and then add in your own experiments.

I have a long-standing YLF record as color-obsessed and restrictive, ha, but I wear the label proudly. For one thing, it’s a unifying thread across my various self-defined style archetypes...and for another, I need all the help I can get with that “natural glow” thing.

This circles back to your original post and also comments related to color and style needing to map to personality — aside from cases where we’re really deliberately trying to fit in with norms.

I think some of us really need to “own” our look even if we’re happy to collaborate with experienced pros to see how they see us, or enjoy soliciting opinions from others. The feedback matters and has value, but I’ll Have it My Way triumphs.

Do you fall into that group?

I know I do, and it was 100% confirmed when I did some outfit / color study photo challenges a couple months back. [Regression into lounge wear, currently and sadly!] I can see how others might think my looks cross “seasons” or style ATs but to me they’re all...me.

Happy experimenting!

Ps And thank you so much for the comments re my improved health! Maybe I should have worn orange to all the scopes, scans, office visits to expedite matters haha. Obviously I could say a lot more (and have) around various systemic biases...and I know I’d have no shortage of company in that!

Another INFP here
Those fan colors look quite close to my eye. And you're definitely high contrast!

The only way to really tell when shopping is by comparision-which blue looks (brighter, more muted, greener, etc) in comparison to the other available ones. And- sometimes the retail powers that be are in our favor, other times we have to make do with what's available.

I think it was Stacy London that I heard say "if you see the colors together in nature, then they go together" or something like that. They were on to something: violets have green leaves, flowers grow with pink and yellow petals on the same bloom, sunsets can contain orange and yellow and pink and red all at once, oceans can be blue and green, bruises are black and blue and purple all at the same time, tabby cats can be brown and black striped, and so on. I think the absurdity of "dont mix warm & cool colors becomes painfully obvious when one sits on the beach and watched the sun set, or spots a rainbow, or any of those myriad other things occurs that involves all the colors in one experience.

I operated under that theory when I designed the house my ex and I built. The reclaimed wood on the walls was a riot of colors, balanced out with neutral wood tones. My mother took one look at the walls and knew exactly who had made that choice, she said it hurt her eyes to look at my walls with all those colors happening LOL

So I rechecked and yes, INFP. The IN is pretty solid but the F and P tends to be a closer call and seems to be changing as I get older. Also am a questioner on Gretchen Rubin's test. I will take any personality test you throw at me. High five Style Fan and Helena!