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Color analysis in Triumph of Individual Style

Gigi

Veteran

Yes, another post on everyone's favorite topic—color analysis! (I see that someone has revived a thread on a 16-season system...so I guess my post is timely.)

Has anyone else done the color analysis exercises in the book *The Triumph of Individual Style*? I am doing them, and they seem to be answering a lot of questions for me.

I have never had my colors done professionally (money is tight), but on my own, I figured out that I was probably a Deep Autumn, which is Autumn going into Winter. However, there were still some colors that I couldn't wear that were in the palette, as well as colors that I could wear that weren't in the palette. I was reasonably sure that I wasn't a Deep Winter (next season on the spectrum), because there were quite a few colors in that palette that were a problem. It wasn't nearly as good a match as the Deep Autumn.

In doing the exercises in the above-mentioned book, I found out that my eyes, hair, and skin have both warm and cool elements, which is probably why I'm having a problem fitting nicely even into the 12-season system. This got me thinking that perhaps the 12-season system is based on arbitrary cut-offs for each season. I imagine that the spectrum is really a continuous one, and although the 12-season system is more detailed than the 4-season one, you can still fall along the continuous spectrum somewhere in between two of the seasons.

I also wonder if this problem is especially prevalent with people who span the break between a warm season like Autumn and a cool season like Winter. It seems like the season-typing systems (or maybe all color analysis systems?) like to start with your skin undertones: are you warm or cool? Well, some of us are a combination. And that creates a problem from the start.

Anyone else have thoughts like this?

General

25 replies

Latest reply was from Liz

Adelfa

Veteran

It really helped me when I figured out that I have both warm and cool elements in my coloring. Straight "Winter" never quite worked.

DD has red hair, milky white cool skin, and icy blue-gray eyes. If you call her "warm" just because of the hair, you're missing a lot. I finally realized that even though my hair is very dark, it has a ton of red in it, and I needed to veer towards Autumn in my colors.

So.... yes!

MuseumGal

Veteran

Oh definitely - I'm both warm and cool, and both my skin and hair tones change dramatically enough from summer to winter than I can wear entirely different palettes! But one thing that stays consistent is that I'm better in dark, bright, or saturated colors - none of this muted or pastel stuff.

Anonymous

I doubt that most people truly fit into one of season of any system. It's a place to start but not to be embraced too rigidly. Your best colors may change with a bit of a tan in summer and definitely with age too. Then you may have emotional connections...positive or negative...with certain colors. It's an art, not a science.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I think any system of categorization is going to be reductive -- meaning it won't speak to each individual, exactly, although it will give some generally valid guidelines for most.

I suppose what's good about the Triumph of Individual Style is that it's more specific to you, personally. On the other hand, I think we can drive ourselves mad looking for exactly the right tone or shade of a colour, when in fact, there are a number of them within a range that would look good. It does not have to be exact. And as Angie says, colour always has to be considered in relation to what else we are wearing. So it's more an art than a science, IMO.

Gigi

Veteran

Unfortunately, I have a personality trait where I like things to be cut-and-dried...but I think you are right, Joy and Suz, that this is more of an art than a science! And I think it probably requires practice. And patience. (Something I don't have a lot of.)

MuseumGal, as I read your post it just dawned on me that I have coloring that is very similar to yours...don't know why I never noticed that before. So what you said here validated my response to the color analysis exercises. I am going to watch this summer and see if my changes in skin tone and hair color (my hair gets reddish highlights in the summer) alter my palette, like it does for you. Although I'm like you in that I look terrible in pastels, I can handle some muted colors. Vibrant colors on the warmer end of the spectrum are a problem, such as true red--they wash me out. But maybe in summertime I will be able to handle it.

Gigi

Veteran

Adelfa, I have read that redheads really can have a problem with this seasonal analysis stuff, for exactly the reasons you mention. I think a lot of readheads are that warm-cool combination.

Your hair sounds beautiful! I love natural red highlights in the hair. I get some in the warmer months, but not as many as I used to. When I was in college, people used to ask me if I was dyeing my hair red...the water supply must have had a lot of rust in it, and my hair picked it right up. I guess if I ever want a cheap DIY highlighting job I can just soak my hair in a bucket of soaked rusty nails. :^)

Anonymous

I have a feeling I'm a Deep Autumn too. I always get really confused, though, when I look at different shades and try to tell the difference between something that's a "good" color for me and something that looks almost exactly the same, but supposedly isn't. So I've kind of just adopted "warm and dark" as a general guideline for what colors look good on me and taken more detailed season-related advice with a grain of salt.

Also, I'm always weirded out by advice for Deep Autumns that seems to assume everyone with that coloring is a brisk, decisive, take-charge type, which I'm so very, very not.

I haven't seen Triumph of Individual Style, but it definitely sounds like it's proving helpful for you!

Gigi

Veteran

Aubergine, from the WIWs you've posted, I agree that you could be a Deep Autumn also. I know what you mean about being confused about similar colors. In this book, the authors provide some charts where they take various pigments and then manipulate them by adding white, adding black, muting them, etc. And with the manipulations, a color that was purple to start with might look almost exactly like a color that was red to start with. So the underlying pigment is different, but the manipulations mask that difference. I found that very interesting.

I hadn't heard of a personality for Deep Autumns. That seems pretty overreaching, if you ask me! I'm not decisive or take-charge either, though I can on occasion be brisk. I think the next section in the book talks about personality and how to pick colors and stuff based on that. I'm looking forward to that chapter as well.

ManidipaM

Veteran

Yeah Deep Winter but not quite here. And that quiz (older version from the earlier more compact book) pointed it out to me too.

I have green veins but the whites of my eyes are blue and both lips and dark circles veer pink-purple and I blush pink too. My palms are decidedly pink. And my skin is olive, medium-brown tanned but weirdly pale under the tan on the face altjough my body and outside of arms is darker, making for higher contrast (a strange quirk my son's inherited that makes doctors panic about iron levels though tests come out fine!) Hair flat black going grey (literally). Eyes dark almost-black brown... but with a good hint of redness!

Anonymous

I have that book, and went through the color analysis stuff. It pretty much told me what I already knew--that I have both cool and warm elements to my coloring.

Anonymous

Gigi, those charts sound really useful and the chapter on dressing for your personality sounds like lots of fun.

I think I've seen the thing with assigning personalities to different coloring mostly on this blog. I can sort of see where she's coming from, since November in the northern hemisphere has brisk winds and is when people are kind of rushing around to take care of things before going into winter hibernation mode (and obviously there are similar associations that can be made for other months), but I think overreaching is right!

Helena

Veteran

Hi there, it was me who revived the 16-season thread; I was away last week and did not take note of the date - apologies if that was a faux-pas!

I too had this issue - I am cool, but with a touch of warmth, esp. in my hair and eyes, too deep to be soft but not deep enough to be a deep season ... the 16 seasons has me a "soft summer deep" which is a great fit for me, I think precisely because it adds another stop along the spectrum. Sort of a "neither here nor there" season.

However, I also like things to be set out for me so I'm happy to find a system to follow; for some, person preferences, style, and individual coloring will make big differences, so no perfect solution I guess (darn!!)

Liz

I stayed up waaay too late last night reading about color analysis. Thanks, girls. Like some of you, I have warm and cool tones in my skin. Aubergine, I'm going with your "warm and dark" filter b/c the seasonal stuff makes me feel a bit twitchy and overloaded with information. Brisk and decisive? SO NOT ME. I'm a mull-it-over, internally processing Autumn. Warm, dark and deep sounds about right. Grain of salt, please.

Aziraphale

Veteran

I think Suz has hit the nail on the head (not an uncommon occurrence). It's more of an art than a science. I don't totally understand why we get so excited about these personal colour scheme things. I think people simply like to categorize themselves. It's like how we all know our astrological sign (the western one and probably the Chinese one, too) and its associated personality traits, even though, if asked, most of us will allow that it's a load of nonsense.

I've asked many a Mac makeup counter drag queen what "season" I am. They all say something a little different, but the upshot seems to be that my complexion has both warm and cool tones. That supports what you're saying, Gigi.

I find the better option is just to look in the mirror. It will tell me if the colour I'm wearing suits me or not.

Helena

Veteran

It's a bit like the search for the perfect lipstick ... you know, the one that will turn you into Gisele Bundchen Just kidding ... all good fun and very interesting stuff!! I am a color analysis addict through and through!

Gigi

Veteran

ManidipaM, you sound like you are between seasons for sure! My veins are purple and green and blue...no wonder I was having a problem! And I have very warm eyes also, with pale skin.

Ruth, you are more observant than I. I couldn't figure out what was wrong until I did these exercises. I thought I perhaps had cool tones in addition to the warm, but since my absolute best colors are warm ones, I figured I must somehow be wrong about the cool tones. But apparently I'm not.

Aubergine, I guess there isn't a chapter on dressing for your personality. There are only a couple of pages, and they were not all that exciting. Sorry! I guess I got my own hopes up there too. :^)

Torontogirl, don't even get me started on finding the perfect lipstick! I've never been a big lipstick wearer for the very reason that I could never find one that didn't look awful on me. I think the problem is that although I need the warm and dark colors, I have very thin lips, and the dark colors just make them look thinner. So I think I need to find a good neutral, which is harder than it sounds. Although when shopping for clothes I don't think it's as important to distinguish between colors that are very similar to each other, when shopping for lipstick I think that those subtleties become very important. And there was no faux-pas with your thread revival...I had been thinking about posting on this topic for a couple of days, and then I saw your revived thread, which made me think now would be a good time to post.

Aziraphale, I agree that some of us like to categorize ourselves, which is part of the fascination of color typing. It's just in some people's personality (mine included) to want to be overly methodical or something. Guilty as charged! But you're right that it really is not a substitute for your own experience and trial and error. It's just a starting point and a tool.

Sorry to keep you up late, Liz. At least I assume that the reading was enjoyable if you stayed up so long! :^)

MsMaven

Veteran

I'm also one of these on the edge people. I've had several color analyses--I've been told spring, summer, autumn. I figured it out that I was neutral. When I was young and lived in LA spring worked okay for me, but not anymore.

Usually when I find a lipstick that works we'll for me it will be discontinued a year later. Right now I'm still looking for one that isn't too bright, too dark, too pale, too nude, too pink, too blue-red. The thin lips problem doesn't help.

Alassë

Veteran

Yes, I read that book. And I second the define-everything, color-obsessed personality! I definitely think you're on the right track with there being a continuous spectrum.

For seasonal lip colors, may I recommend Burt's Bees (go through the warm/cool lip shade finder a few times, varying your hair/eye shades a little) and Elea Blake (http://www.eleablake.com/store/autumn:-true/f/)? I've found a few shades that are my red/neutral/coral/natural looks, probably a 25% ratio, after trying many warm autumn/dark autumn/warm spring shades.

Alexandra

(website)

Veteran

I think a big part of the problem is that too many people think that if they fall into a specific category, then every single word of its description must apply to them. And if it doesn't, then there must be a problem with the system. I think this is a fallacy.

If you read that students in the typical nursing class are mostly female in their 20-30s, it doesn't mean there aren't any male students or anyone over 39. Same with season descriptions - they're describing a large number of people so you're looking for commonalities. Just because you don't fit the description of the typical member of that season, doesn't mean you don't belong there. Those drapes don't lie (Christine's don't, I don't know about others'.)

The added issue with seasons is that it's not enough to look at color alone. You also have to consider the body line and the rest of the Triumph stuff, personality, lifestyle, and personal preferences. I went through the book and its exercises last year, and documented the process on my blog. you can see those posts here: http://www.studio-alexandra.com/tag/triumph/

I think too many people are looking for easy answers that work for everyone. The problem is they don't exist. Color analysis is the beginning of the journey. There's a lot more to discover along the way.

unfrumped

Veteran

Ja, guideline.

Just helps with color triage, starting point, all that. And can help explain why certain colors work so well.

Sometimes, one can wear lots of colors and that can be a problem in developing a focus for wardrobe versatility--so then you choose to limit colors not due to being enslaved to the color wheel, but to simplify.

It helps to make rapid sorting through stores faster if you skip the color combo's that you know usually don't work.

OTOH, I have been learning that I ought not to skip trying on things just because of color (I'm talking mostly B&M stores where there's no cost to filling up a dressing room) because sometimes I'll learn there are other colors offered on-line or in a different store, and now I know what size to get, and also I can learn something about styles and fits by different makers that I might want to try. Maybe they're not channeling my colors now, but they are making a good quality product, and I should keep browsing the brand. Retail research.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I think Alexandra's spot on -- at the moment, I'm far more interested in line and pattern and how these work for me, and Kibbe, plus the Triumph book, have a lot more to say about that. Colour is just the tip of the iceberg, and I think (just speaking for myself) I've always had a good intuitive grasp of that -- I know what looks good and what doesn't.

And some of what does look good only makes sense when you consider it in connection with my personality and line -- as some kind of cool summer (true summer in some systems, cool summer in others, and who knows what, in others still) I definitely need cool colours but "should" not do well in high contrast. Similarly, some would argue that I need "soft" draping and such, because that goes with summer's gentle character.

Well, guess what? That's WRONG. Soft draping is about the worst thing I can do (especially in a soft greyed colour). For my body type, I need structure and strong vertical lines -- the kind of look you would expect to look best on a "winter." Breaking things up with a strong horizontal line and especially with too much fussy detail is a very bad idea. (I've eliminated the fussy detail -- I'm currently working on ways to avoid the horizontal break -- considering I wear jeans most of the time and do not always want to match my top to my trousers.)

And while I don't do well in super high contrast bold patterns all over my body, that doesn't mean high contrast is out. Large black and white patterns, admittedly, are death to me. You would not see me; you'd only see the pattern. But winter white with narrow navy stripes? Brilliant. A whole ensemble of navy or ink with white accents? Wonderful. And I can even manage black with care. True, it's not my best colour. Charcoal would be better. But it works if I am careful about how I manage it.

If I focused only on my best colours I would never be able to understand this.

Sorry to go on and on about me here. I just think it might be useful to others considering their own journey.

Anonymous

I can't remember if I've taken the 16-season test or not, but, I'll throw in my two cents. I agree that seasonal analysis is a great jumping-off point, but as Angie says, there are ways to wear a version of a color that isn't your best if you really want to. Also, since many of the color gurus admit to needing 'just the right light' to see if a color works for you (or not), that means there is some wiggle room. I say, if it looks good to you in the mirror, that should trump a chart full of colors that may or may not be available for purchase this particular retail season. Most people looking at you do not have the keen eye of a color analyst, after all.

I realize I sound a bit cynical, and I don't mean to. I love color analysis, and I think it's fascinating. I want that cut and dried approach too! But in the end we have to dig in and do the work I'm afraid. God really did make us all different, like snowflakes, so I doubt we will all fit neatly into even 16(!) categories, lol!

Gigi

Veteran

MsMaven, the book I'm talking about doesn't have seasons per se but does admit to a person having neutral coloring. That was a new concept to me. It sounds like you discovered that for yourself. :^)

Alassë, I'm glad I'm not alone in my borderline OCD personality! :^) Thanks for the lipstick recommendations. I love Burt's Bees and just tried out the lip shade finder you'd recommended. I had bought one tube of the tinted lip gloss a couple of months ago, but it didn't quite work. I see from the lip shade finder that if I make myself into a Winter (black hair with silver jewelry), the shade I bought came up. So I got it a little too cool. I will try again after I play around with this tool. Many thanks!

Alexandra, I have been on your website a bit and thought I remembered seeing you reference this book. I will go back and visit and spend more time there. I completely agree that color is not all there is to looking good. That's why I like the Triumph book--it talks about many other aspects of the body, like Suz mentions.

Unfrumped, I am thinking exactly along the same lines as you...this basic color analysis will help me "weed things out" at the store--or especially online, when I can't see color subtleties in person. I have found too that the regular 12-season palette helps in that if I decide I want to add a particular color to my wardrobe, I have an idea of what shade of the color would be a good place to start.

Suz, I can usually tell what looks good and what doesn't, but it's always nice to know why--I think that helps us branch out into other colors and shades more successfully. I hadn't heard about "soft draping" or similar dressing instructions being associated with the seasonal palettes. I'm glad I missed out on that! The Triumph book would say that your fabric choices (fabric weight, drapey, structured) are based on your body structure, not on your "season" or coloring. I too like Triumph's discussion of line and movement. I have found that although I have both curvy and angled lines in my face, angled patterns look much better on me. I think that the movement of them fits my personality. And you did not go "on and on" about yourself--it was all very helpful! :^) Sometimes we have to use ourselves for examples because we have no other realm of experience.

Gigi

Veteran

Claire, you are so right--there's no way that a single system can take into account all of our differences. And that's a good thing! There's much more room for self-expression that way and individuality. And to be quite honest, things that require a lot of work are usually the most rewarding, although we might complain in the process. :^)

Liz

Alexandra, after looking at your blog posts, I did order the book... fascinating, really. Lines? Contours? I can tell that it will challenge some of my long-held ideas about my own body/self. Really enjoyed reading about your process with Triumph. Thanks!