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Lady Mary is helping me through my troubles

Traci

Veteran

Are you prepared for more teeth gnashing? I think I may be getting somewhere this time...maybe.

A month or so ago I lamented about my color season and could not quite figure it out. I think we landed somewhere in the range of soft autumn, but it wasn't a perfect fit.

Then I changed things up and cut my hair short and went to my natural dark chocolate color. Next I whined and complained that I didn't have the right colors to wear with my new hair.

Surprisingly, there aren't that many pale brunettes with brown eyes. Usually the brown eyed ladies are very olive, or they lighten their hair, so inspiration can be hard to come by. This morning I started googling and pinteresting for brunettes and came across a few that were getting close to my coloring and one site referenced Michelle Dockery, or Lady Mary from Downton Abbey.

Cue Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/sear.....ichelle%7C

I was drawn to her color choices, so I looked to see what the experts call her season. She's a spring. So I looked at the color palettes for springs and it's full of the pastels that make me disregard it every time I see it. So then I look closer at the pinterest search and notice that she wears neutrals most of the time, and bright jewel tones the few times she infuses color. Perfect! I'm also really drawn to the clean, classic lines of her outfits, so I think we have a style icon in the works here.

Yesterday you all helped me suss out that I just needed to cull my wardrobe down to the right colors for the new hair. Today I'm going to work at that, using this pinterest search as my guide.

Also to do: Get more navy and ink into the wardrobe.

Dressing

25 replies

Latest reply was from rachylou

Inge

(website)

Yay Traci, what a brilliant discovery. I love it how finding Michelle Dockery as your style/colour palette example is sparking all kinds of new ideas for you. I'm excited to see where you are heading with your fab "new" 'do and the wardrobe culling. (loving the idea of adding more navy and ink too;-)

Anonymous

This sounds like you make real progress. Congratulations.

celia

Veteran

Sometimes we just need a visual reference. I am a brunette with light skin but perhaps warmer tones than yours but I do feel the pain of dealing with high contrast and finding a balance between warm and cool colors.
I am looking forward to see your outfits.

Style Fan

Veteran

I am looking forward to seeing your outfits. What a great discovery.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Fabulous! I love many of her outfits as well and agree the colours would look great on you.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Great inspiration! My mom had that same coloring. My sister and I got our dad's ever-so-slightly more ruddy/freckled complexion and blue/green eyes, but I think the color palettes we can wear are pretty similar. However, Michelle Dockery wears red better than I do, and I think it's the brown eyes that make it work so well.

Peri

Veteran

I have green eyes but I always have trouble finding pale brunettes in general so I know what you mean. When clothes or makeup colors are shown for comparison they always show a blue-eyed blond for the pale skin version. Cool that you found your color guide this way...I'll give it a try!

Anonymous

You have been working hard on this wardrobe problem and it paid off. When I was young, my hair was a dark brown, as are my eyes. Charcoal grey and navy were great neutrals and I wore deep reds and Hunter green, teals and midtone blue. Have fun with your adventures in color.

Ginger

Veteran

Oh, how fascinating! I'm so glad you found both a recommended palette *and* specific examples of how a similar person interprets that.

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

Great inspiration Traci, glad you found a style icon that relates to you so well.

Vix

Veteran

Hi Traci --

Another dark brown hair and eyes and pale skinned person weighing in!

I just took a look at your hair thread and think your color and skin look great. Not surprised the tans and warm shades aren't working well, hope some of the strategies others gave you help (or you find you're ok letting those shades go).

Re Michelle/Lady Mary -- while I agree she's a great color role model, I totally disagree she's a Spring and I actually think she often chooses...not so well...in her personal life.

DAbbey's costume designer is genius with color and contrast, though (IMO!) and Lady Mary looks awesome.

Personally, I'd peg Michelle as someone who looks good in most of what's termed the Dark Winter palette -- more broadly, someone who looks best in slightly muted cool to neutral-leaning-warm tones. To me she shines in the deeper end of the colors but the costume designer often does awesome things with contrast when Mary's in light tones -- adds dark color via jewelry, embroidery, etc.

My .02, take or leave. Hoping to see you in some Lady Mary inspired outfits, though.

ps Keria Knightly as another brown/brown/pale person to watch though she's another who seems to wear a little warmth well (aka better than me!).

Alexandra

(website)

Veteran

I'm another dark haired, dark eyed, pale skinned person, and I'm a Bright Winter. The pink in my skin is quite visible even in my avatar here, and totally obvious in any pictures where I'm standing next to someone else. Hair coloring doesn't really work for me as it throws off the cool/warm balance.

In my opinion, your own natural hair color is the best. It's naturally in harmony with your skintone and eye color. It takes a lot of skill and an excellent eye for color to change what mother nature gave you to an equally flattering/harmonizing shade. The vast majority of hair colorists have neither the skill, nor the eye. Those who do charge accordingly.

Liz A.

Veteran

Michelle Dockery has been classified as a Bright Spring, which is almost the same as Bright Winter, which Alexandra mentioned. Those two seasons can wear some similar colors.

Traci

Veteran

I'm nodding along with so much of what is being said here. It's a little hectic here so I apologize for not being able to reply more thoughtfully to so many of your thoughtful responses.

Kiera Knightly swings into that honey coloring that I'm without. Anne Hathaway also came up in my search, but I was less inspired by her style.

I did just see an interesting cool vs wRm test I'd never seen before. It showed two colors of blush, one pinky and one peachy and said which do you wear. If pinky you are cool toned, if peachy you are warm toned. This was the first color test that had a clear cut winner for me. I always lean towards the berry pink blushes over the peachy blushes.

Traci

Veteran

I went through and pulled some of the warmer and muddier colored items out of my closet and then went into my reserves and added in some of my navy items as well as cool bright colors. I also swapped my burgundy jeans for a dusty rose/blush pair. I'm not sure all the pieces I pulled from reserves are complete winners, some may be serving more as color place holders for now.

Here's the before and after shot of my closet.

This post has 2 photos. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

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tulle

Veteran

What a fun project. Personally, I see Michelle Dockery as some sort of Winter. She glows in black, which to me is always a tip-off. So you might want to look more closely at Winter colors, too. Lady Mary--now there's a fashion icon for you!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Great inspiration. Keep us posted on the closet edit.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

It's great to hear about your color and style epiphany. And you've already taken action on your wardrobe--nicely done! How fun.

Barbara Diane

Veteran

Before I went gray, my coloring was similar to yours, and your after edit colors are much more like what worked for me. Looking forward to seeing you in them.

Joyce B

Veteran

You got some great ideas. DD also has light skin, medium brown hair and brown eyes. She loves lavenders, purples and aqua hues. I think all colors look great on her but I am probably biased. Seriously, your coloring goes well with most colors.

Gigi

Veteran

That was some good sleuthing! I am also a pale brunette with dark brown eyes, but I am a Dark Autumn. I have a yellow undertone to my skin (at least on my face), so I slightly skew to the warm end of things. It's funny, though, because when I view myself next to others, I look pale as a ghost and almost white, not yellow.

Makeup artist Lisa Eldridge might have similar coloring to yours. She has dark brown hair and light skin, and she complains of the redness in her skin--so she apparently doesn't have a warm undertone. If you want makeup color suggestions, maybe Lisa's website would be a good place to start.

rachylou

Veteran

I have been thinking about this. Dying my hair green has changed things (ya think? Lol) but it's so unnatural and unmatchable, I have simply chosen to ignore it. That said, I'm reaching for blues and olive green (which I have an on-again/off-again thing with) a lot, and also much dustier colours. AND makeup. All of a sudden I wanted a lipstick and not in a berry. I really have no idea what this might suggest...

...and it occurs to me, like Suz, you've not only changed hair colour but cut as well. I wonder what the same colours but styled a little sharper and tougher would yield...

Traci

Veteran

Yes, Rachy, the cut is definitely a factor too. I like the cut, but I do find myself being careful with how I style it so as not to look "old". This is kind of funny for me because being "old" is not really something that has ever bothered me and if anything I've spent more energy perseverating over looking or dressing too young and I've never worried about the other end of the spectrum.

Isn't it interesting how many of us share this coloring and how underrepresented this coloring is in the celebrity world? As I'm searching for brown eyed brunettes to relate to I find a sea of bronzed, tanned skin. I know I've heard before that dark brown hair is very hard to photograph well, so I wonder if we've developed a bias in our real lives based on what looks good in pictures?

LaPed

Veteran

Michelle Dockery is a great style icon! She's a great actor, too.

As far as coloring goes, I'll agree that she looks to be somewhere in the Bright Winter/Bright Spring part of the spectrum. Bright Springs can look very good in black, especially if they add pops of color. They need contrast and saturation, but a little more warmth than a Winter. If you look at the BW and BSp palettes next to each other, you'll see a fair amount of similarity, but the Winter colors are cooler, and go perhaps a smidge deeper IIRC. Whatever you want to call it season-wise, I think it's a good range of colors for you to explore, Traci.

Also -- Kibbe has talked about how using celebrities to help determine and understand body type is pretty much impossible, because they are all so heavily modified. I'd say the same thing goes for color/season. It's very hard to find celebs sporting their natural skin tone, not to mention hair and eyes, thanks to cosmetics and tanning and dying. Tan is "in" right now and pale is out -- a century ago the opposite was true.

rachylou

Veteran

I think you have a real point re. pictures...