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Value contrast question

gradfashionista

(website)

Veteran

I just read this post about value contrasts and was wondering whether you agree with the conclusions, i.e. if you're medium contrast you should aim for medium contrast clothing, low with low and high with high. If you have medium or low contrast colouring, shouldn't you try to increase the contrast--wouldn't this have the effect of making clothing, regardless of its value contrast, more flattering? Conversely, if I have low-medium contrast and wear a high contrast outfit (white top and black bottoms), should I try to use make-up to produce a higher contrast colouring in order to make the outfit more flattering? I find that low-medium contrast clothing washes me out, but I could be wrong.

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21 replies

Latest reply was from rachylou

Suz

(website)

Veteran

We've been having some talks about this lately on other threads, including the colour threads. And it is relevant to Angie's blog post today, also. She is low contrast and wearing a low contrast outfit in neutrals.

Also -- that low contrast outfit is low contrast to HER (i.e. her hair and skin and eyes.)

Increasing contrast won't necessarily look better on a low contrast person. Instead, it can take attention away from the wearer and put all the focus on the clothes.

On the other hand, if you are low contrast (as I am) I do think it's possible to wear higher contrast looks. It just has to be managed with care.

Jules

Veteran

The contrast concept helped me figure out why a lot of the high contrast/graphic prints or black and white looks that I am drawn to don't work well for me as a low-contrast person. They are easier to wear on the bottom however, and I can do offwhite and navy as a sub for black and white, especially in lighter fabrics and textures. I can use makeup and hair colour to increase my contrast somewhat, but going very high contrast with these tends to just look clownish to me. Some of this is personal taste and also personality.

JayS

Veteran

Such a timely thread. Just yesterday, I had my hair stylist go with a shade darker for root touch up to give me a little more contrast. My hair and skin are practically the same color (blond and blah) and I just wanted to add a little zing. Although I'm low contrast, I love high contrast items. Black and cream stripes follow me home. I have noticed, however, that black and cream in smaller doses work quite well. I have 2 tanks in that combination and I think they look quite good on me..(I could be wrong
I do notice that Angie doesn't follow this rule. She looked great today in whiteout, but she also looked great last week in cream and black...in great big doses of both.
Color me confused...

ETA: removed little bitty photo of tank and figured out how to replace it with regular size photo of tank. Yea me!

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Jules

Veteran

JayS, to me that kind of print is more textured/subtle and thus, not high contrast. - compared to say, jail house stripes!
I think it's a tool/concept like any other, and no one should feel they have to follow rules... it's just something that helped me understand why I already didn't like certain things on me despite loving them in theory, and got me looking at other items that had no appeal for me on the shelf. And if I do want to run with something higher contrast, yes I might put on more makeup that day, or try a neutral scarf nearer to my face, that kind of thing.

catgirl

Veteran

Is it weird that this topic is really hard for me to understand? I think it's because I dress so impulsively, and analysis of this kind eludes me. What does it mean to be a high contrast person? Will be following!

milehighstyle (Linda)

Veteran

Una - a high contrast would be if you have very dark hair and very light skin. Or on the flip side, a dark skinned person who has light hair. There are other factors that go into this, for example some light skinned blondes have dark eyebrows, which creates a contrast. Or a dark skinned, dark haired person can have light colored eyes - also making a contrast. If skin, hair, eyes, eyebrows are all relatively the same tone (light, medium, or dark) you would have low contrast coloring. I think even things like having very white teeth can factor in, so yes it does get confusing.

Vildy

Veteran

Jay, just because a print has a dark and a light color doesn't make it high contrast. The one you pictured is very low contrast. It's often helpful to look at how a print resolves at a distance of several feet away up to maybe ten feet and not how it appears close up as if you were reading the print like a book.

catgirl

Veteran

Thanks for the explanation. I guess this would make me medium contrast - dark hair and eyes, olive/coffee skin? I can see how Angie is low contrast. Who would be an example of high contrast?

catgirl

Veteran

Oh, and I think of the second tank Jay posted as low contrast (muted) although it's a black white print, because it's gentle and not strong in color. Does that make sense?

milehighstyle (Linda)

Veteran

I do notice that when a co worker who has medium brown hair, light to medium skin and hazel eyes wears a black and white outfit she kind of disappears and you just see the clothes. When a very dark haired, light skinned, blue eyed co worker wears the same combination she just looks stunning. But Angie looks awesome in black and white - maybe because she is adding contrast to her coloring with her glasses and lipstick? Or maybe she just looks awesome in everything.

catgirl

Veteran

I think the right clothes can act almost as an outline to define a low contrast person in some cases - when it's done right. I find I almost dissolve in pastels and low contrast looks somehow. Like beige....

JayS

Veteran

AG, Vildy, and Jules...I think all y'all are correct on the tank reading as low contrast. Guess that's why it works on me. Although, I do love me some prison stripes, too.
Just donated a Loft tank that had very wide..we're talking 4 inches here, cream and black stripes. I never wore it.
Hey, maybe there is something to this contrast stuff!

Joana

Before I joined the YLF forum, I read the YLF blog, and wondered what seasonal type Angie could be, because she wears contrast so well. Both tonal and color . My wild ques would be maybe clear spring or one of winters. She is not so low contrast, her eyes really stand out in her face, and darker hair roots also frame her face.
And the specs! I am a very low contrast person, when I bought a tad darker frames, I began pull out darker, more contrasted outfits better. Specs somehow act as a face feature and therefore adds contrast to person.

Astrid

Veteran

When you talk color theory, high and low contrast means something like this. I found this very helpful. In my colorthread I put one of my pictures through a black and white filter and the result was clearly medium to low contrast. And I don't think more contrast always looks better. With the seasons in color theory you can never create a pairing with your coloring that is too high contrast for you when you are in the right season. Your lightest and darkest color in the palette should always work with your natural contrast level.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Angie is probably (in colour theory) a bright or light spring. She would be told by many image consultants not to wear high contrast black and white. But she does it well because she does it intelligently.

Her eyebrows and her darker hair roots do provide some contrast. So do her specs. Also, she is very bright and in real life, energetic, and decisive in her movements -- this also figures into what will suit a person. Finally, she is a slim hourglass/ rectangle, and I think there is also some (small) relationship between line and contrast level, with straighter lines harmonizing with higher contrast, somehow.

Also, notice that she always takes care to make the outfits cohesive. It's not just one block of black and one of white -- her footwear, bag, everything she is wearing contributes to the whole impression. And so it works.

So does low contrast.

Una, I think you're actually pretty low contrast. Because your skin, eyes, and hair are close to the same colour value.

Remember also that there is the question of contrast level in yourself, and the contrast level of the clothing TO you. Plus the items in relation to each other (e.g. a white top with black bottoms). So...what is medium contrast TO you (ink, black) would be high contrast on me; what is medium or low contrast to me (white, light taupe, medium colours) would be medium to high contrast on you. Just using you and me as examples, obviously. Me being the pasty pale low contrast type. You being the warm, glowing, vibrant looking type.

catgirl

Veteran

Fascinating! You are not pasty, Suz - you are storybook princess coloring. Astrid's link really helped. I may see what a black and white photo does for me. I think I am medium contrast because my hair is so dark and my features are pronounced, and don't create the uniform look that Angelina Jolie has in the example (although I think she varies with hair color). Maybe this is why I love charcoal - not a light grey, but not black.

Let's get other members on here to analyse!

rachylou

Veteran

I must say I'm clueless. I figure I'm a medium contrast person, and I think I look terrible in medium contrast outfits. On the other hand, it may not be the contrast in outfits so much as the actual colours themselves - I don't look that great in "muddy" colour IMO.

Melinda SF

That post was one of the most insightful items on this site I've seen so far!
Here is my face before I lost weight with different coloring for example; and after my new color (the cut is also slightly shorter with the new color on purpose.
Pic 1: My old face/shape/haircut/color
Pic 2: my new face shape but with same color and cut
Pic 3: My old haircut, glasses and lighter skin (my current professional headshot). you can see the high contrast.
Pic 4: new haircut, color, and glasses (lower contrast)
pic 5: why I had to get new glasses. see how bad the black was with the hair and skin? too high contrast!

You can see that the contrast went WAY, WAY down. and all of a sudden my favorite bright reds, purples, and blues just weren't flattering anymore. I have been a Winter, ALL MY LIFE.

After reading up a bit, I realized my hair color made me a Summer. (I'm very ashy brown under the hair color). And my hazel eyes were always lost with my dark hair and bright colors.

So I've started wearing more low contrast items, as you'll see in the new eyeglasses post, my tank top is a skin color so the very gray/blue/teal jacket compliments me. My new specs are relatively high contrast but with my dark hair they'd have been lost. I also MUST now wear makeup, especially lipstick, or my face disappears. But what you will see is that my hazel eyes pop forward like never before. I also had to switch foundations as my old one was too pink and chalky in combination with the warmer hair color. in the last photo I think I've got it right finally. and even if we add a little red to the hair, I'm ok with it, because I've got rosacea and would like my cheeks to be a bit less red than my hair.

I'm now seeking to buy more watery purples, blues, and greens, especially looking for scarves to lighten up my neutral tops. But the biggest issue has been this: I have an inverted triangle shape and large bust which demands I wear darker colors on top. And now that black now is totally unflattering that's a problem given my need for darker tops. I have some navy stuff but there's nothing like black to me in so many ways. So,
When I go for my next hair color I'm going to ask her to increase the contrast a little bit so I can bring those back into my life.

Hope this helps, I loved, loved that post and want to keep discussing it forever. this is totally fascinating to me.

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rachylou

Veteran

That's a really great illustration, Melinda!

Boy, I don't know what would be my high contrast colour. I've black hair and a deep tan. I guess stark white?

Melinda SF

@rachylou
maybe. it could be ivory. So, you might find this site as helpful as I did!
http://www.thechicfashionista......olors.html
it's not always easy to parse but if you keep looking at it it will start to make sense.

I realized the closest celebrity to me right now in "value/season" are Kate and Pippa Middleton. this other site analyzes her to find her season was so helpful because you can see why she looks so bad in black, as do I right now.
http://diaryofacolouraddict.bl.....-kate.html
so I've started pinning some of their looks, especially color, that I find flattering on her, like a watery purple and a burgundy in this pin board.
http://www.pinterest.com/bayar.....spiration/

rachylou

Veteran

Oh I will have to check that out!