Would You Ever Get Your "Colors" Done? - YouLookFab Forum

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Would You Ever Get Your "Colors" Done?

tarzy

Veteran

I'm working on a short article about personal color analysis - you know, "What's your season" and all of that. I'm really curious what you all think about the subject.

Do you feel it would make shopping easier to have certain guidelines, or do you bristle at being told there are certain colors you might not look best in?

I actually have been "analyzed" in the past, and I thought it was a really interesting experience. I have a bad eye for color, so having some guidelines feels really helpful to me. I have to admit, though - I don't always adhere to it precisely.

Your thoughts?

General

62 replies

Latest reply was from Golden

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

A resounding YES.

Getting my head around the colors was the first step to conquering wardrobe mess. I was lucky enough that around the same time a few unconnected sources started referring to me as "winter" and after I had finally looked it up things fell into place in an instant. Why I was always drawn to some colors and kept stacking them up, why I always get compliments when I wear one particular red sweater, why I feel like shaking off any pastels. It made so much sense and my life so much easier.

Color elimination is the first thing I consider when shopping nowadays (I just wrote a huge response to goldenpig's thread about that). I cannot figure out what or who exactly got the ball rolling for me, but I am forever thankful to that someone.

HelenInCanada

Veteran

Yes, yes, triple yes! I've been wanting to figure out the whole Warm, Cool, Winter, Summer maze since I was a teen, but my own research left me without a definitive answer! Sometimes I am amazed that colours I am drawn to actually look harsh on me, or make me look a bit sickly. Yikes. Can I ask where you were analyzed?

Please link to your article when you're done, tarzy...should be very helpful!

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Hmmm, for free - sure. Would I pay to have someone tell me what my own two eyes can see, for the most part? No.

rachylou

Veteran

I would love to, but I admit to distrust of people who offer the analysis.

crwilson

Veteran

I absolutely would because I've never been able to figure out what colors work for me, and I too often end up buying things that make me look too pale and sickly. (I swear, the lighting in fitting rooms can be very deceptive.) I'm not great at noticing details, so while I know I look good in some shades of teal, I'm forever buying the wrong shade of teal and then not wearing the item because it never quite looks right once I get it home. I know that some people know this kind of thing instinctively, but I don't.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I actually had it done. To my own surprise. I had scoffed at it when my mother and aunt had theirs done many years ago. I thought it was capital D dumb. Because anybody with half a brain can see what colours suit her, right?

Ah, youth.

Arrogance aside, it turned out that I really COULD tell what colours suited me. I don't happen to like them all, and I had half forgotten about some of them after seasons and seasons of not shopping at all, but I wasn't the least surprised at the analyst's "take" on me. By and large I think she was right; by and large I was already wearing the recommended colours. And I have never in my life worn my "worst" colours, outside of a Halloween costume, that is.

I DO bristle at "rules." And I don't really need the guidelines. But at the same time, being told that I knew pretty much what was right for me was very affirming and made me more confident about new purchases following my weight loss. So I'm not sorry I did it; it got me started a bit on my path of fashion renovation and every now and again I pull out the little wallet to see if there are some beauties I'm neglecting.

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

I would not pay to "have my colors done." I am partially afraid they will tell me to wear only pastels because I am blonde and fair. I dislike pastels, they do not suit my personality. But I would like to read an article about it. I just wouldn't pay an expert for this service, while I would pay a stylist to help me with specific fashion concerns.

Queen Mum

Veteran

ha- I did as a teenager. I went with my mom and some of her friends to a Merle Norman store for our little class and discovered that I was "summer". I carried that little packet of color samples with me for years and thought that if it matched the swatch, the garment was meant for me. It wasn't until many, MANY years later that I learned about body types, and the concept that the shape of the garment also needed to be taken into consideration. duh! It was a slow journey for me
I do think it is very helpful to know the difference between warm and cool colors and which work best for you.

Aida

Veteran

Hmm probably if it were free/cheap, but I have a feeling that I would get different responses from different "testers" since I appear to fall right in the middle of Deep Autumn and Deep Winter. I have a good eye for color, though, and don't feel like I need to have this service done; I can tell pretty well what suits me and what doesn't.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I'm another who would probably go for a cheap/free analysis, just for grins.

I remember back in the 80s when this first became popular, and the consensus back then was that I'm a winter, despite my very fair skin, which suited me just fine -- I prefer jewel tones and saturated or deep shades of red/purple/blue/green and generally stay away from yellows and oranges and pastels. I think that was also when my love for silver jewelry over gold tones was cemented as well.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Janet, I find it interesting that I wear the exact same colors you describe, down to the exclusively silver jewlery. As a matter of fact, I often covet your clothes lol! But I think I am overall more fair in coloring?

nicoleb

(website)

Veteran

If it was free sure. But i don't really think i would follow the rules exactly and tend to think most people are successfully wear several seasons because not everyone falls into the cookie cutter types i believe they have.

Example: With my brown hair and green eyes i would get placed as a "fall" however my skin is quite fair with a cool undertone which allows me to pull off "winter" colors just as well, if not better, than fall.

Erin

Veteran

I did have it done in the late 80's when it was a big hype. I'm a "Winter" and the winter colours are always better on me. I have to say that I don't think about it much anymore but I did learn back then what colours were better for my skin tone, blue based reds and not yellow based reds etc.. and a lot of that has stuck with me inadvertently through the years.

Lenni A

I would love to what someone thought about what colors I should be wearing. I feel like I don't always have a strong sense of what colors I "should" wear. When I've read about trying to figure out what season I am, I find it very confusing. I have brown hair, blue eyes, pale skin, but I think it has yellow tones. The colors that look worst on me tend to be beige and yellow. For years I avoided orange like the plague - just didn't like the color - but now I don't feel so strongly about it. In general I think saturated color looks better on me and I'm attracted to blue and to purples and pinks more than reds...can you tell I have no idea! Maybe I should get help...!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

A resounding no! I do not believe in having "one's colours done" - for reasons I have mentioned many times before on YLF. Tara, you know where I stand on this topic

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Mo, I think a lot of people don't realize how fair my skin is because my hair is so dark (well, at least when it's close to my natural non-grey color!). SA's at makeup counters *always* have to go a shade lighter than they thought when picking out foundation and powder for me.

My skin definitely has pink undertones, which is why I've always assumed that colors tinted with yellow usually make me look like I have the plague.

Kate

Veteran

I'm an autumn, and generally stick to my season's colors. At this point, I wouldn't pay to get my colors done, but it would be fun if it was free (or super cheap). I think the four seasons or even the twelve season system don't work for everyone, but people do look better in some colors than others. While I understand Angie's perspective on how colors interact, I've found it's easiest for me to stick to a palette that is all-around flattering, allows me to remix, and prevents me from spending too much time fussing with colors when I'm getting dressed.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

I had it done in the 80's. I think I was a summer. But honestly I don't like a lot of the summer colors.

Refugee

Veteran

No, I wouldn't have my colors done. First, with the way certain things have been going for me lately, I'd probably be told my dominant season is tornado with strong blizzard, hurricane and monsoon influences. Anyway there are so many variations of colors, that there isn't really a way someone can tell me which ones work and which ones don't. I don't think there is a specific formula that woks for everyone, just like everything else in fashion. That and the fact that there are some colors that I feel just aren't me.

MsMary

Veteran

Naw -- I wear pretty much every color (not all shades, but all colors) and it gets my back up to think of somebody laying down rules about that sort of thing and expecting me to follow them.

Which is not to say I wouldn't go along if my girlfriends were having their colors done and it were free and there were mimosas involved!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I think the more competent analysts these days acknowledge more complexity in the typing than in the old days. 8 seasons with overlaps vs. 4 strict seasons, right? And then the one who did me said you HAVE to factor personality into it, also. As well as what a person loves. She didn't just stick with one season; she actually took some of my supposed seasonal colours away (the pastels that made me look like death) and added others from different seasons that worked. So in the end it wasn't doctrinaire at all, but more a reflection of reality, and the wallet is more like a set of cue cards. Not something to be slavishly matched (heaven forbid) but just a little reminder that this general tone might be worth picking up and looking at just in case I haven't already done that.

goldenpig

(website)

Veteran

I would be interested in it just because I am very confused about what colors suit me. I can't tell if I'm a Winter or Autumn. I can't tell if I look better in cool colors or warm colors because I like and wear both! I like black/white/red and jewel colors like teal, raspberry and jade which feel like winter colors to me, but I also like autumn colors like pumpkin/rust, mustard, chocolate, and olive which seem more autumn-like. I know there's certain reds you're supposed to wear if you're one season or another but I've worn everything from true red to raspberry to rusty red, tomato red & coral red. I tend to avoid pastels, but not sure if that's just because I prefer bolder colors. Maybe I'm like Aida, in between Deep Winter and Deep Autumn?

qfbrenda

Veteran

I had them done during late high school and it was educational. I don't think of it as rules... more like guidelines. And she did a good job. I think I do look better in the colors she suggested, for the most part.

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

Not for me. I think I have developed an eye for colors because I was analyzing them myself. Also I find that the colors I am usually drawn to are the ones which suit me the best. If color makes me happy I will wear it with glee!
As an example I have warm coloring and always thought that grey does not suit me but it does if I use the right undertone: purplish greys are my best followed by greenish greys - and bluish greys are not my friends.
I guess I prefer my own trial and error method

rae

(website)

Veteran

I read a lot about this on the internet, and it was really helpful to me, so I vote "yay." I don't believe in it as a hard-and-fast rule, but it is nice to know that, *generally,* I should keep pastels away from my face and that I *generally* look better in cool-based, bright colors. Even when breaking the rules, this knowledge helps; Yellow and Orange aren't exactly cool colors, but as long as I pick the ones with the right undertones, it works.

However, skin tone is only half the battle. The best color article I ever read (which of course I can't find now) emphasized that the color and style of the garment absolutely has to match your personality as well. This was so very comforting to hear, because I felt some other colourists were damning me to a life of fuschia tops... -_-

Aziraphale

Veteran

I prefer not to be told what I can and can't wear, colours included. However, that doesn't mean that I can't tell what colours suit me. Usually I can. I'm vaguely familiar with the four season colour concept -- enough to figure out that I must be a Spring -- but I can't say I leap at certain colours just because I know they're on the Spring palette. I simply like what I like. If I like it and it looks good on me, I might buy it. Sometimes what I like looks bad on me, so I don't buy it. That goes for shapes and styles as well as colours, unfortunately.

Since I'm overwhelmingly a neutral gal anyway, the colour issue doesn't come up much, really. I'd never pay anyone to hold swatches of fabric up to my face.

Amy

(website)

Veteran

I could have written the same thing as golden pig! I might do it just on a lark, but my color preferences are pretty deeply entrenched and I feel good wearing them, so I'm happy with the status quo as far as that's concerned. Proportion, accessorizing...those are different matters altogether for me.

Jonesy

Veteran

No--just not my thing.

Carole

Veteran

I would just because I love color theory and would consider it an education. Plus, I have never been able to figure this out for myself. I just think the process would be fun, not that I would adhere to the color choices exclusively, I'm a rebel!

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