Upgrade Your Wardrobe with Seasonal Color Analysis

Upgrade Your Wardrobe with Seasonal Color Analysis

By: Emma Greene

Seasonal color analysis is one of many ways to emphasize personal style and find flattering pieces. First popularized by Carole Jackson’s book Color Me Beautiful, this style-enhancing practice has taken the internet by storm in recent months.

Finding one’s seasonal palette can be daunting, however, once determined, it provides a strong foundation on which to build a personalized wardrobe.

Although social media filters and websites such as colorwise.me can be helpful in finding your season, these real-life methods will provide more accurate results.

Color analysis begins with an assessment of one’s undertone. This is most clearly determined by the white paper test. In natural lighting, preferably outdoors, hold a piece of white paper up to a fresh face. Those with cool undertones will appear pink or reddish against pure white and warm tones will appear slightly yellow. Olive skin tones may appear neutral, however, they tend to lean cool.

Once the undertone has been identified, seasonal analysis can begin.

Those with warm undertones will fall into the spring and autumn palettes while cool undertones will fit either the summer or winter palettes. The season can be identified by distinguishing between one’s level of contrast.

To determine if you are high or low contrast, take a photo in natural lighting and change the filter to black and white. Winters have the highest contrast, followed by springs while autumns and summers have lower contrast features. Therefore, someone with warm undertones and relatively low contrast between features would be an autumn while high contrast would make them a spring.

“A low-contrast Autumn”

Beyond the four seasons, each palette is broken down into three variations. The easiest way to determine your specific palette is by eye color.

Winter

Cool with stark features, winters will find their home in jewel tones. A winter’s best neutrals include stark white, true black, and navy.

Spring

Warm and soft, springs suit the happy tones of their season – sky blue, sunny yellows, and more. Neutrals are a bit difficult, as springs best suit dark brown and off-white instead of traditional black and white.

Summer

The muted version of its predecessor, summers are flattered by clean and crisp colors such as taffy pink, blue-greens, and some jewel tones. Pearl white, greys, and navy are summer’s best neutrals.

Autumn

Autumns look best in the rich earth tones of their season. Red and orange, mustard yellow, warm green, and teal will make an autumn glow. Neutrals range from cream to deep brown.

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