To ask why Mumsnet is obsessed with “having your colours done”?

[Wiltingasparagusfern]

One of those Mumsnet things that makes me feel like I’ve wondered into Hyacinth Bucket’s house:
what’s with the getting your colours done stuff? This is not 1982.

Helen Fielding was taking the piss out of it 20 years ago. Surely no one under 40 does this anymore? I feel, like savoury jelly, china ladies, and serving hatches, it belongs in a different era (“Another mini gherkin, Bridget?”).

Or am I wrong? Should every woman have her colours done? Are those of you that have seen the light (gone to John Lewis…is that where this happens?!) looking at women in the street and going tsk, she is clearly a jewel autumn or whateverthefuck?

I am baffled, please enlighten me.

I had mine done about 25 years ago - though I’m now greying so probably it’s changed . It made a huge difference to me - I know what won’t suit me and don’t waste time on it

Yabu MN posters are not obsessed with doing colours they are obsessed with being right.

Well if you don’t read anything in Style & Beauty you likely won’t have seen it mentioned but it gets trotted out every time there is a thread where the poster is looking for a style over haul.

I was pretty sure I knew what suited me but I asked ChatGPT and it told me I was a Soft Summer. In the sample of colours it showed me I could see the colours that I like to wear so that confirmed what I knew. What it won’t do is change my mind on colours that I don’t like even if it does suit me … I’m not wearing lemon yellow ever. From that perspective I don’t understand why people suddenly swap all their wardrobe as if colours are all equal and we don’t have any personal preferences.

( as for black there are ways to mitigate it if it’s not officially in your “season” …. If you care enough )

I like watching the videos of colour analysis on YouTube - there are some ASMR type ones and it's the right sort of personal attention soft spoken stuff for me, with the switching the drapes in and out. I can't reliably guess what colour people are mind - sometimes colours do seem to suit people better, other times it's like at the opticians, "better or worse" as they switch two drapes and I genuinely can't tell at all!

These are some of my favourite videos of colour analysis. Don't knock it till you've tried it for sending you off to sleep, lol.

K

I had mine done because I was feeling depressed about my changing looks, and overwhelmed with the choice when trying to buy clothes.

It was very helpful and has made shopping simpler as it narrows down the options.

Lucky you if you're someone who automatically knows what suits them. But some of us haven't got a clue.

My sister had hers done and it was absolute rubbish.

Yes. I really don’t like colour.

As a child, my mum often dressed me in red. I have dark curly hair. I look like Snow White or Shirley Temple in old photos. It’s given me a lifelong aversion to red.

Another one saying Eh?

I spend far too much time on here, but I don't recall many mentions of this.

What is ‘having your colours done’? I’ve never heard of it, I assumed at the hairdressers but judging by the comments it’s not that

I know what suits me so I don't need to have my colours done. But where's the harm? And it's better than going for 'this year's colours' if they don't work for you isn't it?

Yabu - it's not obsessed ! And if you can afford it why not. Cheaper than a full personal stylist and shopping - you can edit your wardrobe

i had mine done

i can't wear black or white - game changer. Online shopping, shop shopping... can blank huge sections

You can really see how navy or cream as a substitute improves how i look.

It's all a load of nonsense. If you look in the mirror and like what you're wearing then who cares if it's the "correct colour"?

I’d love to get mine done.

I get shown loads of posts about this on Instagram, the algorithm has decided that I'm in my 40s and follow fashion accounts so I must be interested. It's reductive and a bit weird. I have dark hair and pale skin. But I'm also mixed heritage, tan easily etc. The colours boards would have me playing this down, and I think their version of "nicer" means "whiter". Deliver me from raspberry pink accent scarves.

I am jewel winter as well and the colours that suit me make me look well instead of pasty and washed out.

It worked for me. I'm not sure why some people think it is a waste of time. Perhaps they don't care about looking good.

I don't wear colours that are in fashion. I wear colours that suit me.

Have a look at style me happy, it’s very affordable, all done on pictures and not all all hyacinth bucket - ish! It’s changed how I dress and my confidence!

This really sums things up - wearing the right colours just makes me look well - if I don’t I just look like I’ve not had enough sleep .

Exactly! It gives me a way of quickly narrowing in on things that suit. It’s not that I’m dogmatic about not deviating from “the rules”, but empirically every time I did it’s been a waste of time, so now I don’t bother.

See, suggesting that people who can’t see the point in getting their colours done “don’t care about looking good” that makes me think it’s a cult. I used to work in fashion and I never met anyone who had their colours done.

I don't think the fashion industry particularly wants people to find out what suits them and stick to it. They want them to buy new clothes regularly, including styles and colours which don't flatter them.

ChatGPT will do it for you. Upload a recent photo.

Yes. Meanwhile, they all wear black all of the time.
"Do as I say, not as I do" springs to mind.

They probably already knew what suited them.

I am not at all artistic nor do I have vision about how I look, but having guidance about what colours suited me was what I needed to look my best.

We aren't all the same.

I’ve seen threads on it before but I still don’t really understand what it is.