Colour analysis - is it REALLY worth it?

[CambridgeBlue]

I know there have been a few threads about this and I know a lot of people on here swear by having their colours done but I'm still not convinced.

I looked at the Kettlewell website to see the different season palettes and there was only one set of colours I'd even consider wearing - if I was told I had to wear any of the others I'd be very :(.

Then there's the problem of finding things in 'your' colours - I can't see how it would be very easy to find clothes that are both a flattering style and in the right shade, shops seem to stick to certain colours each year apart from the more 'classic' ranges or things like dresses for weddings. Day to day clothes don't seem to come in the brighter hues that are suggested.

To me style and a flattering fit seem more important than colour and I'm sure it's your overall look which would make someone say 'you're looking good' rather than the fact you're wearing a bright orange top - does anyone really look that closely at someone's face so they can see how 'lit up' they look by the 'right' colour?

Lastly (and I'm sure this doesn't apply to anyone on here) but everyone I know who has had this done just looks really obvious - head to toe in turquoise or fuschia because it's 'their' colour when most people tend to wear less in your face colours.

I'm prepared to be proved wrong about this and there's a bit of me that would like to have it done if it can make that much difference to how I look but at the moment I feel I need a bit more persuading.

I have decided I am a bright spring. I read somewhere online on a beauty blog that bright springs do not suit matte lipsticks and that certainly seems to be true for me. I certainly suit more shiny ones! I don't like browns (which is most of the eye shadow palettes around at the moment!) . However, I have not been and had a consultation.

Of course it is only Autumn colours around at the moment. I do not suit pumpkin and wine shades.

I also had my colours done, thinking I knew what suited me. It was an eye opener, and I remember being told a soft pink was my colour - never used to buy anything in that colour and yet it turned out to be one of my best.

But that was 25 years ago(!), and my skin colour has definitely changed over the years, and those colours no longer look as good on me. I'm thinking it's time to go back and get an update - I've gone back to having things lurking in the back of the wardrobe that I love, but just never seem to wear.

I’m thinking of having it done online.
I follow someone on Instagram and she’s doing it by video call.

Anyone done it online?

I have an acquaintance who is a Colour Me Beautiful consultant. To be honest, while she’s a lovely person, it’s seeing what she wears that’s put me off having my colours done. She’s clearly decided she’s an autumn, and always dresses top to toe in mites autumnal colours, has her hair dyed a particular soft reddish colour, wears make up in brown neutrals that are somehow also ostentatiously autumnal, and even the frame of her glasses is in the same mix.

Gosh that sounds bitchy! I just think she’d look an awful lot better if she wasn’t so obviously trying so hard with that one set of colours, and I have a sneaking suspicion she’d actually look quite nice in an occasional brighter colour.

I have to wear black for work and I actually love being head to toe in it, I think I would be classed as a ‘winter’ so it doesn’t seem to drain me, and I think it’s a most flattering way of dressing. That said, probably as a reaction, I do like wearing bright colours outside work.

*muted not mites!

What I find problematic with having your colours done or having a style analysis done is this concept that we as women are mainly decorative and so have to dress to look our best at all times. I think it's absolutely the worst aspect of fashion. Have you ever met a man who worried that he was wearing the right colours? And the amount of money that is charged for a consultation to tell you what colours to wear? It's crazy!

Clothes and fashion can be glorious but it should be about expressing yourself, e.g. at the simplest level a woman who wears a black band t-shirt isn't wearing it because she thinks she's a winter and black suits her, she's wearing it to tell you about what's in her head, what she likes and what's important to her. Who gives a fuck if the black suits her or not when her clothes can be a window to her soul?