The Anti-Color Analysis Thread

[FrugalFashionista]

This is a safe space for anyone who
(tick any that apply)

• wants to burn her scarves
• will scream if someone goes semantic on 'Oyster'
• does not want to be made to wear lipstick
• is not looking forward to the next Kettlewell catalogue
• does not identify with any particular season
• will never ever do a style day
• has self-diagnosed Stockholm syndrome
• is tired of the tireless marketing drum of color analysis on S&B

I realize I may be endorsing an unpopular view but this thread here is for anyone who does not want to discuss color.

C'mon, am I the only one?
Raise your hand...

PS I will send a crappy lipstick personally chosen for me by a color analyst to the first taker. It's a shimmery peachy tone that has no staying power and streaks your teeth. But don't worry, it will make you look a million times better.

That is what I would fear, to be diagnosed as an autumn, in fact that is one of the reasons that put me off . I would hate to be told that those colours are right for me, they may well be, but they are not colours I would choose to wear.
I know you don't have to stick rigidly to your colours but I wouldn't want to have to question myself every time I wanted to buy a colour that wasn't meant for me. I prefer to live in ignorant bliss and carry on buying clothes in colours that I like and think suit me.

I admit that I still don't understand texture, other than it can add interest and that leather, silk etc absolutely looks better than polyester and such things!

MrsCampbell - I'm an autumn. Which means I should be wearing a lot of brown, beige and mustard - no thanks!! I just buy what I like.

Poor Obama

I'm an autumn and I wasn't thrilled and there does seem to be a lot of people who don't like being an autumn and feel they have to learn to love their colours. Lots of greens which I like, forest green is good, teal, coral and I look good in tangerine, aubergine and French navy....anything vague like beige is pretty awful, as is mustard. But yellow looks good. Chocolate Brown which I like but the right shade is hard to find - it has to be deep and rich looking and mostly it isn't, so I don't bother.

Problem: Autumns should wear gold/warm colours. I like and own a lot of silver jewelry and have to agree that it IS unflattering on me.
What to do? Throw out all the silver jewelry and buy new stuff I don't like but will look better? (No.)

I love being diagnosed as an autumn. Mustard was a revelation. My life long hatred of navy and grey since school uniform days made sense as did my love of green and teal. I no longer attempt to look reasonable in black and accept that not even piles of make-up will improve it!

Obama looks like a dusty old Geography professor I used to have in his "colour makeover"

Yellow shirt - ugh.

RockMummy, what do you wear instead of black/navy/grey?

I like teal and aubergine and some dark brown - but agree its a hard colour to get right. Also its often unfashionable and I do care about looking vaguely on trend God, I'll be talking pops of colour a red lip next.

Khaki, chocolate brown and camel/tan which are more spring colours I know but they still looks better than black! Contrary to popular opinion there was no beige in my pallet at all. Not even masquerading under another name either!

Since Obama is a man he has fewer pop of colour options. No lipstick, no eyeshadow, no statement necklace, no little polyester scarf. He is missing out...

I love khaki especially with pink or coral.

I'm am autumn - yes, it is a bit of a bastard in terms of availability (though no problem getting hold of coral, khaki, teal, mustard, and orange in recent seasons) but I adore my palette - the combinations are so restful on the eye, which I would never have thought was something I cared about, but it is.

I squirmed in my analysis when the consultant said that dark brown was a great colour for me, and of course that is partly influenced by the fact it hasn't been a fashionable colour since 1996! I still don't/wouldn't wear dark brown trousers but I have a dress in it which looks great - seems to look less mumsy as a column of colour.

Khaki is what I'd call beige - it's the shade I can't wear - the classic trench coat colour looks deathly.

I wonder about the scarves. I have a long elegant neck, I liked scarves before I was HOC'd, they look good on me and my neck feels cold without them - I even wear a big cashmere scarf in the morning with a cashmere cardigan while I drink my coffee, I love them that much. Do the people who don't get on with scarves have a shorter neck, or is my long than average neck drawing me to the scarves?

I also have an odd thing going on with polo necks - my big boobs should rule out polos but they suit my face, they suit my long neck...I just need to find one that is constructed in a way that doesn't make my boobs look like they are sitting on my waist and I do when I find a polo with pleated shoulders, my shoulders are great and I can carry the pleats. The rules are not set in stone, they are a guide and I need to start seeing my suggested colours as a guide but my subconscious is a little bugger and it asks too many questions. I am prone to indecision at times.

I suspect I am an Autumn as I look truly truly vile in black and gravitate towards brown, green, gold, teal, camel and plum colours even though it is very hard to find nice things in them.

I really like the way that Me & Em have a very very dark forest green as an alternative to black in a lot of their clothes. My favorite things that other people would buy in black terms to be in very dark which make look ivory-skinned rather than the sickly yellowy-purpley-grey that I get with black.

I agree with you MrsCB I like to make a nod to fashion, I'm fickle, I get bored very easily with the same old stuff, I'm constantly looking for the next big thing, I'm like this with food and travel too...I struggle to be around people who freak out over change.

YY to fashion being as important a factor in what I buy as my 'season' and my 'style'.

Christ, those pictures of the HoC staff and poor Obama

I think that the Obama example proves that color is about so much more than what technically flatters our skin tone. Certain colors make us feel good. (Some people say that you should wear pink and pastels if you want to give a friendly and approachable impression.) Others convey authority and power. (Obama has no chance of being elected in his geography professor outfit ) I've felt for a really long time that I have to balance what technically suits me and what I feel good in. (I feel powerful and in focus in black, but that helps me blend in too. If I want to stand out, I wear red. Soft whites make me stand out in a softer, more approachable way.)

I envy brunettes who can wear heathered gray as their basic neutral. It's so versatile, always work appropriate but great as a casual color too. (I have that gray on my 'official' palette too, but if I wear it, my mother asks whether I'm ill...) The learning curve to accept blues as my go-to basic neutral was pretty steep, I was not a huge fan but they definitely work in a way grays or browns never did.

Charity I had a pair of widelegged brown polyester trousers circa 1996. It was a disastrous color and style for me but I can see you are ready for a revival...

Snowdown the classic trench coat color makes my hair look dirty and ages me by a couple of decades The same for the classic camel coat. It took me a long time to figure that a lighter off white trench can be really flattering. For me, winter coat colors have always been tough. The best ones I have ever had are soft white, bright green, and pure black. I also have a 'swan' neck and polo necks are fantastic on me but long, slim scarves make me look sad and drawn. This winter was very easy because polo necks were everywhere and I could wear them instead of scarves.

Oh, and I just had a nightmarish feel what a HoC texture class could be like let's not go there. I saw a great example of texture at the supermarket today. A thirtysomething woman with two toddlers. She had long brown hair, dyed blonde with roots, a bit messy. A long slightly asymmetric black coat with leather sleeves but the rest of it was black shearling or synthetic. She had a black messenger bag made of very grained leather slung over her shoulder and wore pale gray straight leg jeans and black partially unlaced lace up boots. Very few colors, not busy at all, but she looked fantastic.

Italians look great with their camel coats draped on their shoulders, but Italians are dark haired, dark eyed, and tanned.

Gd their lippies are awful on.

Now I'm officially obsessed.I have never been interested in being colour analysed before and thought it was a complete waste of time ( but if you believe in it and it makes you feel good - fine).Now I can't stop thinking what colours I am.To my horror I suit and wear a lot of Autumn colours and also look good in pale summer pastels.Wear darker versions of my colours in Winter ( burgundy,plum and dark green,navy,charcoal) and baby pink,sky blue,corals and celadon in the summer.I've realised i really can't really be categorised into any particular niche.I'm sure its the same for all of us.

Snowdown, I think the answer for your neck/boob dilemma is a peep hole polo neck.

I've never got into scarves, they make me feel overdressed. For the record I have a neck like a pouffe.

teta I'm curious too but I'm really indecisive and would want to buy something that wasn't my colour and would stand there pondering for ages whether to buy it or whether to stick to my colours. I don't need any more agonising when buying clothes and not sure if I would want to stick to guidelines. My fashion mistakes are when I've bought something with a pattern on it as it may have looked nice on someone else but is not me. I don't buy patterned clothes anymore, solves that problem!

I wouldn't have a clue what season I am as I suit silver and gold, pastels don't look too great, brighter colours probably look better but I don't want to wear bright colours or that much colour at all.