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.

Here is one of my favorite bloggers doing the cool-warm thing, more subtly. I'm not saying anyone has to do it (but go for it Squoosh!) but this type of dissonance can be intentional. I observed people on the metro today and quite a few women were doing it - warm nut brown eyes and very pale cool jade green eye shadow, or very dark brown eyes and cool blue liner. Everything else in the outfit very conservative, so the tiny dissonance is the clou of the look. I have a couple of makeup blogger friends and they can go cool or warm in their looks depending on the effects they want to create. (If anyone here is a makeup artist, it would be interesting to know if there are any rules that you adhere to when choosing colors.)

Aquelven I'm not trying to say olive and navy are not a part of the Autumn palette, just that Autumn colors can be a part of a very conservative and refined look (because the stereotype seems to be this or this). So there may be some hope for Obama... The formula here seems to be that the outfit is in neutrals (khaki, olive, gray, navy) but the bag or shoes can be orange or brown. And I'm studying Italians because they have a long tradition in very refined use of color. No need to do what they do - you may prefer totally different approaches - but you can always watch and learn.

Pimms I knew there was something fishy about 'Natural' but of course it's just code for unironed Love your color coordinated washing line

Summer colors did work for me as a starting point - I reconsidered blues, started seriously experimenting with lighter tones - but being rule free and incorporating more Spring tones into my wardrobe feels even better. (Cosi I believe the Summer/Spring distinction is pretty arbitary and I wear a lot of Spring colors every day. If colors really are a continuum, our seasons were just missliced a bit - I'd take a lot of warm pale and green tones from Spring and give aways mauves and raspberries) I think the technical explanation is that the lighter the color, the less we are able to judge its warmth vs. coolness. Even stranger, it appears that there are no absolute definitions of cool and warm for any color. The same color can apparently even appear cool or warm depending on its context.

And I want to repeat once again that I have absolutely no expertise in this area - am simply trying to understand and learn more.

Yes, it is a very fine distinction between a warm and a cool blue, as blue itself is always a cool colour compared to an orange or a yellow. I can see that orange doesn't suit me, yet peach looks ok, bt to me most blues look good on me except those very vivid electric shades. It is more to do with strength of colour than actual tones.

Another cool-warm pick, Taylor Tomasi Hill, the outfit totally up my street too.

Fridge lots of color analysts seem to like the Kibbe theories. Apparently I am 'Dramatic' based on my height. I read an Italian style manual last your which explained that you can enhance your natural shape by repeating and balance by contrasting. (I'm strongly vertical so I balance this by introducing some horizontal planes.) Too complicated to explain in one sentence, have to get kids ready for school...

Yes, humans do not look like perfect apples/pears. I think we're supposed to combine the guidelines that apply. But it always annoyed me that female bodies are compared to fruit...come on!

Such an interesting thread that needs a timely resurrection!

For balance purposes obviously.

Snort - did a frenzied search on 'house of colour evil' lead you to it??

What's a style day?

I got advice on a lipstick colour to suit me recently... they were all awful. So, I won't try that again!

But charity it's a cult, it's a cult!

Just thought a bit of a lighter approach to all this stuff with some funny opinions would be refreshing.

charity- I remembered creasing up at this a few months ago. HTH.

mil for someone who seems anti colour analysis you have spent an awful lot of time 'diagnosing' people over the internet

All this getting your colours done stuff just reminds me of the days when tinny and Suzanna used to put pear shaped women in bootcuts 'to balance them out' etc. All very scientific... Until fashions changed and the ideas about what suited different body types changed with them. I can't help but think it must be exactly the same with colours.

Ditto what queencardigan said.

It doesn't seem fair to be 'diagnosing' people over the internet on a few snippets of information. You are probably getting 50% wrong. I only hope they are not going out to buy new wardrobes on the basis on your general feeling.

Just found this. I said on another thread my style is bag lady. I like scarves, even a bit of lippy now and then. But I wears what I wears and that's it really.

Argh, the spelling of colour in the thread title really boils my piss.

And yes, I find the notion of people getting aerated about something they profess to have no interest or faith in quite bizarre. I don't have any interest in interior design whatsoever, but I don't need to go onto those threads and tell everyone that calling something 'shabby chic' makes you sound like a wanker.

Love this thread.

What I don't get is that, if it's such a subtle difference in your colouring which only a "trained professional" (and I believe that refers to an entire two days of training) can spot, then how is wearing the "right" colour meant to make such a huge difference to how you look? I mean, if only one person in the room can tell you that periwinkle is you but cornflower isn't, then surely the rest of the world (or at least those who are not "trained professionals") is oblivious.

Surely

Darkchoc, that's what I would have thought until I had my colours done. The consultant put a summer blue next to my face and I said how lovely it was. I'm sure people would have probably complimented me on that colour. However, then she put a winter blue next to my face and my skin looked so much better, I looked less tired, more youthful and just BETTER. So in some ways it's not about some colours looking awful. It's just about finding the subtle differences in shade which make you look so much better. I know it sounds like rubbish but for me it made a clear and obvious difference that I'd never have been able to spot unless I had all those drapes and an understanding of the different seasons.
At the end of the day I avoid what I look awful in, some colours I wear which are average or ok, but I love knowing which colours make me look my best, that was definitely worth the money.

darkchoc it's not about only the consultant being able to spot it, it's about the consultant being trained to show you. Everyone should be able to see it, but without the consultant they might only stumble across their best colours by chance. The consultant will show you them all in one go!

My take on this is that you can apply the twelve seasons formula to anyone just from what they know about themselves. You don't need to pay to work out what suits you. That is the thing that is disingenuous.

It's just a fun lot of flimflam really and that is the approach I have with it.

If I had come across a single colour analyst that I thought had a good personal style and looked good in their colours then I would consider their advice. However I have not found that to be the case. The ones I have seen look like they are stuck in a time warp as suggested upthread. A lot of them look appalling in 'their' colours. The 'expert' advice is just a hugely subjective view.

So for the curious I have shown that most people know what suits them or can easily do it themselves when shown how to apply these formulaIc systems.

I like this thread as it offers an intelligent counter view to the saturation of 'you must be draped' comments on style and beauty.

Darkchoc - thank-you for putting it so succinctly.

I have a good personal style, and I look awesome in my colours. and I'm frightfully modest

My consultant looked great in her colours.

Well for me, the right shade makes a huge difference e.g. I think plums and purples are my best colours but there's still a very bright shade of purple that looks shocking on me. I speak as someone who's never had their colours done but, if I couldn't see it for myself, I would definitely pay someone to help me work it out.

And it wasnt Hopefully!