Colour analysis - I've changed, need Soft Summer wardrobe for Spring /Summer

[ChangingHistory]

I had colour analysis done about 20 years ago and was a winter. That made perfect sense, I liked the pallette and I basically buy everything in jewel tones.

Looking at recent photos I look drained, did an online analysis and it says soft summer. I think it's right. My hair is much lighter and warmer than it used to be and my skin not quite so white-blue.

How on earth do I find clothes in the right colours? Jewel colours were easy. Do I just walk round every shop with my swatches?

Any Soft Summers care to share their recent purchases? I really want to buy a few things to see if it makes a difference.

You could try Kettlewell Colours - all their styles come in a wide range of colours which are grouped by seasons. Lots of info and blog posts etc on the website too. Tbh they are not the trendiest but it is very helpful to see ‘your’ colours especially as the colour range elsewhere is often very limited. I buy a couple of T shirts from them every year and they’re good quality.

I’m a soft summer (I think) and basically go for sludgey colours which can be challenging in winter/spring shopping. Shops like jigsaw and white stuff tend to have a few colours. I wear too much black and white but sometimes you can’t get stuff in the right colours so I often add a scarf in a suited colour so at least that’s near my face.

Fat face, White Stuff and Seasalt often have excellent soft summer colours and even if you're not a fan of their overall vibe you can get some really good basic tops, jumpers etc (I really like fat face cotton or cotton mix jumpers for longevity).

Jigsaw is also good, and I sometimes find some old Kew things on vinted. Their colour palettes are generally very soft summer.

The few things I've got from Kettlewell (via charity shops) have still been a little too bright for me, even though they are supposedly right. I need very greyed colours I think. I have been known to wash overly bright things with black jeans to dull them down a bit!

Thank you, I'm going to do some online shopping today and try to get as many different colours as I can. I'll try these sites, they're not my usual places which is probably a good sign.

There is a lot of info on seasonal colours on the net. I have a few books from Colour Me beutiful that I got on ebay.

Oh where did you do your analysis online?

Poetry? www.poetryfashion.co.uk

So my white stuff and Kettlewell haul arrived. Total of 14 items!

I did my best to compare the colour online to my suggested colour chart but it hasn't worked, the colours aren't what I expected.

Tried it all on anyway. It was mainly greens and blues with some pink and a kind of coral.

I'd post some pics if I could but I think it's still not working. All of the blues and greens were too earthy, I think I need cleaner colours. I didn't think the pinks looked good but the photos say otherwise. Same with the coral-ish one so I'll retry those when I have better hair.

I now have 40+ photos of me draped in various colours, whilst some definitely look bad nothing looks good!

I'm glad I'm doing this because the colours I've worn for the last 20+ years aren't doing me any favours but it is a bit depressing to still have nothing good. I'll keep going.

Not sure if anyone is interested in my ramblings! I'd love to hear about others doing this, there's an active Reddit group but they ant full face pics and I have no desire to be posting pictures of myself on reddit.

My original analysis was done by the Style Counsel which was a TV program in the 90s!

Now I'm being more modern and using an app with AI, called Vivaldi. The free bit gets you enough of an idea but I stumped up £6 for the full colour charts.

I also asked ChatGPT who eventually gave me a list of celebs with similar colouring. This was really useful tbh, most people of my colouring have blond hair. I'm Emily Blunt & JK Rowling.

I might do a proper in person consultation , I think I have difficult in-between colouring.

Kettlewell has a very active Facebook group that might help you - if you search for "soft summer" then lots of posts / photos should come up.

It sounds like you would benefit from an in-person consultation, if you can afford it. In- between colouring is more difficult to gauge.

I see posts on FB from a local stylist where she does colour analysis, and tbh the results aren’t always convincing, but i suspect this is down to the limitations of colour on screens.

I’m cool summer and find that most shops have one or two things in the right shades. I usually buy from Jigsaw and Cos for work, and stick to sea green and french navy with cream/ivory rather than black and white.

Oh and the colour consultant recommended Mint Velvet to me though I don’t have any clothes from there - quite expensive and too much polyester imo but they do have nice colours.

Pinterest is good for showing mood boards of different colour types but it can then be hard to track things down in the shops.

Tbh I take mine with a hefty pinch of salt - I’m a soft summer too but I don’t like all of ‘my’ colours so I still wear far too much black and other colours I ‘shouldn’t’. I think you have to careful not to look like someone who’s had their colours done as opposed to someone who feels comfortable with themselves.

There's loads of soft summer colours coming into the shops right now. Lots of cool pastel blues/pinks, pale greys etc.
Just try on the different colours in real life & see whether they suit you. I don't believe Apps are any use for proscribing your colour season.

I did a self analysis of this a few years back and I came out as a soft summer - however in practice I find that cool summer suits me a lot better. I imagine there are some crossovers.

Thank you all. I feel I am progressing.

When I took all my photos I couldn't see much difference but after all the time I've spent online when I go back to the I can see it much more clearly.

I joined a couple of colour groups and am stalking someone on Kettlewell with the same colouring as me and I have another batch of clothes on the way.

I just want a few flattering pieces for summer, tshirts in nice colours and bottoms that aren't black or jeans.

I also had a play with my hair colour on the app and it looks much better without the warmth, closer to the time it used to be. I used a semi permanent ashy blonde to take some of the red out and I look much less pasty so will keep that up.