Seasonal colour analysis is something pretty much “in vogue” these days. Here, we’ll see what it is and how it can be done. Note that seasonal colour analysis isn’t something you’re meant to do by yourself, you should have a colour analyst or image consultant do it for you. It might prove costly, but if done correctly it could also save you plenty of money on the long term. You’ll know what your best colours are, so you don’t need to buy pieces that don’t work for you. If you know your undertone and have observed your features well though, you can start working your season out.
What is seasonal colour analysis?
Note that seasonal colour analysis does not have anything to do with the month you are born in, nor your summer or winter wardrobe. Now, you may have noticed that every season comes with its colours. Spring has very warm and bright colours, summer has more pastel and airy ones, autumn has warm and rich ones, winter has deep and icy ones.
Seasonal colour analysis uses our natural hair colour, our eye colour and our skin tone to figure what is the best colour palette for us. You are meant to use your colour palette to emphasise your best features and look healthy. Also, you may have noticed that when wearing certain colours you may look sick or more aged than you really are. Start working from here.
Remember that you shouldn’t consider seasonal colour analysis as a limiting factor. You should use this as a foundation to start working from. The seasonal palette helps you see where to work from, and since there are lots of colours you’ve also got plenty of room to experiment.
What factors are considered?
In seasonal colour analysis, there are three main factors that are considered: undertone/temperature, value (light to dark) and chroma (soft/muted to bright/clear). To see your undertone, you might consider looking at the skin-eyes-hair method. It will help you narrow down the choices.
Another deciding factor is the contrast between your skin tone, your eye colour and your natural hair colour. To look at this, you can take a well-lit photo of yourself and in the editor, make it black and white. Seen in black and white, see the shades of grey of your skin, eyes and hair. If the shades are similar, your contrast is low. In case they are completely different shades, it’s high. This will also help you decide what colours you can wear. If your complexion is clear (with lots of contrast) then you should wear brighter colours. In case your complexion is soft (with little contrast) then you should wear muted colours. A muted colour is the true colour with added grey, white or black.
What are the colour seasons?
There are two warm seasons and two cool seasons. The warm colour seasons are Spring and Autumn, the cool seasons are Summer and Winter. If you are olive-skinned, you are in the cool seasons category. Spring and winter have high intensity, meaning that there are more true colours (with no added white, black or grey). Summer and Autumn have lower intensity, with summer having more tints (the true colour with added white) and Autumn having more shades (the colour with added black). Now, these four seasons have 4 subgroups each. Your being in one subgroup, doesn’t mean that you can’t wear colours of the other subgroups. Remember that you subgroup’s palette is the reference you start working from.
What subgroups are there?
Every season has 4 subgroups.For the Spring season, there are these subgroups: True, Bright, Warm and Light. For the Summer season, there’s True, Soft, Cool and Light. As for the Autumn season, there’s True, Soft, Warm and Deep. Lastly, for the Winter season, there’s True, Bright, Cool and Deep. Each subgroup varies by undertone, value and chroma. Within each season, the differences sometimes aren’t that obvious. Each seasonal subgroup borders with another one. This means you can “steal” some colours off the subgroup(s) next to you if you want to. In that case I will tell you which subgroup leads into which. In the chart I have made below, do also note that Bright Spring leads into Bright Winter (for obvious reasons I couldn’t draw the link).
Do consider that not everyone uses a 4-season-4-subgroups approach. A lot of the time each of the four seasons has 3 subgroups. Remember though, that there is really no right or wrong way to subgroup the seasons and some colour analysts and image consultants may use completely different methods altogether.
How is it used?
It’s used in a lot of ways, some sneakier than others: for example, when shopping online, you may be attracted by a piece of clothing because of the colour. In fact, that specific colour has been used on that specific model because it flatters her/his feautures better. This way, you think that since it suits the model, it could suit you and so you may want to buy it even if actually you may not like it after that. Also, seasonal colour analysis is the secret to celebrities often nailing their looks on the red carpet. That’s why they look so good! Seasonal colour analysis, in my experience, is the kind of thing that if you learn it, you’re going to stop following every colour trend that is not going to work for you. It stays with you all your life.
Also, this system can be used no matter what your age is. In some cultures, people think that old people (especially old women) must wear dull colours. Actually this is a big mistake: wearing dull colours is going to add more age. If you see a senior wearing bright colours, think a billion times before telling them to wear dull ones instead. Basically, if a senior wants to wear a bright colour, he or she must not be judged for doing so. And I guess that’s it for today.
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