Dearest reader,
Personal style is something very important to me, which is why, I constantly want to learn more about it. Hence why, I have been exploring with a new-to-me styling theory dealing with colours as well as adopted a different mind set towards outfit building which I am going to share with you today. So let's hop in!
Finding My Colour Season
One of the most important aspects of style are the colours you wear. Some will enchance your complexion while others will wash you out or overpower your features. That is why, knowing your colour season is key when it comes to the clothes you wear, choosing your next hair colour or curating the products in your makeup bag. It's also going to make shopping way easier!
So what are the colour seasons?
Like in nature there are four colour seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn which each have three sub seasons. The easiest way to understand colour seasons is to divide them into cool or warm, deep or light, and bright or muted. The sub seasons are born from these three colour qualities within each season. For example, spring colours are warm, light and bright therefore its sub seasons are warm spring, light spring and bright spring.
WINTER | SPRING | SUMMER | AUTUMN |
cool | warm | cool | warm |
deep | light | light | deep |
bright | bright | muted | muted |
Read more about colour seasons here
How to find your colour season?
This is the difficult part since getting your colour analysis done should be performed in real life with the help of colourful scarves placed on your chest. However, that is not always possible, so here is what I suggest:
Learn everything you can about colour seasons
Have a picture of each season's colour palette with you when trying on clothes, so you know what season your trying on
Place items you already have close to your face and take a picture to compare later OR go to your local department store to try on clothing
Analyse how each colour affects your features: does the colour brighten your face or make you grey? Are you drowning/disappearing into the colour or does it blend with your features harmoniously? Trust your intuition!
Start by determing are you cool or warm because that will narrow the possible seasons by half. Then see if you are deep or light, bright or muted.
Ask help from your friends or family because sometimes it's difficult to see yourself.
How finding my colour season is actually helping my style?
After analysing myself I have come to the conclusion that I am a Autumn season and my sub season is soft autumn, so my best colours are warm, muted and somewhat deep with special emphasis on light muted tones. Ever since learning this I have become highly aware of what colours I will buy in the future and how to tweak the existing colours in my wardrobe (that aren't necessarily my best colours such as black, optical white or bright blue) to suit me better. Also, now I have a picture of soft autumn colour palette in my phone, so when I go shopping I can check if it's in my colour palette. If not, I won't get it. Life made simpler if you ask me!
Whole Outfits Over Individual Items
Whenever purchasing new items it's important to consider how they would perform with the items you already own but also how you could build outfits around that piece in the future as well.
For example, I bought a tweed herringbone jacket back in July thinking it will be a good purchase for multiple reasons:
1) I don't have anything in herringbone pattern, so it would be different but not too far off from my usual classic country style. The fabric is also high quality being wool, vintage designer lable and made in France.
2) it's in my warm autumn colour palette.
3) the overall style is classic and works with the accessories I already have such as this yellow Longchamp bag and a blue vintage beret
4) I will be able to add to the outfit with additional purchases that goes with the jacket specifically such as scarves, hats, gloves, shoes etc. this way anything I buy have to go with the jacket and in the long run I'll be able to create a whole, harmonious outfit.
Another example is my light green linen suit for which, this year, I bought shoes and a silk scarf to match perfectly, so I will always have a perfect outfit ready to go in summer. Now I technically don't have to think about that area of my wardrobe in few years.
Does this make sense to you? I feel like when you have a whole outfit in mind there's less fuss, you end up spending less and shopping more strategically. I am not saying I won't make mistakes but rather trying to be more mindful while still enjoying personal style and building a gorgeous wardrobe. Same goes for the colour season. I still have black, white and some bright colours in my wardrobe although they are not my colours but now I won't make the mistake of repurchasing those colours. I would love to hear your thoughts on this!
Do you know your colour season?
What are your thoughts on these style tips?
Yours truly,
Siiri
P.S if you liked this post tap the heart below, so I know to make more like this!
Sources:
Arruda, Gabrielle. (2021). Which Season Are You? Seasonel Color Analysis and Why It Matter. gabriellearruda.com
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