Colour has a much bigger role to play in our wardrobes than just aesthetics. Colour communicates and is either supporting or undermining our emotional and energetic states every day. The majority of us dress because of our habits, or because it’s on trend, or because it’s the cleanest thing we can find, without ever stopping to think about the colours and the effect they might have on us. But when we do start to pay attention, we realise that some colours uplift us and others bring us down. That some colours make us feel cooler, some warmer, some calm and others energised. And when we put those colours near our face and on our bodies, it not only affects us but everyone around us. So when we learn a bit about this, we can then start dressing on purpose.
To determine what colors you can wear in your wardrobe, you first need to identify your skin’s temperature and value. If you have warm undertones, you will generally look best in golds, browns, and reds such as terracotta, beige, olive green, and coral. If you have cool undertones, you will generally look best in silvers such as blue, purple, pink, and turquoise. If you wear a color that is the wrong temperature next to your face, it will clash with your skin and give you a washed out, sleepy, or blotchy appearance no matter how great you look in the rest of the outfit. After you have learned your color temperature and value, the task of choosing an outfit becomes less stressful and more automatic. Instead of working against your coloring, you work with it.
The other major consideration is contrast. It’s the difference in value between your skin, hair and clothing. If you have high contrast coloring, like dark hair and light skin, you will look amazing in high contrast clothing like black and white or navy and white. If you have low contrast coloring — your hair, skin and eyes are closer in value to each other — you’ll look and feel best in low contrast clothing like greige and taupe or dusty rose and mauve or charcoal and midnight blue. When you’re not wearing your contrast, even the nicest clothes can look strange on you. When you are, you look polished and it takes no maintenance at all.
The seasonal aspect of colors is also fascinating. As the light changes, colors also need to change to look best on us and around us. In winter, we can wear deeper, richer colors to create some contrast with the stark white of the snow and sky. In summer, we look best in softer, more diluted versions of those colors, so we don’t feel heavy in both clothing and color. By subtly adjusting our colors for the seasons, you can keep your wardrobe looking current without having to replace everything every three months. For example, a navy coat can appear dramatic in January with charcoal and white underneath, and then casual and summery in July when worn open over beige linen pants and sky blue.
Of course, dressing beautifully in color isn’t about adhering to “guidelines” or adhering to trends that will be long gone next season. It’s about building your own personal intuition about what works for you in the moment, on your body, under these lights, in this state of mind. When your clothes are an expression of your inner life, not a disguise or a trade-off, getting dressed is no longer a struggle or a “should.” And over time, that way of dressing actually builds a wardrobe that is uniquely yours, deceptively versatile, and subtly empowering, one that complements you rather than distracts from you. And that’s what a better understanding of color can really bring you — not more clothing, but more comfort being you.