Seasonal Colours and Capsule Wardrobes Part 2a

Illustrations mainly courtesy of Pinterest

First of all seasonal colours. I am fairly certain that most of you will have heard of seasonal colourings, if only to do with make-up which is often sorted into cool and warm. At the very least I hope that most of you will have heard of people being sorted into the four seasons, spring, autumn (warm) and summer, winter (cool). This was made popular by the Color Me Beautiful team and the book they published back in the 1970s/1980s was freely available and extremely helpful (as mentioned in last weeks post). 

This was later multiplied up and you were divided into not just a season but also the depth of colour within the season, bringing the number of possibilities up to twelve. My daughter and I were both treated to a consultation with a Color Me Beautiful consultant here in Dublin, Republic of Ireland (www.cmbireland.com or www.colormebeautiful.com - the official site for all) and we discovered that while I was a deep autumn my daughter is a soft summer. (There is also a system out there to help men, my husband being a summer). As part of the consultation we received a folder with all our colours in it, small pieces of fabric on a cardboard backing with the colours named and whether they were neutrals, contrasts, only to be worn as part of a pattern or sparingly etc.

Make-up examples for the four seasons:

 There are many other consultants out there and I have had a consultation with another group (part of a 'party' at someone's house, sort of like tupperware or Ann Summers but with colours instead). Again I was grouped as an autumn but they only used the basic four. Nowadays they have a lot of different groupings, the seasons have been forgotten and trying to work out for yourself what your best colours would be is, at best, problematic. I know mine but as deep autumn no longer exists I decided to try and work out what I am now. I filled in the different questionaires (not just Color Me Beautiful but a couple of other ones as well) and must confess that I have no idea of what I should be. It could be deep and warm, or it could be warm and deep (both have different colour charts) or it could be deep and soft (nothing there suits me with regard to colour). As I was originally told that I would gently fade from a deep autumn into a warm autumn as my head slowly gained more and more grey/white hairs I am now thoroughly confused. Therefore if you are seriously interested in wearing your best colours I cannot recommend strongly enough that you visit a colour consultant and ask their opinion.

 They usually have a number of different options ranging from just telling you your colour group through to adding in samples of your colours through to helping you work out your body shape, preferred style of dressing and even what items you should keep in your closet and what items should go to the local charity/goodwill shop and what you should replace them with. The choice is yours and is between you and your bank account. I would only say that my recommendation is that you visit in person instead of doing it over the internet. There are no shortage of consultants offering to give you a consultation using only a photograph, all I can say is look at your passport or driving licence photo and ask how realistic is it when it comes to your every day look. My daughter's passport photo makes her look as though she is just coming round after a heavy session involving alcoholic drink or drugs the previous night, in reality the printer just did a lousy job, plus she was wearing colours that don't suit her (black). If this photo had gone into a consultant I dread to think what the answer would have been but I very much doubt it would bear much relation to reality. Many groups have trained consultants, certainly in the big cities. I know that even Dublin has three different groups all with trained consultants who can give colour consultations. It is certainly worth it if you want to look your best, and besides it's the greatest excuse for throwing out half your clothes and having to go on a shopping spree to replace them. If your bank balance won't stand that they will help you to decide what is the most pressing purchases that you should make and which will truly make you look great. Just visit your local library and take out some books on the subject, read them and see if you can work it out for yourself. I would recommend one of the books published at least 10-15 years ago as it was a much simpler task back then. At least you will have a basic idea of your season, which is a great way to start off slowly changing your colours over.

Next week - what is your style of dress