Choose What Color to Wear

Once you understand color, it's relatively easy to create a wardrobe where every item makes you look your best and ties in well with each other. It can be extremely rewarding and once you understand which colors suit you, you can start to add in others and still look great!

Steps

Learn What Colors Convey

Particularly in the working world, the colors you choose to wear can send a message about the type of you personality you have.

  1. Wear dark colors to convey authority and power. Some dark colors include black and navy blue. Try wearing a blue that matches the color of the veins in your wrist.
  2. Wear pastel colors to seem relaxed and friendly. Some pastel colors include light green and light purple.
  3. Mix colors to convey creativity. Make sure to combine colors that match and compliment each other well, such as purple and red.
  4. Wear reds for all of your personality traits. Reds tend to vary on the message they send across. Burgundy conveys sophistication, while blue-red conveys assertiveness. An orange-red would be worn by someone who is lively. Reds or blacks that are the same color as your skin when it's flushed look very romantic.
  5. Wear pinks to convey an open heart. People who wear pink, regardless of gender, appear approachable and capable of loving others.
  6. Wear whites to symbolize a new beginning. Wearing whites can symbolize cleaning and offer a fresh, bright new outlook. Whites, browns, or beiges that match closely (but not exactly) to your skin tone look fantastic!
  7. Wear yellows to display warmth and optimism. This color carries the same healing qualities that are associated with the sun, and are associated with optimism and light.
  8. Wear oranges to display high energy. Orange is a bold color that can make you feel quite playful. It's also a color that has a great deal of sexual energy to it.

Determine Your Season

  1. Wear winter clothes if you're a brunette. Winters are usually brunettes with pale or olive skin. They lean towards deep and rich colors.
  2. Wear spring clothes if you have pale skin. Springs have pale skin and eyes and either golden or strawberry blonde hair. They look best in bright colors.
  3. Wear summer clothes if you have blonde hair. Summers have blonde hair and pale skin. They lean towards more demure and muted colors.
  4. Wear autumns if you have ruddy skin tone. Autumns can be red-heads, have black hair or a combination of blond and brown hair, and usually have a ruddy skin tone. They can wear oranges, browns and olive greens.

Assess Your Choices

  1. Blond hair and blue eyes. Blues, blue-greens, light greens and turquoises are very flattering.
  2. Blond hair and green eyes. Greens, oranges and blues are cute.
  3. Blond hair and hazel/brown eyes. Browns, purples, reds, pinks and oranges are ideal.
  4. Blond hair, gray eyes. Any color except light yellows will look great.
  5. Brown hair and blue eyes. Reds, oranges, pinks and yellows are nice.
  6. Brown hair and green eyes. Anything from the above category and green will work.
  7. Brown hair and hazel/brown eyes. Earth and dark tones and light blues will look good.
  8. Brown hair and gray eyes. Any shade of blue, purple, black and grays are awesome.
  9. Red hair and blue/gray eyes. Light oranges, purples, black and green are flattering.
  10. Red hair and green/hazel/brown eyes. Any shade of purple, dark and light greens, black, and earthy colors are cool.
  11. Dark hair. You will look good in almost any color!



Tips

  • Mix your favorite colors with your best colors. These are often two separate entities. For example, a spring could wear a gray that was not usually her best color if she uplifted it with a warm, jewel green top.
  • Realize no single color is entirely "off-limits" due to your coloring. It often depends on the hue, color make-up, and other aspects of the garment. You might look horrible in a mustard, but radiant in a pastel yellow.
  • Take note of the undertones in your skin. Warm skin tones tend to have yellow undertones, while cool ones have blue. These undertones are very subtle and often difficult to see, but if you have quite golden skin or appear sallow, then you are warm. Blue undertones can often be seen as red cheeks or slight ruddiness.
  • What's most important with color tends to be what's near your face. If you love bubble-gum pink, but it simply doesn't match your coloration, you can still wear a pink skirt or enjoy pink handbags and shoes.
  • Not sure if you are a warm or cool coloration? Use the "Gold and Silver Test". In front of a mirror, put a piece of metallic gold fabric or paper near your face, then do the same with a metallic silver piece of fabric or paper. You can see more of a bluish or yellowish tint.
  • Try not to be too daring with your color choices. Remember to balance out bolder choices with the right color of eyeshadow and foundation. Just don't go overboard with the colors!
  • Clear color leads to much larger contrasts than muted colors. If you are clear, you will have a large contrast between your hair, skin and eyes, and your skin will have a slight translucent quality. If you are muted, however, there will be a less noticeable contrast and you may have some ash tones in your coloring. Your coloring will probably be softer than that of a clear person.
  • Don't worry about what other people might think of your personality. Confidence is the best look on anyone.
  • Color....... It doesn't matter if it looks right on you. If you think it looks great, go with your mind and choose it!

Warnings

  • It's okay to have a signature color, but don't wear it all the time. Don't wear all purple if you love it, but rather add purple accents. Also, you want your signature color to stand out, so avoid that being a black or a brown.
  • Although many colors can appear to be warm or cool, this describes the undertone, so you should look for this. For example, true red can seem to be a warm color, but it has a blue undertone which gives it its dramatic quality, making it a winter color rather than a spring color.

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