We need to love the skin we’re in, and accept our curves or lack thereof! So it’s NOT about size, it’s about your body shape! Balance and proportion as we said in previous posts are the keys to flattering your figure, whether your dress size is a 0 or a 20. Let's find the best way to create harmony from your head to your toes is with visual symmetry.
Here are some tips for each body shape, and also suggestions of dresses that compliment that body shape! The first thing I considered when choosing the dresses to suggest, is the cutting, then the type of fabric and specially where the value of colors (darker and lighter colors) were placed in the overall design of the dresses. Hope you can use this as a guide for your own shopping! Bare in mind that the models don't necessarily have the corresponding body shapes, though the dresses on each side of the body types listed are flattering for that particular body shape.
Here are some tips for each body shape, and also suggestions of dresses that compliment that body shape! The first thing I considered when choosing the dresses to suggest, is the cutting, then the type of fabric and specially where the value of colors (darker and lighter colors) were placed in the overall design of the dresses. Hope you can use this as a guide for your own shopping! Bare in mind that the models don't necessarily have the corresponding body shapes, though the dresses on each side of the body types listed are flattering for that particular body shape.
Hourglass Those women who have an hourglass body shape are naturally balanced, meaning the width of the shoulders and hips is the same and they have a definite waist. Try to avoid anything that hides your waist as it is the asset you want to show off. By cinching yourself in with a belt, you can highlight those curves. Also wear tailored pieces.
Triangle You also a definite waist, so show it off! What you need to do is balance your top half which is smaller in size, with your bigger bottom half. Make use of trends like bold shoulders and statement necklaces (which are big right now!), and use details and colors on tops to draw up the eye and create more volume on your top half. Keep your bottom half simple, wear darker colors on straight cut pants or a-line skirts. 
Inverted triangle You tend to have broad shoulders and narrow hips , so what it's needed to achieve visual balance is wear clothing that helps elongate your torso. By elongating your torso we create a vertical line that draws attention to your entire silhouette and not just your broad shoulders. You can do that by wearing a long necklace, also wear long tops that end just where your hips start. Avoid wearing short tops, and high-waisted jeans, skirts and pants. You don't need shoulder pads, so avoid wearing them. Halter tops also increase the size of your shoulders visually so try to avoid them also. Show off your great legs, with shorts, and slim pants!
Rectangle You want to create visual curves and define the waistline. Many women with a rectangular body shape complain of their boyish figure, but there are plenty of ways to play up your femininity and your assets. Wear wrap around tops and dresses, they flatter all figures and specially rectangular shapes, as they visually create a waist and flare at the hips. Bias cuts, can also create the illusion of bigger or curvier hips, thus creating a waist. Use jackets and blazers with darts at the waist, specially perfect for your body shape is the Peplum.
Round What happens with the round body shape, is that it usually conceals another body shape, due to extra weight carried at the middle. Most times a Round body shape is a rectangular or inverted triangle body shape. Let's deal with the shape the body is in now. So if you have a round body shape, my suggestion is to wear same color on top and bottom halves. Don't think you can wear light colors? Of course you do! Take a look at the off white dress on your left, it is perfect for a round body shape, it has an empire waist cut and pleads in a semi structured cut and fabric. 
STYLE WISDOM
by
Plesir,
in
STYLE WISDOM
Style Quote of the Day:
"Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it" Yves Saint Laurent
How can we use our body shapes to learn how to dress?
by Guest Writer: Georgina Kenny
My goal and my suggestion for all my clients is to emphasize their face when getting dressed, and this rule applies no matter what your body shape is. Your face is your most important body part, and if we want people to relate to you, to who you really are, you need to call attention to your face, and not just to other specific body areas.
You might have different goals, and only you can decide which parts of your body you want to highlight. In general besides dressing to call attention to the face, we also strive to emphasize those body parts or characteristics that are assets and try to de-emphasize those that you might not be so "proud" of.
We also have a shared-visual idea of what an "ideal" body should look like, and in our society, that body for women, is usually, full busted, small waisted, with square shoulders, and a perky bottom. It is what our culture has accepted as the "ideal" body.
But we not only look at current magazines or films for reference as to what a women's "ideal" body should look like. We go back in time to great works of art and we take a look at sculptures, paintings and films and photographs of women from other times.
Yes, body ideals are not "permanent", ideals are very long "trends", and as we can see ideals change with time. The ideal woman used to be curvier in the 1950's, squarer in the 1980's, slimmer in the 90's and now we see more diversity and also a more "athletic" body as an ideal for both men and women. The famous six pack is selling more magazines now more than ever! By the way, I don't think women look good with an obvious six-pack, it's too masculine for my taste.
So if ideals are not written in stone, we can also help to change them. For example, I like to focus on values instead of on ideals. "Ideals" are mostly external, they are "dictated" by somebody else. Values can also change but they come from my own internal system. I am the one that sets them up, and they are usually rooted in my own sense of self. I value health, family, community, womanhood. And I strive to show that in the way I treat my body and the way I dress it. So because I value aesthetics, femininity and balance, I have learned a great deal about women's bodies, proportions and visual harmony.
But then again we should learn to come up with our own version of the "ideal" body shape, and the more similar it is to ours, the happier we will be! That is for sure!
These are a few tips and ideas for every body shape to achieve more balance visually:
- Hourglass: Emphasize the waistline, wear clothes that hug the body to show off its curves, but not too tightly.
- Triangle-Pear: Wear items such as jackets with details in the shoulders, such as shoulder pads or studs to help create balance with the bottom half, which is bigger.
- Inverted Triangle: highlight the bottom part of the body through the use of full skirts, pants with pockets to help match the broad top, and visually create balance.
- Rectangle: show off your great arms or legs, add belts to help visually create a waist. Wear pleaded pants and skirts. Avoid wide-leg or very loose trousers, these will create a boxy image rather than a curves.
- Round or Apple: Wear the same color on top and bottom. Emphasize bust line with use of square necklines. An use the empire cut on dresses and shirts to show off the smaller part of your torso, which is right under your bust-line.
Remember these are just a few tips to visually help create balance in your figure overall. The current ideal body should not be what dictates your clothing options. Knowing yourself and dressing for your own body shape is the best tool to feeling confident in your own skin!
About the Author of this post: This post was written and illustrated by Georgina Kenny. B.A. in Advertising and Image Consultant certified by the Fashion Institute of New York City, SUNY, New York City. Georgina is a contributor at New York Fashion Week and she writes for different online media about her favorite subjects: Women's Fashion and Style, Women's Body Image, Women's Emotional Health and Self-Esteem. If you would like to contact Georgina write an email to lookbookyou@gmail.com and we will put you in touch.
TWO PROVEN TECHNIQUES TO FIND OUT WHAT YOUR BODY SHAPE IS
Part 2 of the Key #3 The 5 Keys to Dressing Well
Our objective is to learn how to emphasize the best parts of your body and de-emphasize the ones you don't like so much.
The trick to always looking your best is to call attention to your most pleasing parts, both of your physical appearance and of your personality.
Let's continue with Body Types. We classified five major body types. For your reference go back to The 5 Basic Body Types
We already know that there are different geometrical shapes that we use to classify human's body shapes. The best way to really know which body type you fit into, is to do a body tracing. You are going to need a lot of paper to do this! a black or blue marker, a tape measure and a good friend.
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| Triangle and Inverted Triangle |
BODY TRACING
- Tape the paper to the wall or a plain door, at least a few inches taller than you. The paper should be long enough to touch the floor.
- Wear a swimsuit or your underwear only and no shoes.
- Stand with your back against the wall or door with your legs hip distance apart, arms outstreched, fingers outstreched touching the wall or door.N
- Have your friend trace your entire body with the marker on the paper.
- Now have her place a horizontal line on the paper at each of the following places.
- Top of head
- Waist
- Hips or thighs (if thighs are wider than hips)
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| Hourglass |
- You can also do a sideways body tracing, standing sideways with your arm close to the side of your body, have your friend trace your profile view, have her hold the marker perpendicular to the paper. For all tracings its better to use a fine marker, as you want to trace as much of your natural indentations as possible.
Now that you have your body traced both from the front and from the side. What shape can you see? Which geometrical shape does it resemble? Does it look similar to any of the 5 basic body types we talked about before?
MEASUREMENTS
Now we need to use a tape measure to measure the circumference of your:- shoulders
- bust
- waist
- hips or (thighs if bigger than hips).
Let's analyze the results:
HOURGLASS - TRIANGLE - INVERTED TRIANGLE
What is your waist measurement in relation to your shoulders, bust and hips? Is your waist at least 9 to 11 inches smaller (23-28 cm), than your bust or hip (thigh) measurements? Then it means that you do have a definite waist, which narrows your body type, as either a triangle/pear or an hourglass or inverted triangle.Now let's look at your shoulder measurement in comparison to your hips or thighs, are they the same? only less than 1 inch (2.5 cm) difference in measurement then your body shape is an hourglass.
See we made two different comparisons:
- Waist and Hips (or Thighs)
- Shoulders and Hips (or Thighs)
What happens if you have a definite waist but your shoulder measurement is smaller in more than 1 inch (2.5 cm) from your hip or thighs measurements, then you have a triangular shape.
If your shoulder measurement is bigger than 1 inch (2.5 cm) from your hips (or thighs) measurement then you most probably have an Inverted Triangle body shape.
ROUND-RECTANGULAR
What if there is not much difference in your waist measurements in relation to your bust and hips(thighs), then it means you have most probably an Apple or a Rectangle body shape. |
| Rectangle |
As you may known the main characteristic for the "ideal" women's body is the waist. Some body types are characterized by having almost no waist, although everybody has one, but it is either visually obvious or not.
So the challenge for those that have Round or Rectangular body shapes, is to visually create a waist, and that can be achieved by many different ways. One of the easiest, simplest and that is flattering to all body shapes, is to cinch the body right under the bust-line, by the use of an empire style dress for example.
Remember that the idea is always to draw attention towards our face!
Take a look again at the drawings at The 5 basic body shapes to compare them to your body tracing, and use that in combination to your body measurements to find out which body shape your body is more similar to. It doesn't have to be so obvious and exaggerated (do not follow the drawings on this post!) you most probably fall somewhere in between two body shapes. Which one do you lean more towards?
You know your body better than anybody else, you have been inhabiting your body for years! You might not have known how to name the shape of your body, but you certainly have more knowledge about it than anybody else!
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| Round |
There is no one body shape better than the other. There are many different ways to dress the body, and the Golden Mean Ratio can be applied no matter what your body shape is.
So let's use what we have learned about body shapes as a tool to achieve our style goals, whatever those might be! No matter what your body shape is we can achieve different style looks, if we know ourselves first there is no limit to what we can create!
Style Wisdom
by
Plesir,
in
WISDOM OF THE DAY
Quote of the Day - Wisdom of the Day
"The more you know, the less you need" Aboriginal Saying
This quote inaugurates this weekly section of the Blog. I hope you will like this inspirational, provoking, and sometimes amusing quotes, that I have resourced for you.
I thought a very good one to start is the common wisdom of the aboriginal people of Colombia. We can apply it to any aspect of our lives! Hopefully sharing quotes will be something that interests you as much as it does to me! I like to start my day with a nice quote, that either makes me reflect, be more appreciative of all I have, or makes me laugh! Cheers to that! till tomorrow!
FLATTER YOUR BODY LINES, PROPORTIONS AND SCALE
The Main Body Types
- Round or Apple
- Hourglass
- Inverted Triangle
- Triangle or Pear
- Rectangle
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| BODY TYPES |
- Round or Apple: Has no defined waist. Has rounded shoulders. Full around the tummy.
- Hourglass: Has a definite waist. Wears the same size top and bottom. Has a defined bust.
- Inverted Triangle: Wears a larger size on top half and a smaller on bottom. Has wider shoulders than hips. Usually flat rear.
- Triangle or Pear: Smaller on top, bigger size on bottom. Shoulders are narrower than hips. Has a clearly defined waist.
- Rectangle: Almost no curves. Body is straight. Wears the same size for top and bottom. Has a minimal bust. Flat hips and bottom. Almost no waist definition.
Which one is your body type? Do you already know? Can you just tell by looking at the drawing and then looking at yourself in a full length mirror?
You actually cannot alter your basic body shape, because it is based on your bone structure. You can influence on the amount of fat you have, although where you accumulate that fat is genetically determined. No matter how hard we work our muscles, we can only increase their tone and size, but we cannot alter our overall body shape. And we shouldn't obsess about that which we cannot control, remember Epictetus?
The basis to having personal style, is self-acceptance, and from self-acceptance the next step is self-confidence. We need to be self confident in order to show, portray and delight others with our personal style. The idea is for us to understand our basic body shape, and make the best of it! We should learn how to dress for our body shape, so that we can flatter those parts of our body that we are most proud of. In general what we try to achieve no matter what our body shape is, is balance.
Yes, again we find this wonderful word, BALANCE. So we strive to visually show a balanced body. What is a balanced body? It is a body that follows the vertical line of your spine, that is equally distributed on both sides of that "line" whose parts are in proportion, to itself. So it is about achieving visual balance and proportion. Not about trying to be somebody else, or a different shape from ours.
Next post: Tools to find out what your body type is....if you don't already know! Stay tuned
9D4F2PKZYW4R You actually cannot alter your basic body shape, because it is based on your bone structure. You can influence on the amount of fat you have, although where you accumulate that fat is genetically determined. No matter how hard we work our muscles, we can only increase their tone and size, but we cannot alter our overall body shape. And we shouldn't obsess about that which we cannot control, remember Epictetus?
The basis to having personal style, is self-acceptance, and from self-acceptance the next step is self-confidence. We need to be self confident in order to show, portray and delight others with our personal style. The idea is for us to understand our basic body shape, and make the best of it! We should learn how to dress for our body shape, so that we can flatter those parts of our body that we are most proud of. In general what we try to achieve no matter what our body shape is, is balance.
Yes, again we find this wonderful word, BALANCE. So we strive to visually show a balanced body. What is a balanced body? It is a body that follows the vertical line of your spine, that is equally distributed on both sides of that "line" whose parts are in proportion, to itself. So it is about achieving visual balance and proportion. Not about trying to be somebody else, or a different shape from ours.
PROPORTIONS
So how do we find our proportions? We use what artists have always used to draw the human body. Our bodies are divided into five sections composed of eight parts. The eight parts are- the head (one head size)
- neck to waist (two head-sizes)
- midsection or crotch (one head size)
- crotch to knees (two head-sizes)
- knees to soles of feet (two head-sizes)
GOLDEN MEAN RATIO
When we want to dress ourselves with style, we use the Golden Mean ratio, which is 3:5:8. It means we visually divide our body in two parts, from the top of our head to our waist (3 head sizes) from our waist to our feet ( 5 head sizes) for a total of 8 head sizes overall. Our goal is to achieve balance and proportion through our clothing choices. And remember that the most important part of our body we should strive to call attention to, is our face!Next post: Tools to find out what your body type is....if you don't already know! Stay tuned
How to find which colors to wear through the Seasonal Color Theory
Part 6 of the #2 Key The 5 Keys to Dressing WellThe wrong colors can make you look older, heavier, tired and even ill. I think it is just as important to know which colors we should avoid, as which colors we should wear! Seriously! If we learn which colors to avoid we are one big step ahead!
The wrong colors also often compete with you for attention, so that when people see you, they actually see your clothes before they see you.
For me the equation goes like this:
- Know which colors you like - (just because! they make me you feel good = emotional/psychological meaning)
- Know which colors compliment your skin, hair and eye color - (usually you are already wearing some of these colors intuitively, but you can find this out through a color analysis).
- Know which colors to avoid, because they can really damage your overall look!.
Your intuition + personal taste + color analysis = your colors
Where the emotional (your intuition) meets the scientific (professional color anaylisis) you have found your colors!
SEASONAL COLOR THEORY
So here let's look at the Seasonal Color Theory. Because there are so many different people in the world, and we are all unique, image consultants have figured out that in order to come up with an effective system to analyze color, we must look at Nature.And through nature, the easiest, most obvious way to understand color, is through the seasons. All four seasons have unique and very distinct characteristics, and because of the position of the sun in relation to the earth, colors are seen and perceived differently during each season. Imaging the Sun being a huge, big lamp! and we are being illuminated by it all our lives. Each season is like if we were changing the location of the lamp at home. If we did that, things would look differently, and colors would look very different! So with that in mind. Imagine each season and how that light projects in Nature, and you have the Seasonal Colors.
Let's take a look at the color characteristics of each season, and how it relates to individuals.
So we will start with the two seasons that have a Cool base. They are Winter, and Summer. Remember the quick test we did to find out if our skin's undertone is warm or cool? Well if you have a cool undertone, it means you are either a Winter or a Summer. And you will see some of the colors that will compliment your own personal coloring below.
WINTER
SUMMER
Here you can see a chart that compares fabric swatches for both Seasons, you can see that the cool base is shared by both Winter and Summer. With the difference that the Winter colors are darker, brighter and more intense. The summer colors are muted, they have more white added, they are "washed" out and not so clear or bright. Winter and Summer have the same temperature (Cool), but they have different Value (lightness/darkness) and different Chroma (brightness/softness). If you are confused take a look at The Basics of Color.
Now let's start with the two Seasons that share a warmth undertone, they are Autumn and Spring.
AUTUMN
An autumn colored person has more green tones in their veins. They look great in neutral colors like beige, ecru, warm olive, rich golden browns. The earth tones are perfect and look gorgeous on Autumn individuals.
Autumn colors are warm,
medium-light to medium-dark intensity. Think of the leaves of trees during Autumn, colors of rich burnt oranges, reds, golden yellows and yellowish greens.
Now let's look at Spring!
SPRING
Spring colored individuals have a warm undertone, and bright coloring, usually their eyes are a bright blue or green. They have medium to low contrast.
Spring colors are also warm, but clear and bright with medium to light intensity. Think of the bright clear colors of spring flowers.
Both Spring and Autumn colors have a Warm undertone, Autumn colors are deeper, richer and have more yellow. Spring colores are brighter, lighter, and although have a warm undertone, they are clear and bright (just like Winter).
Let's continue with part 5 of the Key #2 of The 5 Keys to Dressing Well
How do I know my skin's undertone?
This is the most important characteristic of color we should consider when choosing our personal colors.
Is my skin warm or cool? To understand more about color's psychological and relative temperature take a look at The Basics of Colors to understand what makes colors seem warm or cool.
So, is your skin warm, cool or balanced?
One quick way to decide is to take a look at the inside skin of your forearm, and look at your veins there. Can you see them? Do they look blue, or purplish? or more like green?
Why is this important? Because all colors have either a blue or a yellow component. Remember the three primary colors are Blue, Yellow and Red and from those, all other colors are created. Red being the "balanced" one when it comes to skin tone. Yes, I know it is hard to understand, because red is considered warm, but for our skin is considered a neutral.
If our skin has a warm undertone, we usually can wear well all colors with warm tones, therefore colors containing more yellow in their composition.
If our skin has cool undertones, we can wear well all colors that have a mostly blue base.
When it comes to choosing the colors for our wardrobe, what we need to strive for is harmony, remember I talked about color Harmonies? Well, the same thing happens when we put ourselves in the equation. Go back to this post to remember about the basic color harmonies.
We are the main component in the harmony we are to create with color, so it is important for us to determine, where am I in the color wheel?! I know it sounds strange! Hey! I am not the Incredible Hulk! neither am I Sesame's Street Yellow Bird....yes I know, but we DO have colors in us, and we need to find them...so that we can create the most beautiful harmonies possible! So in order to do that we start with our base....Are we closer to the blue? or closer to the yellow? or equally distant, as if we are red?
This is another simple method you can use at home to determine for yourself whether your skin undertone is warm or cool.
So when we have a professional Color Analysis done, what the we do, is first wear a grey or white robe, be in natural light or use a special lamp that imitates the sunlight we need, in case we are indoors and there are no windows, or the day is cloudy.
The we use two cards with different color swatches both blue and yellow based, to determine if the undertone is warm, cool or balanced. Once we have determined the skin's undertone we start the process of draping different colors to "see" which ones look good on you.
In general colors that are in harmony with your own personal coloring are those that:
I will tell you about the Seasonal Color Theory tomorrow. Stay tuned, because that is the system most widely used in the world to categorize personal coloring....
So tomorrow you will learn....Am I a Winter? A Summer? A Spring? or an Autumn?
Which one am I?! Is it "important" to know?
Stay tuned...
How do I know my skin's undertone?
This is the most important characteristic of color we should consider when choosing our personal colors.
Is my skin warm or cool? To understand more about color's psychological and relative temperature take a look at The Basics of Colors to understand what makes colors seem warm or cool.
So, is your skin warm, cool or balanced?
One quick way to decide is to take a look at the inside skin of your forearm, and look at your veins there. Can you see them? Do they look blue, or purplish? or more like green?
- Cool - bluish or purplish veins.
- Warm - greenish veins
- Balanced - somewhere in between, neither blue, nor green.
Why is this important? Because all colors have either a blue or a yellow component. Remember the three primary colors are Blue, Yellow and Red and from those, all other colors are created. Red being the "balanced" one when it comes to skin tone. Yes, I know it is hard to understand, because red is considered warm, but for our skin is considered a neutral.
If our skin has cool undertones, we can wear well all colors that have a mostly blue base.
When it comes to choosing the colors for our wardrobe, what we need to strive for is harmony, remember I talked about color Harmonies? Well, the same thing happens when we put ourselves in the equation. Go back to this post to remember about the basic color harmonies.
We are the main component in the harmony we are to create with color, so it is important for us to determine, where am I in the color wheel?! I know it sounds strange! Hey! I am not the Incredible Hulk! neither am I Sesame's Street Yellow Bird....yes I know, but we DO have colors in us, and we need to find them...so that we can create the most beautiful harmonies possible! So in order to do that we start with our base....Are we closer to the blue? or closer to the yellow? or equally distant, as if we are red?
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| Having a Color Analysis done by an expert can be a valuable tool to help you improve your Personal Image. |
This is another simple method you can use at home to determine for yourself whether your skin undertone is warm or cool.
- Place a gold and a silver bracelet/watch across your forearm. If you can see warmth in your skin using the gold and with the silver you can't, then you are probably warm.
- Think about the type of jewellery you like to wear. Is it almost always gold? or you prefer silver? Gold is warm, Silver is cool. So if you like to use white gold, platinum, or silver accessories because they "suit" your skin and face better, then you most probably are Cool. If on the other hand all the jewellery you wear or accessories are mostly golden, then you are most probably Warm.
So when we have a professional Color Analysis done, what the we do, is first wear a grey or white robe, be in natural light or use a special lamp that imitates the sunlight we need, in case we are indoors and there are no windows, or the day is cloudy.
The we use two cards with different color swatches both blue and yellow based, to determine if the undertone is warm, cool or balanced. Once we have determined the skin's undertone we start the process of draping different colors to "see" which ones look good on you.
In general colors that are in harmony with your own personal coloring are those that:
- bring out your best features.
- make your eyes pop.
- even out any imperfection you might have in your complexion.
- they make you look rested and younger.
- make you look older
- tired
- cast shadows under your eyes, and chin
- uneven your skin-tone
- compete with you for visual attention.
Keep in mind that everybody can wear some "version" of almost every color, because all colors can have a blue or yellow base, or be neutral (universal colors).
So tomorrow you will learn....Am I a Winter? A Summer? A Spring? or an Autumn?
Which one am I?! Is it "important" to know?
Stay tuned...
How does Color Analysis work?
We have talked about The Basics of Color and The Meaning of Color in previous posts. Let's continue with the ways in which we can identify our own personal colors! This is part 4 of the # 2 The 5 Keys to Dressing Well.
So do we really need to have an "expert" tell us which are our best colors? Not really, I don't think so. When I was studying at the University to become an Image Consultant, I took a special class with a renowned Color Specialist on Color Analysis, I learned how to do it professionally, and while I was doing it, I had my own Color Analysis done. It cleared many questions I had with regards to the use of color, but again, in the end it is how we implement what we learn that counts. So, sometimes we have a big colored lens trough which we see ourselves, and that doesn't help in having an unbiased analysis! So it isn't necessary but it certainly helps a lot to be "seened" by someone else, who can give us an honest and professional answer.
The process of doing a color analysis for someone focuses on three main characteristics of color: the undertones (hues), the depth (value) and the clarity (chroma) against a person's skin, eyes and hair.In that order, making the color against the skin the most important factor in determining which colors are flattering.
There are different systems used by color analysts to classify personal coloring:
The most used ones are The Seasonal System which classify people into (Winter, Summer, Spring and Autumn) and the other one classifying someone as (Light or Deep, Warm or Cool, Clear or Soft).
These two are the most widely used systems. I recommend the use of both, since they basically complement each other and give more useful information and more color choices as a result. As such we can describe our own personal coloring within these categories.
Our personal coloring changes with time, as we change. Color in our hair changes, we don't have the same hair color now than we did ten years ago, and we probably will not have the same color in ten years from now. The same happens with skin tone, but our skin tone changes seasonally as we increase and decrease sun exposure and tanning and whitening of the skin is its result. I will say that what remains more constant in our personal coloring is eye color, although we can see in very old people a lightening due to ageing of the eye. So which ever results we get now from our personal coloring analysis are valid as long as the hues (this don't change, unless we dye our hair a complete different color, and wear color contact lenses e.g.) the chroma and the value of our colors remain the same.
What I like to do for my clients is to give two groups of color options for their wardrobe, one to be used for the warm weather and one that can be used for cooler climates and grayer skies. I recommend most people to have this two palettes, especially if you like tanning, and get highlights in your hair during Summer.
Let's see to start with some personal coloring characteristics and main divisions, so that you can start familiarizing yourslef with, and see if you can identify with any of the following:
LIGHT - (you have a light value to your coloring, e.g. natural light color hair (blond, gray) light color eyes (pale blue, grey or light green) light eyelashes and almost no eyebrows. Your skin burns easily in the sun, and is delicate, porcelain like. Think Claudia Schiffer, Cate Blanchett, Naomi Watts.
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| Pic courtesy of: Eva Rinaldi |
DEEP - Dark colored hair, dark eyes, dark eyebrows and lashes. Your skin an either be whitish porcelain skin all the way to very dark. Think Catherine Zeta Jones, Eva Longoria, Penelope Cruz, Frieda Pinto, Winona Ryder, Keira Knightley.
WARM - Red tones in your hair, from strawberry blond to auburn. Your skin is warm.Your eyelashes and eyebrows are reddsih. You can have freckles. Eyes can either be green, brown or blue. Think Julianne Moore, Christina Hendrix, Heather Graham, Jessica Chastain.
_3_(cropped).jpg)
COOL - Hair has ashy tones, either dark brown, blonde, white or grey. Eyes are clear brown, green, grey or blue. Your skin is cool. You have a pinkish or blueish undertone. Think Meryl Streep, Judi Dench.
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| Pic courtesy of Caroline Bonarde Ucci |
CLEAR - Dark hair. Bright striking eyes, usually green, blue or topaz. Dark eyebrows and eyelashes. Your look is very contrasting from light to dark. Your skin can be any tone, from light to dark.Think Courtney Cox, Liv Tyler, Megan Fox, Emily Blunt.
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| Pic courtesy of: Joella Marano |
SOFT - Dark blonde or light brown hair. Eyes can be any color, but are a soft shade and can change color with the weather. Little contrast between hair, skin and eye color. You can identify certain characteristics of yourself in the other five dominant types. Think Kylie Minogue, Kate Hudson, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Rachel MacAdams, Natalie Portman, Beyonce.
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| Pic courtesy of Tom Sorensen |
It is possible you don't find yourself indentified with any of these main dominant types, and you don't think your coloring is similar to any of these actresses. I think it is a very good tool to look at pictures of all these women, so you can start picturing in your mind, the characteristics of each type.
Don't fret, this doesn't end here, it is a journey and we are on it together. So why don't you go and grab a coffee a few of your favorite pictures and see if you can identify any of these characteristics on yourself.
I will tell you all about the most important thing to pay attention when it comes to your personal coloring, in the next post...
Till tomorrow!
