How bad can you look in a really unflattering colour?

Well, see for yourself...

Fashion versus Reality

It doesn't matter that a colour is extremely fashionable, if it does not look good on you, you shouldn't wear it.
I think last year's Tangerine Tango rave and this year's Nectarine hullabaloo are very good examples of how you may be tempted to buy and wear a colour that is not flattering for you. In the case of Tangerine Tango, a lovely reddish orange, a deep saturated shade, the only people who look good in it are Autumns and Warm Springs. In the case of Nectarine, a sort of salmon, it's Warm and Soft Autumns, Light Summers, and Warm and Light Springs who look good in it (check the palettes to make sure of your shade). Well, the rest of us, be it mere mortals or models on runway shows (theoretically dressed and madeup by artists, as the photos below prove), should abstain from wearing it anywhere around the face.
There is no power on earth that will make you look good in a colour if it's not in your palette. And bronzer WON'T help, it'll rather make things much worse.

How the 4-season and the 12-season CMB's systems work

4-season-system

The 4-season system is quite clear, so it is relatively easy to say that someone is a Spring, Autumn, Winter, or Summer. Generally, your eye and hair colour (the natural ones) are enough to place you in the right season.

12-season-system

Distinguishing two people from the next palette in the next season in the 12-season-system can get more tricky, because you share a complexion with it.

• Strong and rich: Deep Winter or Deep Autumn.
• Light and fair: Light Summer or Light Spring.
• Soft and muted: Soft Summer or Soft Autumn.
• Clear and bright: Clear Winter or Clear Spring.
• Cool and rosy: Cool Summer and Cool Winter.

This flow graph of the palette gives you the reason why: the palettes that are connected by an arrow are close to each other.

It will not be that important which specific palette you belong to, because lots of colours are common between two connecting palettes. However, it will become really important in the case of another bunch of colours, maybe because they are warm or cool, and they will make you look awful. I have tried to show it in the case of Deep Winter versus Deep Autumn.
The relationship between Deep Winters and Deep Autumns seems to be very similar to that between Clear Winters and Clear Springs: Clear Springs look good in lots of Clear Winter colours but, additionally, they also look good in others that Clear Winters don't, coral being one of the examples. It can become extremely difficult to distinguish between these two palettes because they look pretty much the same sometimes: both have eyes that contrast greatly with their skin and hair colour, something that can be enhanced by cosmetics and dyed hair.
Cosmetics (hair dye, make-up) can make you "transition" from one palette to another inside the same season. For instance, a lot of Light Springs are naturally some sort of blond, but they dye their hair red so, and make up their eyes with strong dark eyeliner, they will, to all intents and purposes, look like Clear or even Warm Springs. It is only in some shades that they will not look their absolutely best, but it's generally no big deal.

MORE?

• How to distinguish between shades of the same colour Part 1 and Part 2
• How to distinguish between shades of red
• How to tell your palette in the CMB system

How to wear a colour that does not flatter you

Trends offer...

Trends in general, and colour trends in particular, are just opportunities to stock up on what your already know goes well with your silhouette, complexion, and personal style, and the chance to try something new and see if you can incorporate it into your wardrobe. When a colour trend doesn't suit you, there are still ways of getting away with it.

...You dispose

When you have (as you should) a wardrobe full of basics in neutral shades, accessories are another way of adding colour, texture, and interest, instantly updating it and taking it through the next season.
If you like a colour that is on trend, buy it doesn't look good on you, there are ways to use it.

• Jewellery. You can add a statement necklace, provided it is surrounded by a sea of a colour that suits you: over a polo sweater, or a crew neck or a (mock) turtle neck. Add a pair of earrings that include the colour, but it's not the main one, or you have long hair and it will stand out against it.



Black for Pierrette by Caroline Grant.

Zara Blazer / Pink Tartan Leopard Pencil Skirt / ACNE Diane Top / Louis Vuitton Monogram Fascination Lockit Handbag / L.K. Bennett Selina Shoes / Kate Spade Dotz Bib Necklace / Amen Leather Orchid Brooch / Anton Heunis Jet Black Ring / Tom Ford Lipstick in Black Orchid / Estée Lauder Nail Lacquer in Purple Velvet.    
  
• Leather items. Get a handbag, shoes, and/or a belt in that colour, on its own or mixed with other colours that are flattering to you. In the case of shoes, I have to say that, if you don't look good in a colour, your feet will neither. Obviously, it's not the same thing a whole sandal in colour and a shoe worn with hosiery. The effect will depend on how bad the colour is on you: for example, beige and metallics like bronze or copper look pretty terrible on olive skin, it makes it look shallow, or worse, not clean. Just check that it does not. Gloves are OK when worn with any length of sleeves if your skin does not show.

Orange for Caroline by Caroline Grant.

Azzedine Alaia Virgin Wool Dress / L.K. Bennett Street Cardigan / Etro Handbag / Calvin Klein Annie Shoes / Etro Earrings / Pieces Jolanta Bracelets / Estée Lauder Pure Color Lipstick in Scarlet Siren / Estée Lauder Nail Lacquer in Pure Red.

Even if you want to... No-go items

• Sunglasses have to be a flattering colour: they frame your face.
• Scarves, unless you intend to use them surrounded by flattering colours: for instance, under your lapels or (artistically) hanging from the handles of your handbag.
• Makeup, for the same reasons as above. One of the worst mistakes you can make. You may get away with nail polish, but that will depend on how bad the colour is on you.

Beige for Caroline by Caroline Grant.

H&M Jacket / Ralph Lauren Lace Ruffle Blouse / Michael Kors Antelope City Shorts / BCBGMaxAzria Handbag / L.K. Bennet Petal Shoes / Issa Silk Twill Scarf / Erickson Beamon in the Mood for Love Earrings / Lover's Eye Brooch (antique) at 1stdibs.com / Marc by Marc Jacobs Party Girl Bracelets / Estée Lauder Pure Color Lipstick in Scarlet Siren / Estée Lauder Nail Lacquer in Pure Red.

How to distinguish between shades of the same colour 2

Practical tests

Shop test

I can suggest going to a department store and locating different red garments and start comparing, but that would be complicated because of tricky shop lighting.
It is a mystery to me, for instance, why Zara lighting makes some people yellow: if the idea is that they are making the clothes more attractive, they are most certainly NOT making them more attractive on the people who will be wearing them. And don't get me started on changing room lighting, we could be here all day.

I have selected for this Polyvore set shades of red with some yellow inside (but not yet orange) on the left, and blue shades of red (but not yet magenta), on the right. When they are next to each other, they do look different, don't they?

Home test

The optimum experiment would be the one you conduct with your own wardrobe in the comfort of your own home, which is easier if you are already a fan of red. It is best to conduct this experiment with a friend, anyway, whose red items of clothing you can conveniently borrow for the occasion, and whose sense of style you can consult.

Step 1. Sort your red items in the daylight into three piles: orange reds, blue reds, and "I don't really know", which you will sort out last, when the other two piles have helped you see the difference in amount of yellow or blue inside reds.
Step 2. Try to decide which pile is best for you in front of a mirror. You should have seen me in my day holding every red item my sister and I owned around my face, in my balcony, for all my neighbours to see.
Step 3. Go for the third pile, it will either be easy to sort into the other two piles or, if undecided still, a true red pile.
Step 4. Try to decide which pile is best for you in front of a mirror placed in the daylight, holding every item around your face.

What colour palette works best for you? If you look best in cool tones, you are a Summer or a Winter. If you look best in warm colours, you are a Spring or an Autumn. You can do some previous work reading the descriptions of the people that look best in each palette visiting the pages for each palette at the top of this blog.

How to distinguish between shades of the same colour 1

The importance of the right colour and the right shade

Any colour and shade decision you make will affect how you look dramatically
Even if you are wearing the right colour, it has to be the right shade: think "Are you feeling OK?" versus "You look so well in that colour", that I'm sure you've heard before. The right colours and shades will make your eye colour pop, and your skin glow.
The basic principle: amount of yellow versus amount of blue
Trying to distinguish between different shades of a colour is very important. It may be difficult at the beginning, but once you take into account this basic principle, ie. the amount of yellow versus the amount of blue inside a colour, trying to see the differences between shades of a colour in those terms, it gets easier and easier.

1. The greater the amount of blue inside a colour, the cooler it is. For a description of the people who look best in cool shades, visit the Summer palettes or Winter palettes.
2. The greater the amount of yellow inside a colour, the warmer it is. For a description of the people who look best in warm shades looks like, visit the Spring or Autumn palettes.

The colour wheel

An artist's colour wheel or pigment color wheel includes blue, red, and yellow as PRIMARY COLOURS. The corresponding SECONDARY COLOURS are green, orange, and violet. The TERTIARY COLOURS are the mixture of the first two: red+orange, red+violet, yellow+orange, yellow+green, blue+violet, and blue+green [Source: Colour Wheel, Wikipedia].

Moving inside the colour wheel: true colours, dark colours, light colours.

 

These are the most common, popular names for the mixtures between primary colours (blue, red and yellow), and secondary colours (orange, green, and violet). Tertiaries are situated between primaries and secondaries. On the outer part, you have first the result of the colour adding white (e.g. pink, from red), or adding black (e.g. maroon, from red).

True or medium colours have the same amount of yellow and blue inside. When you move towards the closest primary colour, you no longer have that true or medium shade. For instance
True red

• When you move from true red towards yellow in the wheel, you no longer have true red, but something in the way to orange, like tomato red. If you keep on adding yellow, you arrive to orange.
• When you move from true red towards blue, the same thing happens: you no longer have true red but scarlet, crimson... in the way to magenta/violet. If you keep on adding blue, you arrive to green.

The same thing happens with the other primary colours. In the case of true or medium blue, when you move from true blue towards yellow, you obtain cyan/aqua, and eventually green.When you move from true blue towards red, you obtain purple, and eventually magenta/violet.

The amount of black and white inside a colour gives you the intensity of the colour, i.e. how dark or light it is (green plus white gives mint, green plus black gives olive), but it doesn't affect how cool or warm it is.

The border line between shades is difficult to see sometimes and has to be discerned on a one by one basis: when does blue become teal (blue plus different amounts of yellow)? and when does teal becomes plain green (equal amounts of blue and yellow)? No two human beings see colours in exactly the same way. I was forever having the same heated discussion with my sister about turquoise (she sees it greenish, I see it blueish), until we read about it, and now are very civilized about the whole thing.

MORE?
To learn more about colours, follow the label Colour savvy below or in the column on the right.

Own Your Style Decalogue 4. Be Colour Savvy

The importance of colour

Most colour decisions you make will affect how you look dramatically. Think "Are you feeling OK?" versus "You look so good in that colour (by which they mean shade, but we don't want to be pedantic)", that I'm sure you have heard before.
The right colours and shades will make your skin glow, and your eye colour pop out. For a Deep Winter, for example, one such really flattering colour (or shade) is cobalt blue.
So, it is not only that you are wearing the right colour, it has to be the right shade. Saying "blue" doesn't really mean much, there are thousands of shades of blue, from the palest to the darkest, mixed with bits of red, yellow...

Don't be a (insert name of colour here) casualty!

Every year, come September, the racks are filled with Autumn colours, very much in the same way it is appropriate to eat strawberries in spring and summer, because it is indeed a lovely palette. Well, every year, in Spain, a country mostly populated by Deep Autumns and Deep Winters, you can see tons of what I call "orange casualties": that half of the population that does not look good in orange, most browns, or greens. They could have stocked up on bottoms in the Autumn palette, sure, but not on tops.
The same way not everybody looks good in shades of orange, it happens with the rest of colours, so it's of the utmost importance to learn when to include them, and when not, in your wardrobe.

How to go about learning?

You can use books. I recommend you Color Me Beautiful's (CMB) Looking Your Best by Mary Spillane and Christine Sherlock, 1995). The basic idea of the CMB people is that there are people who look best in cool shades (in the Summer and Winter palettes), and people who look best in warm shades (in the Spring and Autumn palettes).
You can use blogs and webpages. You can start with my blog, of course, which include description of how the people who look good in a season palette look like (eye colour, hair colour, general complexion), the palettes themselves and then sets I have made on Polyvore with those colours. To see the palettes, you can follow the labels on the right for the four palettes: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

MORE?

• Follow the label Colour savvy, a multiple part ongoing tutorial about how to become colour savvy, tricks to wear fashionable colours and more.
• Trend labels on the column to the right will include information about fashionable colours and who looks good in them.