What You Actually Need to Know About Choosing Colors for Your Personal Style
- Stuart
- Jul 5
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 30
Colors are something that we're all used to, but can be intimidating when it comes to clothing. What colors look good on you? Do you even like those colors? And how can you be 100% sure that you're going to buy the right color?
With all these uncertainties, it's no wonder that most of us stick to wearing black. Some people get into the Color Seasons, but I've found it to be complicated and a little overwhelming.
With that said, it's not something I'd chuck out entirely. There are some pros and cons to the Color Seasons system; you just have to know some basic color theory to make it work. If that sounds intimidating, don't worry, it's actually very, very simple.
Choosing Colors
When you're choosing colors for your personal style, the best place to start are you favorite colors! After all, if you like the colors you're wearing, you'll feel better about your wardrobe.
The Color Season System
The book Color Me Beautiful helped popularize the Color Season system in the late 1980s. It tends to fall in and out of vogue, trading off with the hyper-neutral aesthetic of minimalism. We go through phases of wanting to wear color, we get tired of it and go back to neutrals, we get tired of that and go back to color, and on and on it goes.
The core idea of the Color Season lies in categorizing each person into four seasons.
Winter- Cool undertones and darker hair colors (brunette, dark red, or black)
Spring- Warm undertones and lighter hair colors (blonde, light brown, light red)
Summer- Cool undertones and lighter hair colors (blonde, light brown, light red)
Fall- Warm undertones and darker hair colors (brunette, dark red, or black)
You're further categorized down, ending up with around sixteen categories in total.
The Pitfalls of the Color Season System
Even though the Color Seasons have helped many people start their style journeys, I have a few major gripes.
Forbidden Colors
The first is that I don't like someone telling me there are colors I should never wear. For example, I understand that as a Spring, I should choose navy over black, but outside of denim, I hate navy. I don't hate it in every context, but after years of the millennial coral and navy wedding trend, I recoil on principle. Same with ivory, cream, all these neutral colors that are supposed to be the colors I wear as a Spring.
Like any system sold and packaged to you as a fix-all, the Color Season system isn't a fix all. No matter how good it is, the "Perfect System" will inevitably crash against the immovable object of the Personal Reaction. This is why the best way to approach the Color Season system (and any fashion system) is to take what works for you and chuck the rest.
Color Variations
The second thing that bothers me about the Color Season system, as it's sold, is that there is so much variation in colors. It depends on lighting, print color, and your own perception of color formed by the cones of your eyeballs.
Determining your own color season is already difficult with four categories, let alone sixteen. Sending photos to different online color consultants is going to give you a few different answers. You can hire an in-person consultant, but you're still going to have the problem of memorizing all the color shades "in your season." You could buy a swatch of colors to carry around in your purse, but at this point, you've spent more money on the Color System itself than on actual clothing.
All that said, I'm not willing to throw out the whole Color Me Beautiful system because of one simple yet powerful tool: knowing your undertones.
What Do You Actually Need to Know About the Color Season System?
The most important part of the Color Season system is determining whether you have warm or cool undertones. You can figure this out by looking at your hair and eye color, but the real question is which metals you look better with.
Do you look better with gold? Then you're a warm undertone.
Do you look better with silver? Then you're a cool undertone.
Do you look better with both? You're a neutral undertone.
Knowing the answer to this question is going to help you with everything, from flattering colors to make up choices.
"Wait a second," you say, "How is knowing if I'm a warm, cool, or neutral help me find all the colors that will look good on me?"
It's easy! And all you need to know is something you already know: ROYGBV.
In principle, the way to warm things up is to add red, and blue will cool them off. So when you're looking at a color, first ask if it's a little more red or a little more blue.
If that doesn't work, compare the color to its neighbors in the rainbow.
Pick a color like Yellow, for example. It sits between Orange (closer to red) and Green (closer to blue). If you want a warmer yellow, pick one that has more orange in it. If you want a cooler yellow, it's going to have more green.
This will help you pick out the right colors every time, without having to carry around a color palette. Keep in mind that lighting in photos will affect what you're seeing, but reviews will say something if the difference is too egregious.
Practical Ways to Choose Your Color Palette
The best way to pick your color palette is to go to a store that sell a bunch of basic t-shirts in a variety of different colors. Try them on, see what you like, what you hate, and go from there! Bring a friend if you don't trust your intuition just yet, and pay them back with dinner.
Once you have an idea of what colors you like and what looks good on you, play around! You can look up different color combinations on Pinterest, or you can get extra nerdy and use coolrs.co to find some wild combinations!
Final Thoughts
Just like everything, the process of finding your personal style is not going to happen overnight. There is no quick fix to finding a style that you feel comfortable in 100% of the time, and you're going to make some mistakes along the way.
But the joy of finding your personal style is the same as playing with colors! It's all about finding what you love, and using those things to tell a style story that you're truly proud of. Have fun, wear colors, and live your life in the sun, where every color looks its best.
For more ideas and tips, check out the blog!
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