Monthly Archives: December 2017

Are You A Warm Or A Cool?

Posted in beauty, dressing your best, how to by

22154CB-3-Matrix-Likity-Split-Top-27120-Pivot-Pant-2-720x1080My journey with color began almost as soon as my career in fashion.  One of the most common questions women ask me is how a certain color looks on them.  “Do you think this color makes me look too pale?” or “What do you think of this color on me?” are questions I answer almost every day.  About ten years ago, I decided to invest in getting my own colors done professionally in an effort to learn all I could about diagnosing colors for my customers.  My own color analysis began with the draping of sheets over my shoulders – one silver and one gold.  This test determined the undertone of my skin.  From there, the next forty minutes were spent in holding different swatches of fabric next to my eyes and looking carefully to see if each one made my eyes bright or dull.  This process produced my color palate, and I have been using it ever since.

What I discovered about having my colors done is that shopping changed and so did my closet.  I first went through and pulled out every piece of clothing that wasn’t in my palate.  That was difficult because some of my favorite items ended up in the donate pile.  But a surprising benefit occurred too.  When I stood back and looked at my now greatly reduced choices, I could see how everything went with everything else.  I no longer had to worry about hanging my clothes by outfit.  Now, I could hang them by category and choose any bottom or top I wanted, feeling confident that they would coordinate perfectly.  Best yet, I knew my shoes, jewelry and handbags would also complete the look.  It was a revelation to me, and I have been encouraging women to spend the money to get their colors done ever since.

So, in my Fashionable Friday video series about how to dress your best, I knew I would want to do a video on how to choose your best colors.  My research into the process began with a copy of Color Me Beautiful which was first published in the 50’s and is the iconic book that places people in one of four seasons: Winter, Spring, Autumn and Summer.  I also looked the topic up online to see what modern articles were saying about color.  While I found that most new information on this topic has ditched the four seasons and now just refers to people as cool, warm and neutral, the basics of color analysis have not changed much since Color Me Beautiful was written.

There are several tests that you can do to determine if your skin has warm or cool undertones.  First, there is the drape test.  Take a piece of tinfoil and another piece of golden foil.  Remove all your makeup, and stand in front of a mirror in natural light.  Drape the silver foil around your face and then observe the following things: your eyes, your teeth, the darkness under your eyes and the smoothness of your skin.  Then take the golden foil and do the same thing.  Which ever one is better for you will make your eyes brighter, your teeth whiter, your skin smoother and the dark circles under your eyes less noticeable.  If it is the silver foil that makes you look your best, you are cool toned.  If it is the gold, you are warm toned.

The next two tests are quicker.  In the same natural light, look at the veins on the under side of your wrists.  If you are warm toned, they will appear green.  If you are cool toned, they will appear blue.  If you are still not sure, recruit a friend to look behind your ear.  Yes, behind your ear.  Look at the skin in the crease created by your upper ear and your skull.  If the skin appears yellow, you are warm toned.  If it is pink, you are cool toned.

Now the really hard work is done.  All that remains is to understand your value, either light or dark, and then get to the business of finding the best colors for you.  If you want to know more about this topic and see some examples of specific color palates, watch the video.  It really is worth your time to figure out what colors compliment your skin and avoid the days when five people ask you if you are tired or sick when you feel just fine!

Details, Pattern and Proportion

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IMG_5219Dressing your best means more than just choosing great styles; it means choosing great styles for YOU.  I have embarked on a live video series called Fashionable Friday to share with you some of the basics of good dressing that I have learned over the years.  I will be re-capping the content of my videos in my blog posts over the next several weeks, but if you want to see how to put these principles into practice, watch the live videos on my Facebook Group Page Fashion Crossroads Fashionistas each Friday morning at 9 a.m.

Details in clothing refer to things like lace, ruffles, embroidery, or stylistic additions that clothing manufacturers add to the style to direct the eye and draw attention.  They can be helpful or harmful to figure flattery depending on your skill in using them.  Keep in mind that wherever you have a detail on your clothing, the eye will naturally be drawn to that spot.  If you have embroidery at the neck of your top, it will highlight your face which is good.  If, on the other hand, you take that same detail and place it around the top’s hemline, the eye will be drawn to your middle.  If you are slim hipped, this would be a good use of detail.  If, however, you are wide hipped, that added detail will work against you rather than for you, making you seem wider. Read more about using color to draw attention to your assets here.

This same principle is true on skirts.  If you have a midi skirt with a ruffle detail that hits you right at mid-calf, the eye will be drawn to your legs and in particular to your calves.  Again, depending upon your body type, this may be a good or bad thing.  You need to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to drawing attention to your figure.  Make sure your clothing is accenting your best feature and not your worst.

Pattern works similarly.  Used appropriately, it can be slimming and help hide figure flaws.   It is important to keep your prints in proportion with your body.  If you are petite or short, you will want to choose small prints.  If you are tall or plus, you will want to choose larger prints.  In addition to knowing the size of print best suited for you, it is helpful to understand the difference between tonal and contrasting prints.  Tonal prints will have different shades of the same base color.  You might have tobacco, chocolate, and tan mixed together, as an example.  Contrasting prints have different colors mixed together, say black, pink and white.  Tonal prints will always be more slimming than contrasting prints.

Placement of prints on your body can draw the eye to your assets.  Wearing a printed top and a black bottom, for example is a good choice if you are small on top and larger at the hips.  The same principle is true the opposite way.  If you are slim hipped but large busted, wear a tonal print on the bottom with a solid top.

One of the prints that seems to cause people a lot of trouble are stripes.  Many women feel they can never wear stripes.  This is simply not true!  If you are smart about stripes, they can work for you rather than against you.  Largely spaced stripes, like those in a buffalo plaid for example, will make you look wider.  If you are small busted, these stripes can actually give the appearance of a larger bust.  If, on the other hand, you are busy or heavy, you will want to avoid largely spaces stripes over the heaviest portion of your body.  Conversely, Thinly spaced stripes, can be very slimming.  These types of stripes work to lengthen your body and are good for short waisted body types.

This brings me to proportion.  Understanding if you are short or long waisted is an important part of dressing your best.  To find out, just measure from the bottom of your last rib to the top of your hip bone.  If the measurement is only a few inches, you are short waisted.  If it is four inches or more, you are long waisted.  To keep your body in balance, you want to give the impression of perfect proportion.  Thus, short waisted women need to elongate the torso and therefore should wear low to mid rise pants.  Long waisted women want to shorten the torso and therefore should wear higher rises.  I will be talking more about this on my next Fashionable Friday live video this coming Friday, December 15th at 9 a.m.  I’d love for you to join me, and feel free to send me a question during the video, and I’ll be happy to answer it!