Not So Novel? Clothes That Fit, Colors That Flatter
Color analysis is back, thanks to TikTok. And it's supporting sustainable fashion.
A colorful trend is coming back around and responding to today's wardrobe crisis. Color analysis — or sharpening one's personal style game using compatible colors from the color wheel — has been said to lead to more decisive dressing. The idea is that it takes the guesswork out of getting dressed, doing makeup or hair. And it was a major craze that last saturated the ‘80s, in part fueled by Carole Jackson's “Color Me Beautiful” book, originally published in 1973, about finding one's personal color palette. The paperback sold more than 13 million copies and secured placement on the New York Times' bestsellers in 1984.
Though the color analysis craze faded, it's back for a new season of always online, conscious shoppers for a few reasons.
“The key to loving your wardrobe and getting the most out of it for the longest, is having that ‘wow' moment when you wear it,” said Mary Fellowes, celebrity stylist and founder of GreenWith Studio, which advises small fashion companies on sustainability strategies. “When colors sit correctly, the onlooker often responds positively, either overtly or subtly.” If Fellowes could only wear one color for the rest of her life, she said without hesitation, it would be Valentino's “pink PP.”
Along with being a fun test, color analysis helps shoppers uncover compatible colors to use as a compass in shopping that can, in turn, help reduce consumption. Color analysis typically involves licensed color analysts who drape fabric swatches or color families (pastels, jeweled tones, neutrals and so on) over the shoulders of clients to show them their true — or most flattering — colors. There are 12 seasonal palettes spanning soft summer to dark winter. For true summer, think Olivia Wilde because of her lowcontrast features and slightly muted tones; true autumn, think Beyoncé because of her warmth and radiance in tone and hair; true winter, think Selena Gomez or Janelle Monáe for the stark contrast in features and silvery undertones; and for true spring
think Taylor Swift for the low contrast in her coloring and peach-leaning tones. There are myriad combinations which can be dark, soft, light, bright or true. The color curious can even have the process done for them virtually by submitting a hi-resolution selfie to free apps such as Seasonal Color Analysis, Dressika, Swatchi and Style DNA.
Something to Wear
There's an underplayed sustainability element to color analysis or flattering clothes in general.
“People are looking for less items to wear in more ways. It's not about recreational buying anymore,” Carol Davidson, a New York City-based image consultant and self image coach consultant, said in a Zoom interview. Boasting a number of image consultant certifications, Davidson also used to be an adjunct professor at FIT teaching “Introduction to Image Consulting,” among other classes. “It really is a more thoughtful approach. I get a lot of people coming to me because they want to know what to look for. They've done the fast fashion thing, they've done the impulse buying thing; I think now people are being more mindful for a variety of reasons. From an overwhelm coming out of the pandemic, people in some respects got to a more peaceful place. They Marie Kondo-ed their closet; they realized that a lot of the excess was weighing them down. Now, on the other side, they want to continue with that. They realized they're showing up in more places, so they need a slightly wider swing than sweatpants and a T-shirt, but they really do want to keep it within a context for themselves. They want to know what's optimal for them, what they should be looking for — and shop accordingly.”
South Korea, for one, has become a mecca for the color palette trend's resurgence. Over the past three years, K-pop stars like Girl's Day's Hyeri and Blackpink's Jisoo vlogged about their color analysis experiences, fueling a maelstrom of interest online. Now, there are well over 1 billion views for #coloranalysis on
TikTok. Stores from Amazon (with its Color Me Curated pop-up) to Sephora (with its Color iQ technology) are helping shoppers get matched.
“The demand for our services has surged significantly. Our services usually book [fully] up to a month in advance,” said Lizzie Heo, director of consultants at Korea-trained, Manhattan-based Seklab. “People seek our expertise to save time and money by avoiding fashion mishaps from online shopping. With the increase of social media, people want to express themselves more than ever and the overwhelming options online have made decision-making harder than before.”
Seklab's consultants also add the flair of K-beauty into each analysis because of the Western surge of interest in K-pop and K-beauty trends. Speediness is also a component, with Heo noting the firm is swift in order to cater to the shortened attention spans of the digital-savvy generation.
The Gray Area
Not everyone agrees with the color analysis principles coming back around.
“We now have a generation of people — again — that think they can only wear certain colors, which just isn't true,” said Holly Katz, personal stylist and host of “Fashion Crimes” podcast. “Sure, some colors will look better on a person than others, but it doesn't mean you are limited on what colors you can wear in life. Also, it does not meet the needs of the overall person when shopping for clothing. It's a very small percentage of what's important when choosing the right clothing for your specific body type and life phase.”
Katz called the color analysis method and the term “image consultant” outdated. “This can be extremely confusing for consumers as it's what I call ‘shopping backward.' In my experience, people who shop for color don't understand fit and how to shop for their specific body type. ‘Shopping forward' is how I teach people to shop for themselves effectively and efficiently. You shop for fit first, color and price second.”
As with Davidson, she finds color analysis to be just a small sliver of the overall package.
Ethics are another component. “I never purchase or introduce my clients to fast fashion brands,” Katz emphasized. “And I love to work with smaller, sustainable brands that will cater to the customer in a specific, more attentive way. Creating the relationship between a designer and a new client enriches all parties. It's a more intimate way to shop that makes my clients feel seen and heard when it comes to their individual style needs. I carefully curate products and accessories that fit a person's lifestyle, age, life phase and industry. And teaching quality over quantity is a must when it comes to fashion and style. It's better to have less clothing that you love instead of a stuffed closet full of clothes that don't bring you joy or serve the person you are today.”
As for Trends
Entire campaigns are built around the premise that wearing clothes longer matters — with studies to back it up. Color analysis can be the gateway but not the be-all and end-all of personal style.
“It is important to note that there is more than one personal color analysis system available so that if an individual is not happy with the results they obtained or have changed their ‘look' since having had their colors analyzed, there are other alternatives available to them,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director at the Pantone Color Institute, a global authority on color. “There should always be some flexibility allowed for color choices, especially allowing for the emotional attachments one might have for a specific color or color families.”
Mariana Marques, founder and chief executive officer of The Outfit Curator, said, “When we look at the colors together, there's so many colors that I think you can find the ones you like more than the other ones.
“You can play with [colors]. Another thing, it's important to wear your best colors next to your face. When we're talking about bottoms like pants, skirts, shoes, bags — it doesn't really matter. You can just wear any color,” she added. “Everybody's concerned about black, that I'm going to say ‘don't wear black.' I mean you can wear black, but you can play with it, use accessories but not have it right here next to your face.”
GreenWith's Fellowes chimed in on the New Yorker's stereotypical palette of black, black and more black. “Something else that is alarming, black is one of the hardest colors to use in ethical dyeing — there are a couple of start-ups finding solutions to this — but how ironic. Fashion's favorite color is the least sustainable.”
The reigning hope with color analysis is that clients look their best and keep their clothes in the loop for longer. Unfortunately, color consultants may not retain their clients for very long.
“That's the thing with color analysis,” said Marques. “Color analysis is a one-time thing. If you get your color analysis now, you don't need to do it again in 10 years because your palette is going to be the same. What I'm trying to do now is create other services so that people can come back…You need to have a lot of new clients, if you're just doing color analysis. I think exploring other parts of styling is a good way to have more retention of clients.”