Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Colors: It’s all about skin tone

Reader Romney asked me to talk about colors. 

I am not an expert. Through experimentation, I have learned what colors look good and don’t look good on me.

Experimentation is expensive. Putting together outfits of varied colors just to discard those that don’t work can quickly empty your purse. There has to be a better way and it is called “color analysis.”

Myimperfectlife.com has an excellent article “how to find the shades that will make you look—and feel—your best.” The article provides a step-by-step guide for determining your best colors. Click here to read it.

By the way, turns out that I am “cool’ despite what some people say (LOL), so blue, emerald, purple, lavender and icy blue should populate my wardrobe. My bright colors are pink, ruby rosy reds—and for the neutrals, white, navy blues and cool grays.

Have a colorful day!


Source: Bebe
Wearing Bebe

Luis Montalbert
Luis Montalbert femulating Kylie Minogue on Costa Rican television’s Tu cara me suena.

8 comments:

  1. Michelle H.March 15, 2023

    Many years ago, I was a volunteer at my local parochial school and the only male doing any teaching. One day, during recess, I entered the teacher’s lounge where the conversation was about clothes. One of the teachers looked up at me and said, “Y’know M., you look like a winter.” I asked what she was talking about and got my first lesson on dressing according to what season you are. The idea came from a book which is still in print called, “Color Me Beautiful” by Carole Jackson. In the book, she describes what the best colors are for each season, how to determine what season you are and even what color palette of makeup you should wear. You can purchase the book at Amazon or order it at your favorite bookstore. There is also a website: https://colormebeautiful.com/ Ms. Jackson’s helps take the guesswork out of what colors you should wear and how to look your best! So, what’s your season?

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  2. Stana
    I think it is worth considering hair colour as well when putting an outfit together
    I have found myself doing this in male mode
    Lucy

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  3. When I first started going out , I really got my confidence with a proper makeover and spent a day out and about. Mailing letters, ATM, gas pumps, and checking out the garden centers. It wasnt after a few of these events I went to the mall and lo and behold there was a photo booth to try out. Scariest time of my life that first time in the mall but I passed the test somehow and that added to my confidence to relax more and put my brain in just being myself as opposed to hyper sensitive to being caught. Hugs Brenda

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  4. Remembering back in the late 70s/80s the color analysis was "Color Me Beautiful" by Carole Jackson (I think). It basically divided different skin tones into one of the four seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. It was amazing when a good consultant would test the various color palettes on and then find which shades of color would look best on your skin tone. I have forgotten which "season" was me, but I have indistinctly stayed within those tones for the most part. One other thing I remember is that I always preferred the look of silver jewelry on me and that was another thing that my season agreed with.

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  5. Very interesting color analysis and simple to do. Thanks Stana. I really need to introduce more color into my wardrobe and I going to give the results a try. I'm a cool too BTW... I do know that I would love to introduce that Bebe dress into my wardrobe!

    Lauren

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  6. Rachel McNeillMarch 15, 2023

    While in boy-mode, I have always been a good Southerner. In my DC hometown, where I worked in for 30+ years, men are "supposed to" wear charcoal, black, and navy suits and red and dark blue ties. It's just the uniform. I wore tan and olive poplin suits in the summer and the aforementioned navy, charcoal, and black suits. Where I departed from that was with lavender, pink, fuchsia, robin's egg blue neckties, with contrasting pattern pocket squares, and deep colored scarves in the winter. With French cuffed shirts, very understated cuff links, and handmade English shoes, I looked good!

    I bring a similar style to Rachel's wardrobe. I start with a basic outfit and color palette and accessorize the heck out of it, with good-quality jewelry, shoes, and scarves in complementary colors.

    Genetic women in DC seem to gravitate to taupe, silver, and black. The Ann Taylor style worn atop Tory Burch flats, with very little or no makeup is the predominant look.

    I have always supposed that men and women who work in DC are afraid that someone will think them less serious if they actually add a little color or whimsy to their styles.

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    Replies
    1. Hey Hon', I'm with you all the way on color!

      Waaaaaay back when.....I had such a "DC" adventure in color. This was back in the mid-1960s, when my "dressing" was partial and haphazard. But my attraction to drag shows was active and regular. I went to work for a fully-owned subsidiary of IBM. During the hiring process I was told SBC was not the buttoned-down very specific dress code of IBM. It was m first job in the computer business, what did I know about IBM? I'll remind you this is the company that sent me to NYC for entire weekends to run long production computer jobs -- this is where I found The 82 Club! I'll always love SBC!

      Let's just say I liked to wear colors that were NOT black and dark blue. A few months in I wore a white sport coat with a very large and wide lighter blue cross lined pattern. My boss, Barry, saw me and let's say he was very close to needing someone to give him a paper bag to breathe into! The office manager, Ben, saw this and was actually amused. He asked me to maybe "tone it down" because he didn't want me to kill my boss! He actually liked my sport coat and asked me where i got it. Ha!. I can only imagine what Barry would have done once I really got my head around "Mikki".

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    2. Rachel McNeillMarch 21, 2023

      I started my career working for one of the "Big Eight" accounting firms. I once wore a bow tie to a client site. The Sr. Manager told me "you look like f*ing Orville Reddenbacher. Go buy a real necktie at lunch or go home."

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