Ever wondered why, design and fit kept constant, some colors flatter you while others leave you looking drab? Well, there is a reason for that- and it's not only a matter of taste. Your hair, eyes, skin, and overall appearance make certain colors look better on you than others.
If you want a wardrobe that makes you feel great, you'll want to know these colors. And this is where the idea of color seasons comes in.
What are Color Seasons?
Outside in nature, sunlight and temperature interact in different intensities to give each season a unique visual language. The same can be said for humans; skin tone, eye color, and hair color combine to give each person a distinct look. And guess what! Each look can be categorized into one of four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
The idea behind this is simple: each color season has a color palette. If you know your season, you can create a personal color palette, allowing you to choose clothing and accessories that harmonize with your natural look. It is the one key to developing a style that enhances your look effortlessly.
This concept is known as seasonal color analysis. It emerged in the 70s, when stylists began adopting color theory principles developed by artists and designers over the previous century.
Dimensions of Seasonal Color Analysis
Finding your color season involves evaluating your natural coloring along the following dimensions.
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Hue, which is essentially the color (blue, green, red, etc.), is primarily concerned with color temperature, i.e., how warm or cool a color is. Yellow is the warmest of hues, while blue is the coolest. Your skin's undertone determines your hue.
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Value refers to how light or dark a color is. The more white is added to color, the lighter it is- and the more black is added, the darker it is. This aspect is concerned with the contrast (or lack of) created by your hair, eyes, and skin.
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Chroma essentially refers to the intensity/saturation of coloring. It is measured on a scale that ranges from muted(soft) to bright (clear). Lowering saturation makes colors softer, while increasing it makes them brighter.
Color Seasons: An Overview
Spring, summer, autumn, and winter are the four main color seasons. In early classifications, analysis was only conducted on hue and value.
Based on this, people with cool undertones are classified as either summer or winter. If this sharply contrasts with their hair (dark value), that's winter. On the other hand, low contrast with the hair (light value) means summer.
Warm undertones signal spring or autumn. High contrast between this and the hair (dark value) is autumn, while low contrast (light value) is spring. Thus, the color seasons can be classified as follows:
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Winter: Cool + dark
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Spring: Warm + light
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Summer: Cool + light
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Autumn: Warm + dark
Over time, it became clear that many people didn't fit neatly into these four seasons. Why?
Early approaches didn't take into account the very diverse range of skin tones, hair color, and eye color. So, looking to create a more accurate color model, stylists began to include the color intensity (chroma) in their classification.
Bright colors are associated with winter and spring, while summer and autumn get the muted (soft) colors.
Bringing it all together
Color seasons can be summarized as follows:
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Winter is cool, dark, and/or bright
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Spring is warm, light, and/or also bright
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Summer is cool, light, and/or soft, while
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Autumn is warm, dark, and/or soft.
This gives us twelve color seasons that overlap more than they separate. Note that the standard convention is to use deep instead of dark to contrast with light. Thus, the updated color seasons chart looks something like this:
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Primary Color Season |
Subtybes |
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Summer |
True (Cool) Summer, Light Summer, Soft Summer |
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Spring |
True (Warm) Spring, Light Spring, Bright Spring |
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Winter |
True (Cool) Winter, Deep Winter, Bright Winter |
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Autumn |
True (Warm) Autumn, Deep Autumn, Soft Autumn |
How to Find Your True Color Season
Finding your color season is quite easy. You can do it at home by standing in front of a mirror in natural daylight with no makeup on and:
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Drape a mix of warm- and cool colored garments around your shoulders and observe how your hair, skin, and eyes respond to the various shades
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Switch between light vs. dark and bright vs. muted tones
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Alternatively, take a few photos of yourself wearing different colored clothes and compare the change across colors
Once you've known your color season, you can go ahead and shop stylish pieces that fit your palette.
