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Choosing The Colors Of Your Clothes According To Your Skin Tone (P)

Have you ever wondered what colors look best on you? Of course, this is something that varies from person to person and is relative, as the best clothes for you are the ones you like and feel good in. But generally, some colors look better on different skin tones. The colors we wear can make us look healthier or pale. Wearing the right colors can also help you hide the areas you wish to camouflage or make your strong point stand out. Choosing The Colors Of Your Clothes According To Your Skin Tone

Of course, we encourage you to wear the clothes you like, because with the right attitude, you can make anything work. Our tips are guidelines in case you don’t actually know what would look best on you and want to take your skin tone as reference. Continue reading to find out more.

Choosing the colors of your clothes according to your skin tone can be helpful when you don’t know what to wear or want to try something new.

First of all, you need to determine your skin tone. There are more ways to describe skin tones. A first classification is warm cool and sometimes you will find “neutral” as well.

It’s important to keep in mind that anybody can be a neutral, regardless of the color of your skin. A “neutral” person is a person on whom most colors look well. Some people are like that, others are not.

This being said, we need to say that “neutral” as a term does not refer to a standard of color to which all other colors relate to.

 

But how to tell whether you have a warm or a cool skin tone? The most recommended trick is to put a golden jewel or  apiece of  fabric next to your skin and then a silver one and see which one looks best. If gold flattens your skin tone, then you probably are a warm type, and if silver flattens your skin tone, you probably have a cool skin tone. This however, can be a little hard to establish.

 

Another thing you can do is checking your veins: If they’re blue, then you’re a cool skin tone. If they’re green, and you’ve got yellow undertones, then you a warm skin tone.

Warm toned skin tends to have a golden or apricot undertone. People with this skin tone tend to have hair with hints of orange, yellow, red or gold. The eye color tends to be amber, dark brown, hazel, or green.

Cool skin tones are the most common skin tones, and the easiest to dress. A cool toned skin has a pink or rosy undertone. Cool tones’ hair often contains blue, blue-violet, silver, drab, and ash undertones. The eye color tends to be light blue, gray-green, blue-green, turquoise, gray-blue, black or cool brown. Remember that “cool” or warm does not mean “light” or dark, it simply refers to establishing your tone according to your undertones. 

In terms of “light” and “dark”, there are several scales in the scientific world on which you can relate, such as the Fitzpatric
k scale, which you can see in the picture. This scale puts all skin tones into 6 large categories, ranging from pale to dark. Number one is very light, while number six is the darkest.

 

Fitzpatrick scale

 

 

Another classification, going deeper than just warm-cool is springsummerautumnwinter. The difference between the Fitzpatrick scale and the ‘season’ scale is that the ‘seasons’ scale does not measure how dark or pale you are, it is based on your undertones and establishes if you are a warm type or a cool type.

Summer and winter are cool skin tones, while spring and autumn are warm ones. We will break each down and note what colors flatter each type best.

First of all, there are a few colors that go with almost  all skin tones: bright red, pale pink, eggplant and teal.

 

Now, let’s get to the ‘seasons’ :

Summer is one of the two cool tones. Summer tones have blue, red or pink undertones. If you are a summer tone, you should wear lilacs and pale blues and should choose pastels and soft neutrals with rose undertones. Summers differ from Winters in that their skin tends to contrast gently with their hair and eye color, and therefore seem softer and less intense. This is why Summers should wear softer colors. Cool-toned people can pull off white, ruby, sapphire and aquatic blues very well. Generally, cool tones go better with the blue half of the spectrum.  Their metal colors are silver and white gold.

Winter is the second cool tone. Winters have blue, red or pink undertones. Their skin can be pale white, olive (Mediterranean or  Asian), or dark (Black). A person who is a Winter should wear colors that have blue undertones. Winters should wear colors that are sharp, such as whites, black, navy blue, red with pink undertones. Silver and grey look good on Winters as well. Winters differ from Summers in that their skin tends to contrast dramatically with their hair and eye color, and therefore seem more intense, so they can wear clothes with high contrasts. Best metals for winters are silver or platinum.

Spring is one of the two warm skin tones. Springs usually have golden undertones and are usually creamy white or peach. Spring people generally have straw-colored or strawberry red hair, freckles, rosy cheeks, and blue or green eyes. The main difference between Spring and Autumn color palette is that the Spring’s colors are based on yellow, in contrast with Autumn’s colors which are based on deep gold. This is why Springs should wear colors that have yellow undertones. Springs look best in wear warm orange-based colors like peach, ochre, and coral in chalky shades.

Autumn is the second warm type. Autumn types have golden, warm or yellow undertones. Autumns should wear colors that have yellow undertones. Usually, the autumn colors are warm, soft, and deep. Some of the Autumn colors are  coffee, caramel, beige, tomato red, and green. Autumns should avoid colors with blue tones, like navy or indigo. Warm skin tones look great in yellow too! Also, colors like olive, moss or jadecan  enhance your natural features as well. Warm tones go better with the yellow half of the spectrum. For autumns, in terms of metals, gold, bronze or copper work best.

In case this is a little much, we can make it shorter by saying that  light skin tones look better in dark colors, medium skin tones look best with the primary colors and darker skin tones pull off whites and pale colors quite well. If it’s too little, we invite you to read our detailed article on Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter skin tones, featuring photos and a more insightful look!

 

Now that you know all this information, which is a good starting point, we recommend you to read our article “The professional way to choose the colors of your clothes“, where you can learn how to create color schemes and how you can mix colors to make them pop.

 

Fraquoh and Franchomme

 

 

 

 

 

Further reading:

Choosing the best color clothes for dark skin tones

The professional way to choose the colors of your clothes

Coordinating the colors of your clothes

Discover if you are a Spring, a Summer an Autumn or a Winter

Color combinations that work for any skin tone, hair and eye color

Choosing colored contact lenses according to your skin tone and hair color

P.S. Do you think one should dress according to their skin tone? Do you dress according to your skin tone? Which colors go best on you? Share your comments, feedback or questions in the comments below and don’t forget that you can subscribe to our website via e-mail to stay updated with articles that will help you develop your style and you can follow us on Facebook or Twitter!

 

 

41 replies on “Choosing The Colors Of Your Clothes According To Your Skin Tone (P)”

I have extremely pale skin, and I find myself gravitating toward dark colors so I don’t looked washed out. However, if I don’t look put together, this can appear really weird and almost goth-like. So I either wear really classy darks, or I pick out other colors that precisely go with my weird skin. This is a great article, many people don’t think about this!
Check me out at glitterbunnies.wordpress.com

-Heather

Before I am too afraid to wear colours that will make me look darker or unflattering. But now I got a bit more gutsy to wear colours like neons even if I have a tanned skin. It’s still good to know what makes you look good though! 🙂

Autumn types have golden, warm or yellow undertones. Autumns should wear colors that have yellow undertones. Usually, the autumn colors are warm, soft, and deep. Some of the Autumn colors are coffee, caramel, beige, tomato red, and green. Autumns should avoid colors with blue tones, like navy or indigo.”

Not so at all. Your clothing should not be the same color as your skin, it makes you look washed out. It sure does on me. I have golden-olive skin (read that as “such a light olive I look yellow when pale and a golden honey-tan when tanned), and I look great in blue, though better in red. Any tan, taupe, yellow, beige, caramel or orange makes me look terrible. Which is a shame, since I love orange and yellow.

Wow. Using the term Neutral has nothing to do with racism. It denotes a lack of either cool or warm undertones. A neutral skin tone can belong to ANY skin color-light to dark-in ANY race. Your ignorance shines brightly.

Hello Jesse,

You might have gotten it wrong. The article is saying that indeed anyone can have a neutral skin tone and that the problem is that many people consider a certain color to e the norm, while all others are in connection to that, which in our opinion, is wrong.

I just read this article and must admit that I am a bit confused. I know that I have a pale cool skin tone (my veins are very blue). I suspect that I have a warm hair colour, since my hair has an orangey-red cast in direct sunlight. My eyes are strange ranging between reddish brown and olive green. I am not sure where I would be “classified” and was hoping to get some help especially since I am getting married soon and want to find the right dress colour for me (not WHITE, please!!!).

Hello Aimee,

First, congratulations on your wedding! Hope you have a wonderful day and a great marriage!

As we stated, these guidelines are not always exact and you might be a combination not detailed in the article. But, don’t worry! There are many other things you can look at to find what suits you best!

We can’t give you exact advice, since we don’t have a photo of you or anything, but after what you describe, we imagine a pale orange dress would work great with your hair. There are many nuances you can use, but you can also go for bright but dark colors (if you look like we imagine), such as shiny teal.

Try on as many dresses as possible and you will be able to tell which colors fit you best. For those in doubt, that’s the right way to go! Try putting on dresses that are completely different one from the other and you will be able to tell right away which ones go and which ones don’t!

Don’t forget that you can work wonders with your skin tone if you get the right makeup for your special day, so consult yourself with your makeup artist before choosing the dress or try to find out how you can adapt the makeup after the dress you wish to buy.

Let us know if there are any other things you have questions about!

Best wishes,

Fraquoh and Franchomme

Confused… I have yellow-ish (really light olive, definitely not pink) skin, blue-green eyes, and dark brown hair. But I look terrible in olive, yellow, ivory, and brown. Okay in gray. Better in blue and green, apparently great in dark or cherry red. And I don’t wear gold jewelry well. My skin tone says I should be able to wear autumn colors and gold, but I always end up having to go for a winter’s color palette. I should be warm, but am not. Am I crazy, or is everyone saying those with warm skin should wear warm colors wrong?

P.S. My hair does have red in it, making it look a bit lighter of a brown in the sun, with (oddly enough) some strands in front that are so light brown they look blonde. My veins are green and purple – another mix of warm and cool.

Hi Ri,

Thank you for the comment! While some people fit better into those categories, others are not “classic” Winters or Summers. There’s nothing wrong with that, it only makes you more unique! Your skin tone is just a factor that can help you choose the right colors for you. If you feel like you don’t fit into a precise category, the best way to go is to try as many clothes on until you see what works best with you. From your description we can make an image of what you look like and indeed, cherry red seems to be a great color for you.

We have a lot of style guides on our website, so you can learn a lot about other ways of choosing your clothes.

Good luck and let us know if you have any other questions!

Thank you for replying. : ) I did some more searching, and discovered I have such pale olive skin that it looks yellow – like an Asian girl’s, though I’m actually Hispanic. An article pointed out that Asians can have warm or cool tones under their yellow-cast skin – their cool is not a pink-base because we are not (only) Caucasian). Do you have an articles on this site about non-pink “cools” or can you write one? I’d love to know what colors for clothes, hair and make-up would apply to gals like me!

Respect for this brilliant post!

i have thining black hair.and light tanned mediteranean skin.

What type am i?
And if i shaved my head and were completely bald, what type whould i be?

Thanks and keep it coming!! 🙂

Hy Gregory,

We can’t tell for sure, based only on a description, but you might be a warm skin tone. However, as you can see, your undertones are very important, so check those as well and get back to us! Or maybe you can find out yourself?

Also, your head probably has the same tone as your face, so you would not change if you were to shave it! If you choose to dye your hair, you would simply have to add that too in the equation, but if you simply shave it, you will be left with only one factor!

Im dark but usually i wore navy blue,light blue,black(yea dark..) tees and collar
i tot if wearing those warm colors like yellow pink be like too sharp for me
so am i wrong ?..

Dear Dicky,

Since we don’t have a visual of you, we can’t know exactly what you look like, but what we can tell you is that it really depends on the shades of colors you wear.

What we can tell you though is that what you need to know is that wearing warm, strong colors such as yellow or pink is going to create a high contrast against your skin. It all comes down to how well you can create a balanced contrast. Colors like orange, pastel yellow, pastel pink (with emphasis on pastel) will look great on dark skin tones, but a very bright yellow might be too much.

Moreover, colors like red, beige and dark blue go great on darker skin tones. If you want to wear pink or yellow, you should opt for a more muted shade than for a very striking one.

To learn more about choosing the best colors for dark skin tones, take a look at our article on this subject: http://attireclub.org/2014/02/14/color-of-clothes-for-dark-skin-tones/

hi my name is harissh, your article is very useful. it has a detailed description of “Choosing The Colors Of Your Clothes According To Your Skin Tone”

Dear Harissh,

Thank you very much for your appreciation, we are glad to receive it!

F&F

Hello there,
I still reading colors with skin tone in the net and sometimes I found i’m summer sometimes spring anyway.
I’d like to have your advice here’s my profile pic :
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203594045545098&set=a.1487077610289.2064434.1034372391&type=1&theater

I’ve green eyes not bright, little yellow mid green. My hair most brown with some golden reflects.
I live in reunion island, I’m metisse. For example my skin without sun is more european scandiv. but if I go for tanning, i don’t burn and get a nice ‘golden-camarel’ color, of course tanning ‘on the duration’, not going for 4 hours and burn like hell…
I find anise, beige, blue (not bright not dark too), pastel color if it’s not too bright, is doing well.
Wear some nice cloths here it’s a prob too, because of hot weather, and I don’t want to wear only sandal, short, t-shirt you know lol but it’s not easy to be well dressed (not outfit too) in this permanently summer.
If you can say me which kind of season I’m, thanks.

Dear kevin,

Thank you for the question. Some people are not exact spring, summers, autumns or winters, and you might be one of those people. It looks like you are a mix between summer and winter, which is not a problem. You can wear teal, purple, mauve, violet, plum, lavender, orange and red (when you are more tanned). In terms of neutrals, you can wear black and white, we would advise you stay away from khaki or beige, as it will mimic your skin tone too much!

To read more on “seasons”, check out this article: http://attireclub.org/2014/07/10/discovering-colors-wear-according-natural-features/!

Please let us know if you have any other questions!

Yours sincerely,

F&F

In case this is a little much, we can make it shorter by saying that light skin tones look better in dark colors, medium skin tones look best with the primary colors and darker skin tones pull off whites and pale colors quite well.

That’s awesome, choosing the best matching clothes is always a problem for but this helps me a lot in finding the perfect one. I believe that I could shop better now without feeling bad for what I have shopped.

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