On social media, you may have encountered videos on colour analysis and people going to professionals to find out whether they are spring, summer, autumn or winter.
While using colour analysis to enhance our style is a trend that has taken off in recent years, the concept is nothing new. In this four-part series, Tatler dives into colour analysis to help you understand the seasons, what you need to know about “your season”, and how their colour palettes can impact your appearance.
To do this, we speak to Vivian Seo, founder of personal colour consultation service Find Your Colour Hong Kong, who breaks down the basics for us, and explains how understanding the concepts of colour analysis can help you enhance your style. Now, we move on to summer.
Read more: Colour analysis by season: Spring, characterised by warmth and liveliness
The fundamentals
Much of today’s colour analysis has its roots in a traditional colour theory from the 19th century, which explains colour mixing, contrast and harmony. In the 1980s, fashion designer and stylist Suzanne Caygill took this theory as a starting point and developed her seasonal colour theory for dressing, which is the basis for today’s colour identification system.
The categories of the modern colour system are divided into spring, summer, autumn and winter, with sub-categories within each season: light, soft, clear, deep and true.
“To put it simply, your season can determine the mood or vibe of your style,” says Seo, adding that it impacts not only your outfits but also your hairstyle and make-up.
But how do you identify your season? Broadly speaking, those with warm undertones in their skin are spring and autumn types, and those with cooler undertones are summer and winter types. The “season” can also be determined by other factors such as the contrast between your skin tone, hair colour and eye colour.While this may sound complex, a super-easy way to understand what colours work for you is to hold different coloured fabrics next to your face to see how they affect your appearance. For example, bold shades might add warmth to one person’s complexion while completely washing out someone else’s, making them look tired. Alternatively, pastels might bring out one person’s features, and on another person’s it might look jarring against theirs.
This tells you which colours are the most flattering for your complexion. It’s not about what not to wear, but rather about choosing colours for the best effect, so as not to be overpowered by them.
Decoding the terms
“One of the most important things to learn is how to categorise colours,” says Seo, highlighting three key terms: hue, brightness and saturation.
“Hue refers to the colour,” she explains. “If a colour has yellow or orange undertones, it’s warmer, but if it has blue or grey undertones, it’s cooler.”
Meanwhile, brightness refers to how light or dark a colour is and saturation refers to its intensity: “Is it the original colour, or is it a muted or softer [version] of it?”
“The easiest way to understand a colour’s mutedness is to consider how it looks when mixed with grey,” she says.
These colour categories can then be combined to help identify your season, “for example, light and warm colours to denote the spring season or soft and cool colours to denote the summer season,” says Seo.
Summer and its subtypes
Summer people have cool undertones, and look best in cool colours. Summer is also subdivided into light, soft, deep and true.
“Summer colours tend to have blue and pink undertones and, while brighter, they usually have low contrast,” says Seo.
“Most people get confused about how to differentiate between summer and winter types because they’re both cool,” she adds. “The most important distinction is contrast, which is less saturated for summer types. [This explains why] unlike spring, summer doesn’t have a ‘clear’ subtype, because the most important factor of clarity is high saturation.”
“When it comes to imagery, summer is like moonlight: the sun has set, there’s some radiance from the moon, nothing is too vibrant or high in contrast and everything blends more.”
Common misconceptions
“One common misconception is that summer colours can only be worn in summer. You can use your best colours [all year round].”
“Typically when people think of summer types, light summer comes to mind first: colours like white, lavender and baby pink. But there are three more subtypes, which can handle a wider range of colours. For example, deep summer types can handle charcoal grey and sometimes black. Summer types also have a variety of denim shades to choose from.”
“Most people in Hong Kong don’t realise they are a summer type—it’s the least discovered season.”
Asian inspirations
“In outfits, jewellery and make-up, summer types can benefit from keeping things simple.”
South Korean actress Son Ye-jin is a light summer type. “Typical pastel tones and light, delicate shades suit her. She doesn’t need grey, but more white [to highlight her features].”
Japanese singer Miyawaki Sakura is in between light and soft summer. “The ashy hair tones [complement] the muted tones in her features. Pearls are a great choice of jewellery for her, and make-up with a powdery finish also works well.”
Chinese actress Yifei Liu exhibits deep summer traits. “Darker shades of cooler colours are best for her, and wearing voluminous hairstyles further adds depth to her appearance, creating a more elegant vibe,” says Seo.
South Korean idol Seolhyun is an example of a true summer. “She can handle more vivid colours in the summer palette but doesn’t create strong contrast through bold colour combinations. This is the most vibrant summer subtype due to the higher saturation of colours.”
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