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Helping clients discover their best colors since 2017...
I trained to be a personal color analyst about 10 years ago and something that I kept running into with my clients was that they would always be a little disappointed to find out that they didn’t have a certain color in their palette or thought they couldn’t wear some of their favorite colors because they didn’t “fit in” with their seasonal color type.
This got me thinking that there was something not quite right in the field of Personal Color Analysis...
If you watch the old classic Hollywood films like Singing in the Rain (1952) , Kismet (1955), or The Wizard of Oz (1939) , and many other films you will notice that all of the actors and actresses look fantastic! They are all dressed in their best colors. You will also see some really interesting color combinations.
This made it pretty clear to me that the fashion, costume, and set designers of that time really understood how to use color. So what changed?
I decided to do some digging which led me to the conclusion that somewhere along the way the whole subject of color theory in the field of Personal Color Analysis (PCA) has been altered due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what color theory actually is and how it is applied.
Someone somewhere decided that when applying color to fashion and cosmetics the color wheel should be split in half or divided up in such a way that some people miss out on certain colors. This doesn’t follow traditional color theory. Complementary colors (colors opposite each other on the color wheel) are used in interior design and fine art. Why don’t they apply to Personal Color Analysis?
Because the standard seasonal color analysis systems weren’t applying these basic principles of color theory and seemed too simple or weren’t working for everyone. New "sub-seasons" or “sister” seasons were developed and so on. Where we started out with 4 main seasonal color types we now have 12-24.
This expanded season system seemed completely over-complicated. So, I decided to re-study the subject of color theory to make sure that I had a good grasp of all the terminology and take a closer look at how it is applied.
Wow was this eye-opening!
If you look at the world around you, you will see a combination of colors. You will see that they range from light to dark, bright and soft. You will also notice warm and cool colors together.
If you study the rainbow and basic color theory you will also notice that there are 12 colors main (including the three main primary colors) and that is all.
- Red
- Red-Orange
- Orange
- Yellow-Orange
- Yellow
- Yellow-Green
- Green
- Blue-Green
- Blue
- Blue-Violet
- Violet
- Red-Violet
These colors work together and complement each other. Color is often represented as a wheel that is then divided up like a pie. However, you can’t really divide colors like a piece of pie, can you? All color comes from nature and is simply light waves reflecting off a surface. These light waves or frequencies are then perceived by the human eye.
Color is fluid and ever-changing and in all its variations is just combinations of the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors in varying degrees. That’s it. If you look at the rainbow there are no definite or harsh lines dividing the colors. They all kind of meld into each other. It’s a gradient scale. It’s the same thing with our personal coloring. Our hair, skin, and eyes are combinations of the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) in varying degrees.
With personal color analysis what you are trying to do is pick up and enhance the main colors in a person’s hair, skin, and eyes. If you get it right something magical happens. You really begin to see them and they really begin to see themselves.
Our bodies are part of nature and therefore the colors we use on ourselves in the form of clothes, makeup, interior decor, etc should be in harmony with the naturally occurring colors in and around us. I know this probably sounds like a bunch of hippie mumbo jumbo, but color is real. We all perceive it and there is a certain harmony and balance to it that naturally exists.
This led me to develop my own color system. While I can’t take full credit as my system is rooted in the principles of color theory that were discovered by Sir Isaac Newton and many others, as well as, the lovely palette provided by mother nature. I firmly believe that everyone can wear all 12 colors from the color wheel/rainbow. The colors are simply adjusted in value (depth) and chroma (purity/brightness) to suit their individual coloring.
This is why I call my company - YOUR NATURAL COLOR PALETTE.
Xoxo,
Valora Abbett
CEO/Chief Color Consultant
Your Natural Color Palette, LLC
Helping clients discover their best colors since 2017...
I trained to be a personal color analyst about 10 years ago and something that I kept running into with my clients was that they would always be a little disappointed to find out that they didn’t have a certain color in their palette or thought they couldn’t wear some of their favorite colors because they didn’t “fit in” with their seasonal color type.
This got me thinking that there was something not quite right in the field of Personal Color Analysis...
If you watch the old classic Hollywood films like Singing in the Rain (1952) , Kismet (1955), or The Wizard of Oz (1939) , and many other films you will notice that all of the actors and actresses look fantastic! They are all dressed in their best colors. You will also see some really interesting color combinations.
This made it pretty clear to me that the fashion, costume, and set designers of that time really understood how to use color. So what changed?
I decided to do some digging which led me to the conclusion that somewhere along the way the whole subject of color theory in the field of Personal Color Analysis (PCA) has been altered due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what color theory actually is and how it is applied.
Someone somewhere decided that when applying color to fashion and cosmetics the color wheel should be split in half or divided up in such a way that some people miss out on certain colors. This doesn’t follow traditional color theory. Complementary colors (colors opposite each other on the color wheel) are used in interior design and fine art. Why don’t they apply to Personal Color Analysis?
Because the standard seasonal color analysis systems weren’t applying these basic principles of color theory and seemed too simple or weren’t working for everyone. New "sub-seasons" or “sister” seasons were developed and so on. Where we started out with 4 main seasonal color types we now have 12-24.
This expanded season system seemed completely over-complicated. So, I decided to re-study the subject of color theory to make sure that I had a good grasp of all the terminology and take a closer look at how it is applied.
Wow was this eye-opening!
If you look at the world around you, you will see a combination of colors. You will see that they range from light to dark, bright and soft. You will also notice warm and cool colors together.
If you study the rainbow and basic color theory you will also notice that there are 12 colors main (including the three main primary colors) and that is all.
- Red
- Red-Orange
- Orange
- Yellow-Orange
- Yellow
- Yellow-Green
- Green
- Blue-Green
- Blue
- Blue-Violet
- Violet
- Red-Violet
These colors work together and complement each other. Color is often represented as a wheel that is then divided up like a pie. However, you can’t really divide colors like a piece of pie, can you? All color comes from nature and is simply light waves reflecting off a surface. These light waves or frequencies are then perceived by the human eye.
Color is fluid and ever-changing and in all its variations is just combinations of the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors in varying degrees. That’s it. If you look at the rainbow there are no definite or harsh lines dividing the colors. They all kind of meld into each other. It’s a gradient scale. It’s the same thing with our personal coloring. Our hair, skin, and eyes are combinations of the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) in varying degrees.
With personal color analysis what you are trying to do is pick up and enhance the main colors in a person’s hair, skin, and eyes. If you get it right something magical happens. You really begin to see them and they really begin to see themselves.
Our bodies are part of nature and therefore the colors we use on ourselves in the form of clothes, makeup, interior decor, etc should be in harmony with the naturally occurring colors in and around us. I know this probably sounds like a bunch of hippie mumbo jumbo, but color is real. We all perceive it and there is a certain harmony and balance to it that naturally exists.
This led me to develop my own color system. While I can’t take full credit as my system is rooted in the principles of color theory that were discovered by Sir Isaac Newton and many others, as well as, the lovely palette provided by mother nature. I firmly believe that everyone can wear all 12 colors from the color wheel/rainbow. The colors are simply adjusted in value (depth) and chroma (purity/brightness) to suit their individual coloring.
This is why I call my company - YOUR NATURAL COLOR PALETTE.
Xoxo,
Valora Abbett
CEO/Chief Color Consultant
Your Natural Color Palette, LLC