Colour Your Age

Our society is unfortunately obsessed with looks, so as we age, some of us become quite unhappy about the changes.  I seem to not have this worry and actually look forward to finally "growing up" one day :-)

However, it does make sense to wear clothes and colours that flatter changing skin tones as we embrace our new decades.  When we are young we can wear anything we like in both colour and style, but as we get older, we do look better if we wear colours and styles that flatter and enhance who we have become.

As we get older, the body chemistry changes and this affects the production of collagen in our skin - it slows down, our skin loses elasticity and becomes thinner, resulting in wrinkling and fine line development.    With the reduction of hormones with menopause,  skin can become blotchier and dryer.

I do not profess to be a skin care expert ( I use the basics, do not smoke, wear a hat in the sun) so I will not be suggesting any remedies with cosmetic creams - the skin being dead, the ex RN in me wonders how they really work...).  Wearing the right colours for you near your face will enhance your natural beauty.   And the subtle use of make-up in the right tones for your skin can also work wonders.

This is why it is important to know your base colours - warm, darker, more muted (Autumn) warm, clear, light and bright (Spring), cool, soft, muted (Summer), and cool, bright, clear/icy and deep (Winter). 

(For those of you who  are familiar with the other colour schemes of light, deep, cool, clear, soft. and warm, they are components  of the four season approach - the tonal systems just use one of the dominant colourings that you may have, and clever marketing does the rest by selling these ideas as the most relevant for you).

When we get older, our underlying genetics do not change, so our base colouring remains the same.  But we do tend to lose some of our colouring - eyes may get lighter, hair greys, skin may pale, lips are not so coloured (I've noticed this one - I used to have quite rosy lips, now they are paler).

So, we need to adjust our colours to suit.


All this really means is you slide to the lighter end of your colour spectrum - you can still wear the deeper colours as your basics and neutrals, and wear the lighter colours near the face.

And if you do not like a colour in your palette (or it does not like you) - do not wear it.  Not all the colours in a colour palette will suit you at all times in your life - and you may also just find that certain colours are not "you".

Play around with scraps of colour next to your face every so often to see what currently looks good with your skin, hair and eye colour.

WINTER

If you are a Winter  (high contrast hair/skin) you may now be lower contrast and need to wear colours that are not so contrasting from your palette.  Your skin is lighter and cooler.  Colours to use next to your face include deep pink, watermelon, true blue, turquoise, As you move to your sixties, try amethyst, orchid, soft fuchsia.  If you are very cool, try hot pink, blue-red, blue-green, light aqua and cornflower.   Tone these down into the lighter colours in your palette through your 50's and 60's - pink, rose, lavender light teal, icy pink, icy violet, powder pink, bluebell, sea green.  True green may now be a little too "yellow" for your skin tone.

As you get older, move to the right hand side of the fan for flattering colours for your face.

(You may find that you will prefer to lighten all of your colours for all of your clothes (not just those surrounding the face,  towards the middle of the fan as you get older).

 For those of you with darker or yellower  skin, you may not need to make so many adjustments- take into consideration your greying hair, but darker pigmentation will mean that you can get away with brighter and deeper colours and combine them with some of the icy cool pale colours so that you keep you your lovely high contrast.   Once again, play with colour and see what looks good on your NOW.

SUMMER

If you were Summer, you will also notice changes so that you may need to wear lighter, softer and cooler colours from your palette - blush pink, violet, cornflour blue, dusty rose, sky blue,  light periwinkle, light teal, sky blue, powder pink, soft violet, bluebell, sea green.  In your sixties you may prefer powder pink, icy violet, blue bell, mint and light aqua.

As you get older, move to the right hand side of the fan for flattering colours for your face.

(You may find that you will prefer to lighten all of your colours for all of your clothes (not just those surrounding the face,  towards the middle of the fan as you get older).

 AUTUMN

If you are an  Autumn, you will also look "cooler" as your skin becomes more translucent, allowing the blue tone from veins and capillaries to show through.  In the forties this is not problematic as you are still quite warm  - wear tangerine, coral, daffodil, lime and periwinkle- mid tones in the fan.   As you get older, turquoise can look good near the face as does cream, apricot, primrose, camel, peach, light gold and pale moss green.

As you get older, move to the right hand side of the fan for flattering colours for your face.

(You may find that you will prefer to lighten all of your colours for all of your clothes (not just those surrounding the face,  towards the middle of the fan as you get older).

SPRING

If you are a Spring,  you will also look "cooler" as your skin becomes more translucent, allowing the blue tone from veins and capillaries to show through.     So start wearing the cooler colours in your palette - blush pink, cornflower blue, light aqua, apple green, paler violet.  As you enter your sixties, you may look better with mint, bluebell, powder pink, pale violet, pale blue. 

As you get older, move to the right hand side of the fan for flattering colours for your face.

(You may find that you will prefer to lighten all of your colours for all of your clothes (not just those surrounding the face, towards the middle of the fan as you get older).


I am glad I kept my original fans - I can no longer get them, and many of the colour fans on the market do not show the different shades of colours.  My original fans were useful to show clients how to work with their fans.  I am sure that sewers will be able to play with shades of colours quite happily!

For those of you used to the seasonal flow system or the tonal system the principles are the same.  In fact, you can probably see that these systems also reflect the seasonal  system as well.
   
I do hope this article has helped you all...

Sarah Liz :-)