The short answer is yes.

The more complicated answer is that not every single color in your palette will look good in every application.

For example, my Soft Autumn tan isn't great on me as a shirt, because that's the same color as my skin and it makes me look naked.  (Generally, wearing tops or bottoms in the same color as your skin tone is a non-starter for daytime, because of the "nude" effect.  Go a few shades lighter or darker.)

But my SA tan  is great for me in makeup, and as an accent color.

My lightest pink isn't my best lippie, because it's lighter than my lips, but it's pretty as lingerie.

Consider, also, your style identity: certain hues make certain impressions, and you 'll want to make an impression that's consistent with your personal style. 

For example, because I'm an Ethereal Natural, the majority of my wardrobe consists of Soft Autumn browns, blues, greens, gentle metallics, and dawn/dusk hues.  I rarely wear my Soft Autumn pinks in large blocks because the impression they create is more girly than I am. (Though I love my pinks as lipsticks and blushes.) I almost never wear a large block of my Soft Autumn red, because the impression it makes is more aggressive than I am. (Though, again, I would wear it in makeup.) 

A Soft Autumn with a lot of Ingenue would want to focus on those pinks. And a Soft Autumn with a lot of Dramatic would look great in big blocks of Soft Autumn red. 

Check out your style type's Shopping Guide for more information about which colors from your seasonal palette to focus on. 

And if you're not sure about your seasonal palette, consider trying the Home Draping Cards; a lot of women have found them helpful.  

If you know your season, are there particular colors that you've found you can only wear in certain applications? 

Or if you know your style type, are there particular colors that you've found best fit with your overall vibe? 

Please share in the comments!







Originally published July 2017.

(Originally published August 2016.)

This is a revolutionary new way of thinking about style.

All of the advice you've received, all of your life, has been about how to dress your body.  "If you're petite, avoid long pants. If you're curvy, emphasize your waist. "

As far as I can tell, every other style system advises you to dress primarily for your body.

But your body isn't what people are mainly looking at.

​They spend the vast majority of their time looking at your face.

And dressing for your body at the expense of your face means  you end up looking all wrong. 

Let me offer you several examples to demonstrate this phenomenon.

Here's Ellie Kemper:
​

You might know her from "The Office" or "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." She's adorbs, right? 

If you're guessing that she has a lot of Gamine and  a lot of Ingenue  (and maybe some Classic?), I'd agree with you. Those stripes are cute on her. (The palette is a separate issue, but never mind.) 

Another pic of her looking fantastic:

And here: adorable, face-framing curls, small geometric print, simple, round neckline, high waist -- again, lots of Gamine and Ingenue, very good: 

Just a few more images of her looking awesome with lots of Gamine and Ingenue (and some Classic):

But let's imagine that Ellie Kemper's going to get style advice that considers her body as a significant factor.

​I don't know if you noticed, but Kemper actually has a super-curvy, very Romantic body.:

Most style systems will assign Ellie Kemper a style type that dresses her for her curvy body.

But that would be all wrong.

See how uncomfortable, how not-herself, this Gamine Ingenue (or Classic-Gamine-Ingenue)  looks in Romantic styles: 

Thank goodness Kemper (or her stylist) usually understand that she needs to dress for her face, not her body.

Here, Kemper's waist is obscured and her bust is unemphasized. And it's sooo much better!

(Jenna Fischer, also from "The Office," is another example of a woman with a Romantic body but a very youthful face. Like Kemper, Fischer looks all wrong in overtly sexy clothes.

​By contrast, Mindy Kaling of "The Office" has quite a bit of Gamine, like Kemper and Fischer do -- but she also has enough sexy Romantic in her face to totally pull off figure-emphasizing clothes. )


"If you got it, flaunt it" is not a thing. Let it go. 

Only emphasize your curvy body if it also harmonizes with your face. 

​Dress for your face. 

Other celebrity examples of dressing primarily for one's face, not one's body:
​

• Jane Krakowski of "30 Rock" and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"
  
  

A rather Natural body (little waist, thicker neck, small bust).
​
A rather Ingenue face (tiny chin, high forehead, big eyes.) 

Is she better in Ingenue or Natural?
​

Ingenue bows, ruffles, puff sleeves, cap sleeves, high waist, feminine hair, midi length skirt: so good.

Natural t-shirts, layers, separates, shaggy hair, undefined neckline, geometric shapes -- not great.

Jane Krakowski is lovelier when she dresses her face, not her body.


I'm not saying to totally disregard your body. There are individual tweaks your body may call for that are consistent with a style your face doesn't manifest.

For example, Jane Krakowski is flattered by open necklines; they elongate her rather short neck.

That's consistent with Natural, not with Ingenue. 
​
​But her open necklines are best when they're adorned with ruffles or bows. True Natural necklines are wrong for her. 

extremely ​tall, mostly Dramatic body. 

Christie is so tall -- 6'3" -- and relatively narrow,  most style systems would require her to dress as a Dramatic, or a Dramatic/Natural blend. 

​But that's really wrong for her.

Mostly Dramatic, and so not great:

Much more feminine, and so much better for her:

Even more celebrity examples: 

• Despite her height, Taylor Swift is fantastic in Gamine , Ingenue and Classic
  
  
• Despite his height, Leonardo DiCaprio can pull off dapper Gamine looks because of his Gamine baby face
  
  
• Brigitte Nielsen's gorgeous Dramatic face makes her best in similarly Dramatic clothes, despite her very curvy body


• The same goes for Jamie Lee Curtis: her Dramatic face makes sexy Romantic looks seem wrong for her , even though her curves are pronounced

To sum up: 

1. Identify your style identity based primarily on your face. 

2. Make a few tweaks in the direction of a different style identity if you know your body calls for it. 

Dress for your face!



​

​You can't easily caricature a perfectly average face. A caricature should look a little grotesque or bizarre, but that just can't be done with a strongly Classic woman such as Zhang Ziyi. There's nothing to exaggerate. 

4. What hairstyles can you never pull off?

​If you can't do shaggy or tousled hair, you can probably rule out Natural -- both male and female Naturals look awesome in shaggy layers. 

If you can't do big, luscious curls, you can probably rule out Romantic. An extravagant circle is the defining shape of Romantic, and Romantics look great with these circles near their face. (Ingenues get smaller, neater circles, so if curly hair of any kind is really bad on you, you can probably rule out both Romantic and Ingenue.)

If you can't do super-long hair, you may be able to rule out Ethereal, Natural, and Dramatic. All three of these essences are defined in part by elongated lines, so people high in one or more of these three essences are usually flattered by long hair.

If you can't do super-short hair, you can probably rule out Gamine and Dramatic. Gamines, our boyish beauties, are easily identified by how good they look in very short cuts. Dramatics, in addition to being flattered by long and narrow hair, are also flattered by hair that's completely off the face -- whether it's extremely short or slicked back. 

​As a woman with a lot of Dramatic, Kim Kardashian can pull off both long, straight hair and slicked-back hair. 

[Happy July 4th holiday, American readers! I'm re-running one of my most popular posts from several years ago. I welcome your opinions and insights in the comments section!]


This Indian model and actress is both incredibly beautiful and (to me) incredibly difficult to type. There's no agreement on the 'net, that's for sure. But after much study, I think I've figured it out. Here, I'll walk you through the process I used and share my conclusion.

Aishwarya is Indian. If I believed that non-White women are always Autumns and Winters, I'd have it narrowed down to six seasons based on that alone. If I was a particularly rigid thinker, I might have already decided Deep Autumn or Deep Winter. 

But ethnicity doesn't determine season; it's based on how the skin reacts to color. So I'll keep the Autumns and Winters in mind, but not limit myself to them.

Let's look more closely at her.

Aishwarya is probably most famous for her beautiful and unusual eyes. If you believe that eyes determine season - or at least point to it - you're probably thinking Summer. You might even have narrowed it down to Soft Summer based only on these amazing eyes.

I'm going to make a mental note that the eyes suggest Summer, but I know that any season can have any eye color. So I'm moving on to the next step: finding well-lit pics of Aishwarya in a variety of colors, and noticing what the colors that look most - and least - harmonious  on her have in common.

I find it easiest to start with makeup. When does Aishwarya's face look natural and balanced, and when does it seem that color is just sitting on her face?

This face looks pretty natural. In the eye shadow, blush, and lip, I see warmth, and I see mutedness - as opposed to clarity.

Most seasons have warmth or softness or both in them. But I’m tentatively ruling out Bright Winter. Very tentatively ruling out Cool (True) Winter and Bright Spring. 

And maybe penciling a star next to the Autumns (soft & warm) and Soft Summer (soft with a smidge of warmth).

Nothing’s certain yet; let’s keep looking:

A well-lit pic, though not a flattering one: this lip and cheek look a little too bright and too pink to me. The color seems to be sitting on her face in a way that it doesn’t in the previous pics.

(And those silvery, icy jewels seem to have nothing in common with her.)

The most obvious thing I'm noticing at this point is that coolness and Aishwarya don’t mix. So, again, several seasons could be indicated, but I’m leaning farther away from the Winters, and starting to lean away from the Summers as well. Despite those eyes.

Ouch. That lip is too, too purple. Further confirms my growing sense that coolness is not for Aishwarya.

 I'm feeling pretty sure she's a warm season. So the scientist in me says I must try to prove the null hypothesis:

Can I find her in makeup that looks both cool and natural?

Here, I’ve certainly found coolness – at least around the eye - but it looks all wrong: too sparkly, too blue. The lip and cheek here aren’t bad. But they’re more warm than cool. This isn’t disproving my theory; it’s confirming it.

Let's try more pics.

My first thought: nice, natural face, and a pinkish lip. OK, maybe we're on to something.

I'm looking closer at the makeup. The eyes look quite harmonious to me, and, well, I see warmth in the colors there. I see warmth in that nice, natural cheek too.

I start to notice that something's bugging me about that lip.  I ask my gut: what’s wrong? My gut tells me: warm it up and darken it a smidge.

Yeah - I step back and look at the whole face again, and that lip is just too light and too pink for the rest of the face.

(Warm it, darken it… could Aishwarya be an Autumn?  Hmm... maybe. Maybe. Nothing's impossible, despite the eyes.)

Let’s look at some more pics.

Here's the pic from the top of the post.

Apart from the requisite but totally silly super-black liner, this face looks natural as well.

And again, I see warmth in every part of the makeup.

At this point I think I’m prepared to commit myself to the idea that Aishwarya is a season known for warmth: Autumn or Spring.

Because I’ve also been noticing softness, I’m going farther now, and asking: do I see Autumn warmth specifically?

Well, maybe.

Are the flattering makeup colors that I’ve seen so far Autumn’s, and not Spring’s? That is, are they relatively muted and deep, rather than bright and light?

I think so.

Now I’m looking back at every picture I’ve seen so far, and asking this question: does anything in any pic rule out Autumn? Have I seen her looking natural in a super-cool, super-light or super-bright color that no Autumn could possibly wear?

Nope.

Well, I’m going to proceed with a tentative theory that she’s an Autumn, while staying open to evidence that might suggest any other season.

So here's another picture with natural-looking makeup.

Are these colors consistent with Autumn? Yes - they're warm, soft, and deeper rather than lighter.

Are they completely inconsistent with another season?

Hard to say… I can imagine a Soft Summer or a Deep Winter possibly photographing this way, if the light was right.

I think I've exhausted the usefulness of makeup analysis. I have some ideas. Now I'm moving on to clothing colors, and noticing what doesn't look right.

Oh, certainly not.

My brain tells me she looks pale and harsh. My gut doesn’t tell me anything – it just cringes. Beautiful Aishwarya, where are you?

So this is a deep, cool color, and it’s not doing her any favors. Duly noted. Moving on…

Hmm… This just seems so, well, weird.  As in strange, foreign. Unconnected to her.

I see Aishwarya. And I see the light, cool colors. But I don’t see anything joining them together.

Still thinking Autumn is likely. More colors:

My gut has a mixed reaction to this very un-Autumny pink. Something’s working, something’s not.

I pick apart my reaction:

• OK, I definitely dislike the hue for her. It's not calling to anything in her skin. Too cool.
• And I’m finding the color brighter than Aishwarya herself. But, interestingly, not alarmingly so. 
• And the value of the color –  the depth of it, which is sort of medium-deep  – actually seems pretty balanced for Aishwarya.

So are Aishwarya's best colors warm, medium-deep, and kind of vivid? I’m thinking maybe yes.

If yes, I can probably rule out Soft Autumn.

But Deep Autumn and Warm (True) Autumn are still in the running.  Their colors are muted in the context of the full 12-season spectrum, but considered in themselves, they can read as rather bright.

Now that I think I'm closing in on an answer,  I'm ready to look at this problem from another angle:

What are Aishwarya's best colors?
What pics show her in glorious, fantastically harmonious colors?

This one.

This one.

This one.

This one.

This one.

This one.

And, oh my gosh, yes, this one, absolutely. I can’t stop staring. Incredible. Glorious golden goddess.

So... whose colors are these?

Warm (True) Autumn’s.

??

But she has those Summery eyes…

Yeah, I know.
 
But she’s Indian…

So?