(Extra)ordinary Dark Winter

It's useful, and also fun, to see unexpected representatives of the seasons. It expands our understanding of both personal color analysis and variety in human coloring. 

But it's also instructive to see more typical examples.  Textbook cases  like these two dark-eyed, dark-haired Dark Winters may not be unexpected, but they're certainly not boring. When you see someone in his or her perfect colors, you want to look and look and look. The eye delights. 

See what I mean? You can't stop staring.

This is my beautiful sister. Before analyzing her  in person, Dark Autumn had crossed my mind, but Dark Winter did not surprise me. Yellow tones I had often observed in her skin could have been mistaken for warmth -- but Dark Winter colors cleared them. 

She posed for these pics several years ago, as a favor for a makeup artist friend.  This isn't her normal daytime look. But it's fabulous, isn't it? All black, with red lips... so few women can pull this off. 

Which reminds me of one of my personal color analysis shortcut rules: If It Looks Goth, It's Not Winter.  A good example:

This is Dita von Teese doing her beautiful-goth-girl thing. She's probably not a Winter.  She might not have a career if she were. It's hard to make Winters look goth, you see. Dark clothing and dark lippies bring them to life, which is the opposite of the goth aesthetic.

My sister wasn't a goth girl. I was, though. I suppose I was lucky that my Soft Autumnness allowed me to achieve a corpselike effect with black clothes and burgundy lips, thereby effectively communicating my inner turmoil to the world without having to actually speak. Think of all the poor Winter teenagers who struggle vainly to express their angst through their appearance! Imagine their frustration when they look in the mirror and discover that blood-red lips and head-to-toe black make them look less depressed, not more. Poor things. 

But I digress. "Though I can digress with the best of them, I am nothing in my soul if not obsessive. " -- Donna Tartt, The Secret History (one of my favorite novels)

Anyway... here's another gorgeous Dark Winter. 

Wow, look at that smile!

I analyzed this friend virtually and later IRL. I tried very hard during the draping to stay open to possibilities other than Dark Winter, but of course I was gratified that my virtual analysis turned out to be correct. This shirt may be DW's icy blue. 

Color matters for men too. Personal color is about power.   A man in his true colors radiates power. He's unapologetically himself, and if you don't like it, tough. 

I've said that personal color is about authenticity, and it is that as well; to be centered in the truth of oneself is to be powerfully positioned.