Discover your color palette and your style type.

Finding Your Best Colors as a Dramatic

11/5/2019

All of the colors in your seasonal palette will be harmonious on you. But some of them will work better for you than others.

Part of that will have to do with the unique way your individual body -- your skin, hair, and eyes -- displays your palette. And part of it will have to do with your style type. Different style types use colors differently to achieve their best looks.

So if you're a Dramatic or a Dramatic blend, how should you use the colors in your palette?

Bold color contrast reads as Dramatic -- one of your very light is colors with one of your very darkest colors, for example, or two colors that are far apart in hue.

(Dramatic color contrast feels serious or intense, not playful; playful color contrast is Gamine. The difference here is sometimes just the size of the color blocks. The lines of the overall garment can push the effect one way or the other -- intense or playful -- as well.)

This color contrast feels playful -- that's Gamine.

This color contrast feels more serious and intense -- that's Dramatic.

Any head-to-toe monochromatic look generally reads as Dramatic.

A monochromatic look in what may be a Soft Summer pink.

A monochromatic look in what may be True Autumn green.

A monochromatic look in one of your palette neutrals will feel particularly intense.

A monochromatic look from a gentle palette like Soft Summer still feels powerful.

Even if you're a Light Season or a Soft Season, color blocking and monochromatic schemes will look Dramatic on you. The colors have their effect relative to each other and to your skin tone. :-)

Extreme color blocking from a palette like Light Summer still looks Dramatic.

Are you a Dramatic or a Dramatic blend? How have you combined your palette with your style type? Please share in the comments!

43 Comments

Taylor V.

11/5/2019 03:31:16 pm

Hmm.. this is making me rethink my ID. I am so confused...

Are these tops Gamine or Ingenue? Or both? (If you see other essences here feel free to let me know.)

https://www.target.com/p/women-39-s-floral-print-v-neck-long-sleeve-wrap-top-xhilaration-8482-mustard-xs/-/A-76613272

https://m.kohls.com/product/prd-3847134/petite-lc-lauren-conrad-pleated-swing-tank.jsp?skuid=18507087

Janelle Garden

11/6/2019 08:50:21 am

Hi Taylor, I’m not Rachel, but I’ve been around this style ID scene for quite some time and have been typed gamine primarily, followed by natural and ingenue. I can tell you from looking at the mustard top that there is no gamine in that. Rather, it seems to be a blend of natural, romantic, and maybe ingenue. Gamine would have crisper, shorter lines whereas this top has a lot of flow and an open neckline.

The black top looks like a possible blend of natural, ingenue, and a smidge of gamine. If you haven’t already, I would recommend looking at Rachel’s Pinterest boards on her truth is beauty Pinterest page. That way you can compare certain outfits to what she has typed in her boards. It’s been really helpful for me as far as getting the hang of all this! I hope this helps.

11/9/2019 12:34:26 am

Thank you so much Janelle! I always felt a little unlike myself in the 2nd link shirt and always had to compensate with jewelry. I think it’s because of the Gamine plus the lack of Romantic. You’re lucky, I was just admiring the gamine aspects of Halle Berry’s style. And I like laid-back-yet-simultaneously-attention-grabbing color combinations of NGI... enjoy it! :)

Melina

11/8/2019 12:05:12 pm

Oh, I just replied to this in the hair topic, didn't see you had asked the same question here, too ;D - but both look mainly Natural to me.

11/9/2019 12:35:49 am

Thanks!

Miranda

11/8/2019 09:51:15 pm

Whoops, I've been using my color contrasts in a fashion that is more Dramatic than Gamine. That's good to know!

11/9/2019 12:38:02 am

Same situation here! I have some good items but was combining my outfits in Dramatic manner rather than a Natural way. These posts are so helpful!

11/9/2019 07:49:28 am

I'm pretty sure I have some D in my blend (my other essences being R,I & E), but pretty much the only monochromatic look I like (and often do) is all-black... But we all have our preferred colours, I guess ;)

Also, isn't preference to darker colours also Dramatic? Just look at e.g. Rachel's RDI pinterest board compared to REI - former has mostly such dark colours, the latter all-light, even if they differ only in one essence!

11/12/2019 04:26:00 am

It certainly seems to me, too, that dark colors are Dramatic. Wonder what others think?

11/21/2019 06:03:49 am

KM, thanks for your reply. Alas, most others here seem to be mainly into analysing celebrities, something I don't find interesting in the slightest (and never even heard of most of those celebrities ;)

11/26/2019 12:10:12 pm

True! :)

Laura

11/9/2019 09:45:13 am

Janelle Garden, I agree with you - in my opinion the first top is RNI, but I have a question for you- because you used the word "crisper". Isn't crisp also Ingenue? Can you explain? Is there a different kind of Ingenue crisp and Gamine crisp? Can you distinguish between those kinds of "crisp"?

Janelle

11/9/2019 02:49:15 pm

Hi Laura, as far as comparing gamine and ingenue, both require crispness in terms of shorter lines and closer fit than say Ethereal or Natural, but Gamine’s crisp is more simple and tailored, sort of similar to classic. Ingenue, On the other hand, has more movement. There are daintier details on ingenue’s garments than gamine such as small ruffles, bows, lace panels, etc. So if I were to summarize, I would say that crispness for a gamine looks more blunt, stiff, and simple. ingenue still has that fitted look, but it’s higher femininity allows for more movement.

Compare this gamine skirt: https://images.app.goo.gl/zJBKdRhCzsaKH4Xc9
To ingenue: https://images.app.goo.gl/hktYKEuLE2thNWPV7

11/10/2019 01:38:03 pm

You’re so knowledge, Janelle!! I’ve been wondering about Sasha Lane, Yara Shahidi, Madeline Mantock, Raven Symone, and Jasmine Sanders Style ID for a while now... I see Jasmine is a Romantic blend, I saw Madeline labeled as REN (which I think is accurate), and I’m thinking EDN for Raven. Not sure about the other two ladies- Yara may have some Ingenue. (Plus, I remember her playing a young Kerry Washington and Kerry is a strong RI blend).

I was wondering your thoughts? Thanks!!

11/10/2019 02:40:29 pm

DNG for Raven, I think.

11/10/2019 01:10:36 pm

Janelle, thank you.

11/10/2019 07:40:59 pm

Thanks, Taylor! I really enjoy delving into the color/style world. After looking at pictures of Sasha, I think that she probably has some dramatic, natural, and ingenue. Definitely has a childlike essence, but simultaneously a powerful presence about her, which is where perhaps D comes into play.

For Yara, hmm she’s tricky to type imo! I definitely see a good dose of natural, and maybe a slight bit of ethereal. But I don’t know what else. She looks more mature for her age, so I don’t think gamine or ingenue necessarily. She has a lot of different looks going as far as changing her hair, oscillating back-and-forth between a lot of different styles, so it’s kind of tough!

As far as Madeline, REN seems spot on! The pictures of her with her hair loose and around her face look wonderful on her. When her hair is pulled back more severely in a dramatic style or she goes for a harder, edgier look, it definitely doesn’t jive.

raven definitely seems to lead with dramatic! My eyes are instantly drawn to her sharper facial features. I think natural would be a good secondary. I had never noticed before, but I think she does have some ethereal, as well. Good eye!

For Jasmine, I’m going to guess romantic and dramatic. She’s got those high cheekbones and the sculpted look of a dramatic, yet there’s that bit of softness which I think is the romantic you mentioned. This has been fun!

11/11/2019 12:05:28 pm

Thanks again, Janelle! Great catch on the Ingenue for Sasha! I think RD is core for Jasmine perhaps with a dash of youth. Even with those mature essences, I see a spark in look. She reminds me a lot of Rita Ora and Rihanna a bit, who are both RG blends (though honestly I should stop comparing celeb IDs just because they look alike :). And yes, Yara is very very tricky to type IMO. I’ve been following her for years but I just kinda gave up trying to figure it out haha... she’s one of those people that makes me wonder if there are other style essences yet to be discovered! LOL. She seems to look almost equally as good in outfits w/ youth as she does without, but I did think I saw a pattern of her best looks having a dash of youth. Also, I think it’s safe to say she has either some dramatic or ethereal, because Rachel has mentioned those as being particularly exotic essences and that’s vibe I consistently get with ALL of her best looks. She’s a great celeb to look at when I’m seeking fresh outfit ideas! There’s a blogpost here about the rarest essences IDs... I bet she’s one of those! Thanks again Janelle- your comments have been so helpful!!

11/17/2019 03:09:31 am

Hey again! So I did a little research, and I’m pretty confident Yara Shahidi is a DNI! She looks great in Dramatic Ingenue on her Harpers Bazaar cover (tinyurl.com/yx6sd2oc), and looks amazing in bold denim dresses exactly like the ones on DNI board. When her curly hair manages, center parts and pigtails work very well, and more touches of Ingenue to her allure (tinyurl.com/tc6rsc4)(tinyurl.com/v6dkm3n). Honestly I think she’s one of those celebs who subconsciously knows their ID really well and is able to oscillate or dip into other ID styles because of that. But she glows in DNI and other pared down styles like this (tinyurl.com/t7pz7u2)(tinyurl.com/v9x4oku)(tinyurl.com/rdt2wpm). Even in her baby photos on Instagram (with 90s denim and no makeup) she looks especially “WOW” back then compared to how she dresses now. Funny how we always want to do everything but own our own ID- grass is always greener on the other side I guess LOL 💁🏽‍♀️ Kat Graham is another celeb I’ve noticed does that too (I think she’s EDG but she always throws in some Romantic or Classic to her looks). Anyways, after I realized Yara was DNI, I couldn’t believe the similarities I found between Sasha Lane and Yara style in terms of the details & colors. In both of their first google images they wear a thick metal DN necklace chain, they also keep their makeup high contrast and matte like masculine leaning ID women do, and even their makeup looks were extremely similar (bold eyes with a fresh + daintily, thoughtfully paired lip color). Just goes to show how different each persons coloring, appearance, hair texture, and personal taste affects their style! Love this system! Thanks once again for lending an ear, Janelle 🤗 Signing off, Taylor xoxo

11/11/2019 02:28:59 pm

Are you sure with Raven being EDN? She's not so obvious or she wears against her style, because she likes to wear Gamine. Maybe she is EDNG?

11/11/2019 02:41:49 pm

Taylor, Sure thing! I definitely see Jasmine’s resemblance to Rihanna! Jasmine might have a bit of gamine additionally... And I agree about Yara having an unusual blend that may combine a supernatural essence like E or D with a more youthful essence.

And Laura, I think it’s possible Raven could have some gamine. I see a bit of spunk....She very well could have a four blend style ID.

Jayla

11/13/2019 07:48:25 am

I am ED and I can't wear such color combos like the example with green-yellow top and blue pants, recommended for D. It would be almost gamine for me. I don't tolerate anything but monochromatic. In color combos I feel sick. Do you have this same?

meibaola

9/12/2020 07:21:19 am

Hi Jayla, maybe it's because both your essences call for an unbroken elongated line. I am NDC and I think I can pull off color-blocking separates alright. I certainly enjoy wearing them :)

Jen

11/17/2019 12:03:44 pm

How much does being a color season that comes to life in black play into our ID? I am DW.

Is it worth any consideration for our style iD?

Jade link

11/20/2019 11:22:25 pm

I think I read somewhere that the right colours are even more important than the essences. You could wear a wrong essence, but it wouldn't look too bad if the colours enhance you.

I am DW as well, and DGR ^^ so it is a pretty easy match between what I've always liked to wear, the colours I like and those (colours and styles) which suit me :)

11/21/2019 06:05:42 am

That's my understanding too, i.e. that colours are even more important than essences! Although both are important, true. :)

11/21/2019 06:10:55 am

It's only that if you haven't been professionally draped (and have no chance of it in foreseeable future), essences are much easier to sort out yourself, using Rachel's calculator, than your season ;)

11/21/2019 02:15:14 pm

Although I've never been professionally draped or sorted out, I have always known I was a Winter. Currently I could sometimes wonder if I were TW or BW (after reading some posts about unusual TW that don't look like it at first glance), but DW seems the closest to me.

Through a screen it's easier to be sure of someone's face shapes rather than colours, as different photos, settings and monitors can confuse us, so I understand that it can be easier to find our essences than our seasons.

As there is nearly no one in my country (France) that knows about the seasons or worse, the essences, I try to talk about it as much as I can. I have joined a group that talks about Rachel's work and posts, and it's really fun and interesting : https://www.facebook.com/groups/1758951011062885/

I love to analyse others as well, so I typed some friends (season and essences), and also did a drape test (although not professionally) with 2 of them. I love kimonos, started it as a hobby and I now sell some, so I have quite a lot of different high quality fabrics with textures and colours that are not always from my own season. It is amazing to see the difference when you compare with fabrics next to the face ^^ One of them was Light Spring, and the other one Soft Autumn.

I work as a concept artist and illustrator so I'm sensitive to colours and shapes, and I already had my own peculiar style and tastes before knowing the seasons and essences. It helped to explain why certain proportions, clothes etc were more appealing to wear for me than others. And the fact that it doesn't make any hierarchisation between the different types and seasons is a plus !

It really does help people. I sometimes wonder if I could take a course on it to be really officially trained for that.

What are your essences by the way ? :3

11/24/2019 05:29:06 am

Hi Jade, if your question was meant for me, my essences are R, I, E and D :) (The first two I'm most sure about, and they seem to be my major ones.)

(Btw, I'm in that group as well ;))

As for seasons, I've tried every season there is, currently set on DA as most likely. But I'm intrigued, how is it possible to know your season for sure without being draped? :) (Like you said that you've known you're a Winter.) As Sci/Art (my favourite system by far) teaches that you cannot. Having been so seasonally confused myself, I tend to agree ;)

11/17/2019 01:50:42 pm

Taylor, I think you totally pegged Yara! DNI looks fantastic on her. Very harmonious. Also, I can see what you mean about her hair and ingenue. I hadn’t found the ingenue, but I think that is indeed what I was missing! Out of curiosity, what do you think your style type is? You seem to have a pretty good eye for this stuff!

Jen, from what I’ve read here and other places (as well as my own experience), your season does play a bit of a role in influencing style type. Since dramatic is a bolder style type, darker and bolder colors are typically associated more with this. However, as Rachel showed in a few examples, you can be any season, even one that does best in lighter colors and still be a dramatic. It’s all about how you personalize it for you!

11/20/2019 12:05:29 am

This is so interesting to me. Yara looks extremely youthful and sweet to me. I think she wears tomboyish looks well but her halo of tousled little cults makes me think she has ethereal, ingenue, natural, and gamine at her disposal.

TIB Newbie

12/30/2019 12:05:57 pm

I know this is an old post but I am currently blog-stalking L.O.L. I don’t doubt the DNI assessment, but I do agree that Yara can pull off E&G as well. I am beginning to realize some people are just like that and have 5/7 essences rather than 2 or 3. They simply have more beauty to play around with!

1/16/2020 06:58:19 pm

I’m pretty sure Yara is a DGI with a lot of Ingenue! I’m RNG and I see the similar masculinity and the gamine. But where she can wear Ingenue, I cannot (and I wear romantic in place of it). I can see how she would seem like Natural, but those colors/material look flat+pointless on her (I think her personality & earthier coloring make it seem like she’s Natural). Once u see her on the DGI board compared to the NGI board it becomes very clear what I mean. That would also make sense why she played a young Kerry Washington (another non natural blend w/ Ingenue who is WOC). And you guys were right about her being a unique blend- DGI is on Rachel’s list of the rarest blends!

11/19/2019 02:35:37 am

Hey! I’m an RNI, but I hadn’t determined which of the youth essences I was until this past month. Thanks to some trial & error -and super helpful comments like yours- I’ve come into my Ingenue style perfectly! It has been a long journey to finding my style ID though... I came to this blog after feeling outcasted in DYT system. Because they don’t differentiate the youth essences, in that system I was stuck either dressing as an ENI or RNG. I can see RCs and some REs also becoming confused by that system due to the way it’s laid out.

Side note: I’ve been looking for mixed race (especially Afro-Latina☺️) RNIs or some RNIs with Spring coloring, since that’s what I am. Feel free to let me know if you know anyone!

Anyways, considering I’m an NI blend that totally make sense why I mentioned those two other NI celebs I’d had on my radar. Really I should’ve been able to ID them sooner once I realized I was an Ingenue type LOL😄 But I appreciate your kind words!

11/19/2019 07:54:49 pm

Taylor, that’s awesome that you think you figured out your ID! I love the RNI outfit possibilities! I did a little bit of research and found a few mixed race celebrities that might be RNI or close. Not sure on seasons, but oh well. I’ll just stick to style ID for today!

https://images.app.goo.gl/osyLHfeSioztezvy6
I think Christina Milian, who is Cuban and African could be RNI.

Esperanza Spalding has some natural and ingenue I think, but ethereal rather than romantic. This picture of her definitely seemed to show this.

https://images.app.goo.gl/UuY5Ymm7w7BkL28VA

Tatyana Ali definitely seems to have a lot of natural, some ingenue and gamine, and maybe(?) a trace of romantic...

https://images.app.goo.gl/19CoM5rCzbBgWBwZ8

11/22/2019 05:59:32 pm

Thanks so much- these are incredible tips! You’re proof that there are still genuinely nice ppl out there :) I can’t wait to take a deeper look into these celebs’ styles and best looks. As much as I enjoy having those DNI references, there’s still a substantial jump in femininity & overall feel of RNI compared to DNI. It’ll be great to have these NI / RNI blends to look at for more representation & style inspo that I can easily translate into my own wardrobe! Thanks!!

11/26/2019 12:17:53 pm

A bit confused as to how simply analysing celebrities style ID's qualifies one as "genuinely nice people", but whatever...

11/25/2019 11:32:54 am

Janelle, do you think Tatyana's hair, one sided and long are Ingenue or universal?

11/25/2019 04:17:32 pm

Jayla,
I just noticed Tatyana tends to wear her hair down and to one side. I would say the way she wears it is pretty consistent with ingenue and romantic. The loose curls make me think of romantic...
Taylor, thanks for your kind words—I’m happy to help!

11/26/2019 07:47:09 pm

Hi, KM. Your negative response to me thanking another commenter for their help only supports my original statement that there are “few genuinely nice people” out there in the world. You know... people who occasionally do things just to be nice without expecting anything in return. Janelle invested time and energy into finding and sharing these celebs (with a similar ID as mine) to help me on my style ID journey. So she wasn’t just “analyzing celebs style IDs” for the sake of it as you stated- she was doing so for me. Now, I didn’t say Janelle was perfect or Jesus Christ for that matter.... It’s just that I’ve seen so many bitter people comment on this blog, that I found myself thankful for Janelle’s kind words & how she went above and beyond. The world ain’t all roses and sunshine... so when I recognize kindness, I will go out of my way to applaud it.

So... Either you didn’t read the thread in it’s entirety, or you simply missed the point. If you’re still a bit confused as to how what Janelle said & did could be perceived as even remotely nice, then you may find that you are not in that boat of “nice people” yourself.... Honestly, your weirdly P.O.-ed response of me (a stranger) saying thanks to Janelle (another stranger) on this 3-week old post speaks for itself. Considering Thanksgiving is only two days away, maybe we should all try to keep thankfulness on our minds this week.

11/27/2019 05:06:01 am

Taylor V.
She can't give proper advice so she is attacking. That's jealousy. Not so long time ago a blogger who was giving so many good advices was also attacked here.

In the post, an owner of this blog invited us to comment. I felt invited so I write about dramatic colour combos that in my opinion wasn' good example but Rachel didn't took it for granted. So why inviting? I think the example of the color combo didn' t help ppl who are D blended. It was DG combo. I miss the time when there was a chance for discussion here.

Lena

11/27/2019 09:28:31 am

Jayla, I agree with you.

Joseph Robinson link

10/6/2022 08:26:23 pm

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Finding Your Best Colors as a Dramatic

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