THE WEEKEND READ

The Colour Honeymoon Is Over… Now What?

Hello!

You’ve discovered your season, met your wow colours and left clutching your colour fan. So what happens next? There is something rather wonderful about the days immediately after a colour analysis. Suddenly, you see colour everywhere. You notice the woman in the coffee shop wearing exactly your shade of green, you find yourself holding your colour fan against a jumper in a shop and you look suspiciously at the black top you have worn faithfully for many years.

And then there may also be a lot of opening your wardrobe, holding up your fan and wondering where to start. Because colour analysis itself is only the beginning.

The Wardrobe Reality Check

Your first job is simply to have a look at what you already own. Take your new colour fan to your wardrobe and start comparing. You'll discover three things:

There are clothes that are absolutely in your palette.
There are things that aren't perfect, but aren't disastrous either.
And there may be a few pieces where you suddenly understand why, despite loving them on the hanger, you've never really loved them on you.

But, and this is important, we don't want you throwing everything away. Colour analysis should not result in bin bags of perfectly good clothes being discarded simply because they're not in your palette. Sometimes we don't have many that are absolutely right, so we need to use what we do have in a more creative way.

And when these no-so-perfect ones eventually wear out, then replace them with something in a colour that works better for you. Building a wardrobe in your best colours is an evolution, not an evacuation.

Start Where People Look First

If you want to make one immediate change, concentrate on your communication zone. This is the area around your head, shoulders and face where colour has its greatest impact.

Before worrying about trousers, skirts or shoes, think about tops, shirts, knitwear, jackets, scarves, jewellery, make-up and glasses. This is particularly useful as we begin to edge towards autumn. A scarf in one of your fabulous colours, a different lipstick, earrings, a necklace or a coloured layer over an existing outfit can completely change how something feels.

As we talked about in last week's The Weekend Read, accessories are often the easiest way of bringing something new into your wardrobe without changing everything. Start at the top of your body, then work your way down.

Please Don't Buy 14 Tops in One Wow Colour

We've seen the excitement. You've discovered that a particular raspberry makes you look sensational and suddenly raspberry has become less of a colour and more of a personal mission.

Stop. Your wow colours are wonderful because they make you shine, but that doesn't mean your entire wardrobe needs to consist of them. The aim is to create a wardrobe containing colours from across your palette that work beautifully with each other. That's when the magic really begins:

Navy trousers with an emerald knit.
A chocolate jacket with a kingfisher blouse.
A soft blue shirt with a burgundy skirt.
An olive jacket with coral top.

Whatever your season, learning to combine your colours is much more exciting, and ultimately much more useful, than simply buying lots of clothes in one or two favourite shades.

And remember our Save or Splurge mantra: Knowing your colours doesn't mean you suddenly need to spend a fortune. In fact, it should help you do the opposite.

Click Here For Our Colour Shopping Catalogues

The Confidence Effect

Something interesting tends to happen after colour analysis. At first, you often play it relatively safe. You might swap black for navy, add a coloured scarf, try a brighter lipstick or choose a top in a colour you now know suits you.

Then somebody says you look really well. And someone else says how great you look in that colour. And then perhaps someone asks if you've done something different?

These little compliments matter. You gradually stop thinking whether or not you can wear something, to knowing you can definitely wear it. This a very different way to dress.

As your confidence grows, so will your willingness to experiment. Perhaps two colours you'd never previously have worn together suddenly become an outfit. The bright jacket you once considered too much becomes one of the hardest-working pieces in your wardrobe. Your palette stops feeling like a set of rules and starts becoming a tool.

And Then, Life Happens

We need to talk about this bit because it can happen to anyone. You start off brilliantly. Your colour fan lives permanently in your handbag and you're using it to check everything. You're experimenting with combinations and you're wearing lipstick.

And then six months pass. Work gets busy, family life takes over and you need something quickly for an event. You order five things online at 11pm, and slowly, old habits creep back in.

And then one morning you realise you're standing in front of your wardrobe wearing the same safe combination you wore before you ever had your colours analysed. And it's okay, colour analysis isn't a test you can fail. Sometimes all you need is a little reset, so get your fan out again. Wear one of the colours you know makes you look fabulous, put on your lipstick and wear the earrings. Do you remember how it feels?

The Weekend Challenge

Before we start properly thinking about autumn clothes, we'd love you to do something this weekend. We want you to shop in your own wardrobe by colour.

Take your colour fan to your wardrobe and find three pieces that are great colours for you but you rarely wear, then create an outfit around each one.

We don't want you to buy anything, instead we want you to experiment.

Could you wear that blouse with a different jacket? Could you put two colours together that you've never tried before? Could a scarf, necklace, belt or lipstick pull the whole thing together? Then take a photograph of each outfit.

You may discover that your first new autumn outfits are already hanging in your wardrobe.

Our Final Thought

Before you buy for the autumn season, this is the most important thing we'd like you to remember:

You don't need to complete your palette.
You don't need every colour in your fan.
You don't need to replace everything you owned before your consultation.

And you certainly don't need to rush.

Colour analysis isn't about creating a perfect wardrobe overnight, it's about gradually building a wardrobe where more things work together, shopping becomes easier, mistakes become fewer and getting dressed feels more instinctive.

Your colour analysis session gave you the first piece of the jigsaw. Over the coming months (and sometimes years), you start adding the others. And every now and then, when life gets in the way and you drift back towards old habits, go back to the one simple question:

How do I feel when I'm wearing one of my best colours?

The chances are, other people notice the difference too. This is the best reason of all to keep that little colour fan somewhere you can find it.

Have a fabulous week this week,

Best wishes,

Judi & Jenny xx

Next week in The Weekend Read, we'll be looking at 'Wardrobe Limbo' - find out next week what this blog is all about!

Judi Prue

Personal Style Coach

'Knowing is the key to glowing'

Tel: 07904 347847

e: judi.prue@houseofcolour.co.uk

w: www.houseofcolour.co.uk/judiprue

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