Building a Personal Color Scheme

I’ve been asked a number of times for more detail on building a color strategy based on one’s own personal coloring.  Currently my best thoughts are these.

Step 1:  choose a frame neutral or two

If you were a man and building a simple, formal business wardrobe from scratch, I’d first advise you to buy a suit in a color which blends with your hair color (Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion), forming a sort of visual frame for your face.  Depending on your lifestyle, the season, and templates you like to use, you may use this color for jackets and cardigans or sweaters and jewelry.

• if you have dark hair, look good in black, and need a business wardrobe – by all means, choose black!
• for me, it’s not quite that simple.  The main thing is to choose a flattering color in the right value (light vs dark).
• It’s not necessary to choose a neutral.  One young lady I know, with auburn hair and green eyes, uses purple as a wardrobe staple.

Step 2:  identify the color range you can choose more freely from

• For many this will be the eye color.
• Alternatively, hemoglobin color is an especially good option for those with brown eyes.  This is what I do, using a range from peach to coral pink on the light end to coral as my bright to a burgundy as dark as my eyes.
• With gray eyes and hair, and lips so cool in tone as to be almost purple, I have another friend who could choose a range from lavendar to deeper purple.

Step 3:  choose your accent color or neutral

• This could be black or white
• It could be your eye color, if you haven’t already used it.
• Do you have something specific to your idiom that you want to use as an accent, such as a collection of turquoise jewelry?

Beyond these basics, everything is chosen for its ability to blend with your basic skeleton of colors.  For additional variety, you could use a different color scheme for each season.