When discussing color “temperature”, are we all talking about the same thing? There are, in practice, two different ways of understanding color temperature; that is, warm versus cool colors. I will attempt to oversimplify the explanation and uses of each.
Psychological Color Temperature
This is what you may have learned in elementary school: red and yellow are warm, blue is cool, and so on.
Best use: to convey personality. Generally speaking, warm colors are energetic and eye-catching; cool colors are peaceful and soothing. Cool colors are also significantly more associated with professional clothing.
Relative Color Temperature
This is what color analysts are talking about when they mention “undertones” and talk about things like “a warm blue”. The easiest way for me to think of it is to think of each hue having two versions (of course, in reality there are infinite versions, as well as shades and tints): one closest to the hue to one side of it on the color wheel, the other closer to the hue on the other side. For example, purples are red-violet or blue-violet; yellows fall into green-yellows or orange-yellows.
Best use: complement your coloring. Within the color families appropriate for your personality and activities, some colors will be more flattering to your own personal coloring. Wear those.
Color theory is a complicated topic, and subject to fashion cycles as well. Wearing all cool versions of all cool colors, or all warm versions of all warm colors, is flattering to only those with the most extreme coloring (most have a combination or more middle-of-the-road coloring) and can wind up looking dated.
I mix cool and warm colors all the time. Because I have red brown hair and blue eyes I mess with all shades of blue and brown with black and it works for me. I would have been mortified to try it 25 years ago in jr. high.
I love the color freedom that TofIS brought because I never did look great in all the colors my “color palette.” And I never have to worry about shade because I can just look at the mirror in the dressing room. 😉
Even when they did my color draping, way back in the day, certain colors were designated as universal and others as only for small doses, etc.
Isn’t it interesting how something that seems more limiting, in some ways, actually can be more freeing?