Choosing Fall Colors

What’s best for YOU?

Happy fall, y’all!

(Yes, it’s silly, but now that I’ve got it out of my system, I shouldn’t have to y’all you again.)

Do you change your colors with the seasons? Are there colors you only wear certain times of the year? If so, you are not alone. Most clothes wearers (Which would be all of us–excepting the nudists!) do. I do, too! But not in the way you might think.

Many people mentally group their colors into seasons. I don’t mean color seasons, here, but there is some overlap. Depending on where you live (or grow up), there are colors you associate with spring, summer, winter, and fall. It can be hard to wear those colors “out-of-season.” This makes getting used to having a personalized color palette tricky thinking. Your color palette works for you. All year long! Whatever the season.

If you have a favorite season to dress for, it could be that those colors speak to you. OR your bias could come from your personality style! Since I’m writing this in fall, let’s tackle fall first.

There are lots of fabulous colors we associate with fall! All the oranges, from pumpkin to cinnamon, and brown. Dark greens and olives. Golds and mustards. The dark reds of turning leaves. It’s easy to see how palettes with a warm undertone (and medium to dark value) translate into fall dressing!

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So rich! So lovely! SO gorgeous… But unfortunately, these colors don’t suit all of us. So what’s a girl (or guy) to do when her palette has a cool undertone, or light value?

Think outside the box! Just because we think of primarily darker and warm colors for fall, doesn’t mean those are the only fall colors. One of my favorite “fall colors is purple. Purple? YES! Grapes harvest in the fall, so the colors of grapes, all those gorgeous greens, reds, and purples, are all fall colors, too! Reds come in all kinds of undertones and values, so red is another fabulous fall color. As is taupe. And grey. And magenta!

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The palettes above are all predominantly medium to dark values, so now let’s chat about when your palette is light. I’ll use my own Sublime palette as an example, and throw in another light cool palette. For these palettes I’d choose lighter versions of the purples, reds, greens, and taupes you saw above, with some teal thrown in for good measure. If you can find a cool yellow, run with it!

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What about warm and light? I have more than one friend who’s warm and QUITE light… Her fall colors won’t be as deep and rich as her fellow warm friends at the top, but olives, soft rusts, wines, and browns will be fabulous for her, as long as she keeps the value and intensity soft!

Note: This isn’t the complete library of palettes, but some of the more commonly typed ones in my corner of the world! (There are 18 palettes in the Absolute Color System.)

So how about you? Have you had your colors “done”? (If it was more than 5 years ago, it’s probably time again… Our coloring changes as we age! Yes, I can do colors virtually, if that is your interest!) What’s your palette? What fall colors say fall to you? What fall colors do you love? Which do you wear? Do tell! There’s plenty of room in the comments below…

Stylishly (In my version of fall colors!) yours,