A guide to the method
What is colour
analysis?
How it works, what it can and can’t tell you, and the sixteen seasons, one of which is yours.
In short
Colours that work with you.
Personal colour analysis is a way of finding the colours that sit in natural harmony with your skin, your eyes and your hair. Held close to your face, some colours seem to soften shadows, calm redness and bring your eyes forward. Others start doing all the talking, so people notice the colour before they notice you.
It isn’t about rules, and it’s definitely not about throwing out half your wardrobe. It’s about understanding why you keep reaching for some things and quietly leaving others on the hanger, so that the next thing you fall in love with in a shop is something you’ll love wearing too.
I work with the 16-season system, using comparative fabric draping in controlled light. This page explains how that works, and what the sixteen seasons are.
How it works
Four questions, answered with fabric.
Every palette is shaped by the same four questions about your natural colouring. I answer them by draping: holding one colour against another just under your chin, and watching what each one does.
Warm or cool?
This is about undertone. Some people look their best in colours with a golden warmth to them, others in cooler, blue-based shades, and most of us lean one way, even if only a little.
Light or deep?
This is value: how light or dark a colour is. Some faces are lifted by paler colours, while others look far more themselves in richer, deeper ones.
Soft or clear?
This is chroma, sometimes called saturation: how gentle or how vivid a colour is. Some people suit softened colours, while others need clarity and brightness to match their own.
How much contrast?
This is the difference between your hair, your skin and your eyes. Strong contrast often carries bold light and dark combinations beautifully; softer contrast tends to suit colours that sit closer together.
A single colour on its own is hard to judge, which is why draping is always a comparison, one drape against the next. You watch the changes happen in the mirror, the shadows softening under one and your eyes gaining definition under another, and I talk you through everything I’m seeing.
Why in person
Why a photo can’t do this.
Can an app, a filter or ChatGPT tell you your season? They can be fun to play with, but they’re all working from a photograph, and a photograph has already been shaped by the light you were standing in, by your camera and by the screen it’s seen on.
Colour analysis depends on two things a camera can’t keep: controlled light, and true fabric colour against your skin. That’s why I don’t offer online analysis, and why every appointment is held in person. What you see in the mirror is real.
If you’d like to start noticing what colour does for you at home, my short guide, The Considered Wardrobe Edit, is a lovely place to begin. It won’t tell you your season, but it will get you curious about colour, and it’s free when you join my newsletter.
The sixteen seasons
Four families, sixteen palettes.
Your home season is one of four families: Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter. Within each family sit four sub-seasons, each with its own character. The three words under each name are its key characteristics, strongest first.
Most sub-seasons also have a sister season in a neighbouring family. Sisters share that strongest characteristic, which is why a palette can sometimes borrow from its sister.
Spring
Fresh, clear and sunlit. Colour with warmth and life in it.
- True SpringWarm, light, bright
- Warm SpringWarm, bright, lightSister season: Warm Autumn
- Light SpringLight, warm, brightSister season: Light Summer
- Bright SpringBright, warm, lightSister season: Bright Winter
Autumn
Rich, warm and grounded. Colour with earth and depth behind it.
- True AutumnWarm, muted, deep
- Warm AutumnWarm, deep, mutedSister season: Warm Spring
- Deep AutumnDeep, muted, softSister season: Deep Winter
- Muted AutumnMuted, warm, mediumOften called Soft AutumnSister season: Muted Summer
Winter
Clear, cool and striking. Colour at its most decisive.
- True WinterCool, deep, bright
- Cool WinterCool, bright, deepSister season: Cool Summer
- Bright WinterBright, cool, deepSister season: Bright Spring
- Deep WinterDeep, cool, brightSister season: Deep Autumn
Summer
Soft, cool and understated. Colour seen through morning mist.
- True SummerCool, muted, medium
- Cool SummerCool, muted, lightSister season: Cool Winter
- Light SummerLight, cool, mutedSister season: Light Spring
- Muted SummerMuted, cool, mediumOften called Soft SummerSister season: Muted Autumn
What it’s for
A framework, not a rulebook.
Knowing your season answers the questions that come up every time you get dressed or go shopping: which coat, which denim, which white, which metals, and what to wear instead of black if black isn’t naturally yours.
You’ll never be told you can’t wear a colour you love. You can wear it away from your face, bring one of your own colours closer, or find a version of it that suits you better. There are so many versions of essentially the same colour. We’re not saying you can’t wear red. We’re finding your red.
And because your palette doesn’t follow trends, it’s a kinder way to shop: fewer near misses, fewer things hanging unworn with the tags still on, and a wardrobe where everything belongs together.
It’s worth saying what colour analysis isn’t, too. It isn’t a medical or skin assessment, and it isn’t an exact science. It’s trained observation and professional judgement, offered as guidance.
Questions
Before you book.
Can I work out my season at home?
You can certainly start noticing what suits you: whether you lean warm or cool, light or deep, soft or clear. Placing yourself precisely among sixteen palettes takes careful side-by-side comparison in controlled light, though, and that’s what the drapes are for.
Does my season change as I get older?
Your season is based on your natural colouring, so it doesn’t follow trends and it doesn’t expire. Most people find their palette stays with them for life, softening gently as hair silvers and colouring changes over the years.
What happens at an appointment?
We start with a conversation about what you’re hoping to get from the day. Then comes the draping, then your home season and your sub-season, and finally practical guidance for real life, from coats and denim to metals and glasses. The Experience walks through it step by step, and the questions page covers the rest.
Find your season
See it for yourself.
Appointments are held in my studio in White City, west London, a few minutes from Westfield London, and in Brisbane when I’m home in Australia.
See appointments and prices or ask me a question first