Chris,
I’m new to the fashion world as a fashion photographer and I’m working at a high fashion retailer, and I wanted to know how to match colors with people skin tones. What colors go well with light medium and dark skin tones?
FilmsterBen
Dear Filmster Ben -
We joke about it all the time at the studio, but if you want to invest in some home-grown 1980’s fashion knowledge, get yourself a copy of Color Me Beautiful immediately! I remember reading this as a kid to great discovery that I was an “Autumn.” Also makes for hilarious dinner conversation.
A lot of what I do with customers is break them of the habits this book put into motion, but in terms of photography and skin tone, I think it actually might help you. I think contrast is more important than color, actually. When I’m casting models in the presentations, sometimes the drama comes in a very fair, blonde girl in lightest pales. Alternatively, the opposite could work swell too: gorgeous dark skin in brightest white.
I have found, in working with customers with our very colorful collection, that a lot of the preconceived notions about what colors look good with what haircolor and/or skin tones are misnomers. For example, blondes tend to not like wearing yellow, but in actuality, yellow looks terrific on blondes! Likewise, redheads look most charming in red, but actually not that pretty in green.
If all else fails, there’s always black & white!
xx
CB
Chris will be back next week with more fashion and career advice. Got a question? Email him on askchrisbenz@fashionista.com.
Tags: Color Me Beautiful
Designer(s): Chris Benz
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I remember reading “Color me Beautiful” too as a kid and I am an Autumn too. I Remember that I could never wear pure white but a muted “oyster white” …… “camel” was my color too. Wow! guess what?…..these are the hottest color for Fall 2010
Haha I LOVE Color Me Beautiful! But seriously, I’ve always been a little confused too, because the undertones of a color are sometimes what matter…Like I’m supposed to wear red lipstick with blue undertones I think (?) and I have NO idea how to tell which reds have blue undertones.
Haha I LOVE Color Me Beautiful! But seriously, I’ve always been a little confused too, because the undertones of a color are sometimes what matter…Like I’m supposed to wear red lipstick with blue undertones I think (?) and I have NO idea how to tell which reds have blue undertones.
Here’s a trick to figure out that dilemma … just imagine the color wheel; ‘blue’ reds are any reds that edge toward the blue side of the colorwheel (e.g. adding more and more blue to red would ultimately create purple, which would move the needle that direction on the color wheel). The converse is also true, more ‘orange’ reds are any shade you would find towards the yellow side of red!
The basic idea of Color Me Beautiful is not dark vs. light skin but rather cool vs. warm tones.
People who look good in pink (cool) do not look good in peach (warm) and vice versa.
Look for the undertone in the cheek area of the person’s face. Then check the color’s effect on the rest of their looks. The wrong color will make a person look old. Though many people under 40 can wear pretty much anything anyway.
It’s pretty easy to figure out what colors look good on you. It’s much harder to figure out what colors other people can wear. It’s so annoying to go into a store and the salesperson recommends totally the wrong color clothing or makeup.
what about taking it one color and piece of clothing at a time, looking in the mirror, and deciding if it looks good on you….no color rules at all?…..