The benefits of having a personal color palette accrue and multiply over time. In the 45 years since I had my first color analysis I’ve saved thousand$$ by steering clear of clothing not in my colors; my clothes and decor all come together as a coherent representation of me; and my ability to discern and appreciate the nuances of the colorful world that surrounds us continues to deepen.
It’s not often I get to work with a client who also had her colors done many decades ago (coincidentally, the same Oakland studio that did mine!). Claire had used her Autumn palette from 1978 not just for clothes but in her large art collection, which already reflected autumnal colors and patterns (dynamic, nature-based, tribal, etc – see many examples of this on my Pinterest board for Autumn types). Last fall she called me to help select paint and couch colors for her brand new (all-white) condo. She had two goals: make it feel like she belonged there, and bring out the best in her artwork. I finally got to see the results this week. Wow! It all came together, which I’ll have to write about in a separate blog post.
The coolest thing was that I also got to update her personal palette. She had gone gray (it happens…) and knew that her skin tones weren’t as bright as they were 40 years ago (that happens too).
The new palette is significantly more subtle and harmonious. Four reasons:
- My analysis process is more sophisticated
- The range of fabric hues (20,000!) at the color lab I use is enormous
- Early color analyses didn’t include skin tones (!) which along with eyes, hair and teeth are the very foundation of current palettes
- Her coloring is more muted (but still, I would never have given her such saturated colors, even then)
- There may be other colors Claire can wear, but if they stick out within the palette, I don’t include them.
Above is an example of how she used the palette in her decor… it’s as if the pillow were designed just for her! The couch is in her skin tone blush. (Palette is somehow washed out in that photo…sorry).
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