Sue's Musings About Colour Analysis ... and maybe some other things too: Case Study

Saturday nights currently see me glued to the sofa for Strictly Come Dancing – taking in the moves and the music, the dresses and glamour, and the banter. I sit there, iPad on lap, googling pictures of whoever is on the screen, particularly if I’m not convinced they are wearing their best colours.

Susanna Reid - well-known BBC1 morning news presenter, was the first of the series to catch my eye, and I can still vividly remember the outfit. It was her tango dress – of brilliant white and black, with flashes of bright blue and pink, which I thought looked poor colour-wise for her.

The darkness (deepness) of the black seemed fine against her skin, but not the brilliant white, which just glared out as "harsh"" on her that evening. Well, it was enough for me to say at the time "what horrible colours on her!". (As an aside, you can see that the darkness of the black suits Susanna, but not her partner, Kevin; the black looks far too dark and overpowers his softer, lighter colouring. The brilliant white doesn't do a lot for Kevin, either).

Her hair looked as though it had lost its normal warm-coloured glow, and it looked too black (cool); it just looked wrong against her face (... it does appear from the photo that there may be a headpiece on top of her head, and that this is neither her natural hair nor colour).

Looking at the pictures now, I don’t think she looks harmonised, and I notice the dress and hair more than her face – a sign that something is not right. Going back to that evening, she "jarred" (in my eyes), which is why she is on my list to case study, to work out why the dress (colourwise) was not quite right for her.

Analysis:
1. I deduce that Susanna is one of the “Deeps” i.e. a Deep Autumn or Deep Winter. This is due to the darkness (also referred to as "deepness") of her overall look i.e. dark eyes, dark hair, dark eyebrows. Deepness is the first colouring characteristic I notice about her.

2 My hunch is that she may be a Deep Autumn (“warm” tones) rather than a Deep Winter (“cool” tones). This is because;

- her eyes; have a very warm tone to them (by that, I mean rich olivey/ hazel/ golden tones to the brown ), which is a typical eye colour for a Deep Autumn;
- her hair (immediately above), appears to be dark brown naturally. I can’t see alot of natural warmth (redness) in this alone, so that by itself does not help me;
- her skin; from various pictures I’d seen, appears to have a warmish glow to it. Also, golden freckles are typical of a warm skin tone. By “warmish glow”, I mean there is an orangey/ yellow tone – which can be difficult to see, but becomes more obvious by the colour of clothes worn against the skin. For instance, take these two pictures:

The coral-red sports top in the top picture is a “warm” red i.e. it is a red with a touch of yellow to it, so it veers towards orange on a colour wheel. It has “warmth”. Whereas, the fushia pink dress in the lower picture is a cool red (well pink, if we are being picky :-), which is red with a tint of white in it!). This is a red with a touch of blue i.e a blue-red - which takes it closer to blue (a cool colour) on a colour wheel. It therefore has “coolness”.

I think the coral red i.e. the warmer red (top picture) tones in better with her skin; it just looks right and you notice her face, not the colour of her clothes. Whereas, the fushia pink i.e. the cool red, seems at odds with her skin – and I am tending to notice the colour of her dress more than her face.

As warm skin will harmonise better with “warmer” colours - I deduced from this test, that Susanna has warmth to her skin. So I am still thinking Deep Autumn (A “Deep Winter” would suit the fushia pink more than the coral pink).

- Finally, “that” tango dress, with its brilliant white, which caught my attention in the first place. Brilliant white is a “best” colour for a “Winter” and would not suit a Deep Autumn (or any warm-skinned person). So is she were a Deep Winter, then this dress (and her blackened hair) may have looked far better on her than it did.

Conclusion:
Deep Autumn.

Deep Autumn colours:
A sample of the Deep Autumn Palette (the colours are richer i.e brighter, in real life than the screen shows):

Deep Autumn "best" looks:
- deep, darker, rich colours, with overall warmth;
- black is fine, but is best worn alongside a warmer colour;
- an overall dark look, or dark with light, but a 100% light look isn't flattering.

Susanna NOT in Deep Autumn colours i.e not at her best:

Susanna looking her finest in Deep Autumn colours

Maybe you can see how "off" the fushia dress, and black and white Tango dress look in comparison now?