Dressing for your season – Outfits for a Winter colour palette

Seasonal colour analysis, colour theory, and “dressing for your season” are all the rage right now, with many fashionistas using these tools to improve their style and make shopping easier. But what is seasonal colour analysis exactly?

Seasonal colour analysis uses colour psychology and colour wheel analysis to help fashion-conscious consumers choose clothing that complements their features and skin tones. This practice is based on the colour theory, which serves as a practical guide for analysing how colour works in fashion, design, and art.

Seasonal colour analysis is the process of determining the ideal colour palette for a person based on their skin tone, eyes, hair, and lips. Suzanne Caygill, an American colour theorist, popularised the method in the 1980s by combining colour psychology and seasonal palette theory. Caygill’s methodology gained tremendous popularity among colour experts, inspiring psychologist Carole Jackson to create the book Colour Me Beautiful.

We will be referring to a twelve-season colour analysis, which divides the four main seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) into three sub-seasons each, resulting in a total of twelve seasons.

While some people might be able to immediately recognise themselves in one of the “main” seasons, other folks might lean toward less pronounced and more neutral types: this is where the twelve-season model comes in. Finding your colour season is easier said than done, and we especially love this guide on the topic.

To make a very long story as short as possible, the two basic variables that determine your seasonal type are:

1. The undertone of your complexion, hair, and eyes (warm/golden or cool/ashy).
2. How light or deep your general colouration—and specifically your hair—is.

Seasons reflect the four distinct combinations of these two variables.

If your natural hair colour is lighter than medium brown, you are classified as Spring or Summer; if it is darker, you are classified as Winter or Autumn.

If your skin tone and hair have a warm undertone, or you are a natural redhead, you would be labelled as either a Spring or an Autumn; if your complexion has a blue-ish, chilly undertone and your hair is more ashy and has no golden or red highlights, you are either a Summer or a Winter.

If your features are cool-toned, ashy, and dark, you might very well be a Winter. If that’s the case, you’re in the right place! Welcome to Stylight’s shopping guide for the Winter colour season.

The Winter palette is cool, clean, vibrant, and high-contrast. It is the only palette that includes true white and black, as well as the most vibrant shades of red, green, pink, and blue. Winter is a season of stark contrasts, with long nights immersing the natural world in darkness and white snow covering the ground. As a result, Winter characteristics are cool, bright, and dark, giving them a highly contrasting and dazzling appearance.

The Winter season is classified into three sub-seasons: Dark Winter, True Winter, and Bright Winter.

Dark Winter is—as the name suggests—the darkest type of the Winter season. The primary aspect of this season’s overall appearance is dark, while the secondary aspect is cool—this means that cool colours will suit a Dark Winter better than warm ones. Cool undertones also mean that a Dark Winters suit silver better than gold.

A Dark Winter is characterised by high contrast between the features: between hair, eyes, and complexion for fair-skinned individuals and between teeth, the whites of the eyes, and complexion for dark-skinned folks.

They have dark eyes (very dark olive, dark hazel and even a very deep, cool blue) with a border defining the iris and spokes on the iris—a feature they share with other Winters.

Their skin’s undertones are neutral or neutral/cool, and their complexion ranges from fair to dark.

Their hair is dark, from medium brown to black, neutral to slightly ashy, and doesn’t have highlights, nor develops any during the summer.

The two possible values for Dark Winters are:

1. All dark features.
2. Dark hair and eyes paired with light skin.

The colours best suited for a Dark Winter are, well, dark and intense, and combine depth with coolness. They are also somewhat bright to match the natural intensity of this season’s natural colouring.

Dark Winters can also handle a palette of highly contrasted, relatively bright colours: pinks, reds and purples, as well as blues.

When it comes to neutrals, we recommend using black as a dark neutral if you have fair skin but using it sparingly if you’re dark-skinned. Light beiges and greys make great light neutrals for Dark Winters, while pure white is best paired with dark colours to achieve contrast. A Dark Winter’s best metals are silver, pewter, and sometimes even dark gold.

Generally speaking, a Dark Winter should avoid warm earthy colours (like golden oranges and browns), warm pastels, and desaturated colours (like dusty yellow).

When putting together a look, you should always try and combine a neutral with an accent colour. For example, you could pair a light neutral like pale grey with a dark accent hue, like deep purple; or a dark neutral like forest green with a bright accent like fuchsia.

Monochromatic and neutrals-only combinations tend to look dull on Dark Winters, even though some fair-skinned folks can suit total-black looks.

Since your natural colouring is highly contrasted, opt for patterns that reflect this natural high contrast level rather than ones which blend too much together. Great patterns for Dark Winter are bold, highly contrasted, and contain unusual and unexpected elements.

When it comes to make-up, Dark Winters are able to use black to achieve dramatic looks, while purples, blues, and greens are great when used as accent colours. Greyish greens work well, and dark purples work especially well on brown eyes. Avoid completely matte finishes and opt instead for a slight shine.

Dark Winter boasts a cohort of ultra-stylish celebs you can look to for inspiration. Some of them include:

• Salma Hayek
• Jodie Turner-Smith
• Gemma Chan
• Demi Moore
• Kim Kardashian
• Jenna Ortega

The second Winter sub-season, True Winter, is cool and bright. True Winter is considered the “original” Winter season, the one most people associate with Winter colourways.

The primary colour aspect of a True Winter’s overall appearance is cool, and the secondary aspect is bright.

Just like the other Winter sub-season, True Winter is characterised by a high contrast between features.

Their eyes and skin are cool with blue undertones, ranging from cool blue to icy hazel for the former and from fair to dark for the latter.

Their hair is dark, from a deep ash brown to black with no natural highlights.

The best colours for a True Winter will be cool with a clear blue undertone, like icy pinks, cool purples, and frosty blues.

As a Winter season, True Winter can handle both true black and true white.

True Winters should use deep blues and browns as dark neutrals and fair beiges and greys as light neutrals. Their best metals are silver and platinum.

True Winters should avoid warm earthy colours (like rusty oranges and golden browns) and soft, muted colours (like dusty blue and lavender).

If a True Winter wishes to wear pastel colours, they should use the icy versions on their palette as accent colours and combine them with dark neutrals.

Good news for all True Winters: you are the only season who can pull off the black-and-white combo!

Generally speaking, True Winters should always pair a neutral (light or dark) with a contrasting accent colour, but all-dark and all-light looks are also flattering. Try pairing dark blues with light blues, or light grey and a dark magenta pink.

When it comes to prints, opt for patterns that reflect your natural high contrast level rather than ones which blend too much together. Great patterns for True Winter are bold, highly contrasted, black and white, and neon coloured—in keeping with the bright, saturated colours on the palette.

What make-up is best suited for True Winters? As your palette suggests, bright but cool colours are the way to go: cool greys, greens, blues, purples, and pinks are all right up your alley.

True Winter boasts a cohort of ultra-stylish celebs you can look to for inspiration. Some of them include:

• Kendall Jenner
• Jameela Jamil
• Selena Gomez
• Amal Clooney
• Constance Wu
• Janelle Monáe

As part of the Winter family, Bright Winters are cool-toned but also, as the name suggests, bright. Of all the Winter sub-seasons, Bright Winter is the one with the highest contrast between skin, hair and eyes.

The primary colour aspect of their overall appearance is bright, and the secondary aspect is cool— meaning cool colours suit them better than warmer ones.

Bright Winters are known for their beautiful eyes, which are often their most striking feature, and can range in colour from blue to cyan and from dark brown to black.

A Bright Winter’s skin is neutral to neutral-cool in undertone and from fair to deep in shade. The skin’s appearance is clear, and it often has a certain translucent quality to it. Darker skins have a glowing, almost glassy shine to them. Some Bright Winters also have freckles.

Bright Winters’ hair is medium-brown to black and can either have a cool (blue or ash) or neutral undertone.

Bright Winters look their best in extremely intense, light, dark and vibrant colours—they can handle the most saturated, vivid colours of all the seasons.

Acid greens, neon yellows, and bright fuchsias are right up Bright Winter’s alley and it’s extremely easy for Bright Winters to combine them together.

Even neutrals are highly contrasted for Bright Winters: very dark charcoal greys are great as dark neutrals, while light beiges, greys, and true white are the perfect light neutrals. Their best metals are silver and platinum.

Bright Winters should avoid rich, warm shades (like orangey browns and golden yellows) and soft, toned-down earth shades (pale gold and muted brown).

While other seasons are not intense enough to handle black and white together, Bright Winters are too intense for this colour combo: they should add a brighter colour to lift the outfit and match their high contrast.

Bright Winters shouldn’t be afraid to combine unlikely colours—particularly those sitting opposite each other on the colour wheel, such as hot pink and teal. They are the only sub-season in the Winter family who can do this, so better take advantage of the opportunity!

When styling both light and dark neutrals, Bright Winters should always go for bright accent colours like lemon yellow with black and acid green with beige.

Since their natural colouring is highly contrasted, Bright Winters should opt for patterns that reflect their natural high contrast level rather than ones which blend too much together. Great patterns for Bright Winter are bold, highly contrasted, black and white, and neon coloured—in keeping with the bright, saturated colours on the palette.

The high-contrast nature of Bright Winters is reflected in their make-up choices: this sub-season is best suited for true reds, hot pinks, and jewel tones, as well as cool-toned neutrals like greys.

Dark Winter boasts a cohort of ultra-stylish celebs you can look to for inspiration. Some of them include:

• Megan Fox
• Olivia Munn
• Danai Gurira
• Lupita Nyong’o
• Laura Harrier
• Dua Lipa