Using Zyla’s 8 Basic Colors
There was a fair amount of discussion in the comments on the previous post, and more that I wanted to bring up concerning David Zyla’s color system based on your own personal coloring. My opinions are as follows:
Orange: is either found in the hand, making it a romantic color, or in the eye.
Suggestion: it is probably safe to widen our range of reds beyond just the “pinched fingertip” color to include all the reds and oranges that harmonize with the palm.
Purple: one of the “dramatic” colors, the colors of the veins. Could also be present in the eye.
Suggestion: he does say to pick out several colors of the blood vessels in your wrist. But I personally don’t see these as “dramatic” colors, necessarily. Blues are “trustworthy” colors.
Zyla mentions in the book that mixing the colors according to his recipe results in an individualized color plan (my words). The concept of the formality of each neutral bears a little explanation here. I think when he says “the color of the ring around your iris is your most formal neutral”, he means not that it is the most formal color that you have in your coloring, but that it is the color that a man should use for his first business suit and a woman for her LBD. Admittedly, I am thinking of a couple of family members who have black as their second neutral, but not their first.
And Amy asks:
I never wear my “white”, I feel naked in it. Does that happen to you others? It’s too close to my skin color.
I started a post on this topic. I’m hoping more will come, but every little bit counts, right?
http://growingliketrees.blogspot.com/2011/07/in-which-i-pretend-to-be-style-blogger.html
Here from Amy’s post. I haven’t read the book, but if I’m picking the right colors, my “white” is one … yeah. There’s a yearbook photo of me in that color, and it looks like I don’t have a shirt on! It does look good on me, I think, but it’s not one of my faves.
OK, now that I’ve tried shopping with some of these ideas in mind, I have some more thoughts:
Matching brown and khaki to my hair is a great idea! I love the colors I come back with. Unfortunately the absolutely perfect shade of cord pants at the thrift store were a size six, but I found some pretty close to the right color in my size, and I loved being able to hone in on the perfect color so easily.
I confess, I did kind of respond to the style archetypes. At least it helped me articulate and hone in on a few things I’ve been figuring out for myself: I can’t wear symmetrical, balanced, classic looks. They look very dull on me. Yet I need classy-looking clothes–they just need to be a little bit “off.” That’s what was wrong with my new haircut–too symmetrical. I think I would be what he calls a High Autumn. Imitating my sister, who has similar coloring but is more of a Mellow Autumn and looks great in simple, classic lines, has never quite worked for me.
Anyway, I found an awesome, asymmetrical necklace with beads and ribbon and chains and things at a consignment shop that is really livening up some classic outfits for me.
That is so interesting: I’ve been thinking about symmetry recently, and wondering what makes it work for some and not for others. On me, the assymetry that’s popular now would just look hokey, but my daughter loves it. OTOH, perfect symmetry with my hair would be utterly impossible for me to achieve.
If you have any additional insights on the “whys”, let me know.
Your comment also illustrates how easy it is to go wrong, just by listening to the wrong voices or by wearing stuff that seems like it should work. What has been interesting to me is more the idea of being a “spring”. It is the only season that no professional color draper ever suggested; yet when I think of the muted colors the experts recommend for me, I feel somehow like the world is conspiring to make me boring. I bought an intense pink tee shirt the other day (for $1 at Walmart, is that evil? lol) which the experts would all tell me is too intense for my so-called “soft” coloring. The hero was with me, though, and convinced me that it looked about as good as the butter yellow which I knew was a good color. But - ha ha - it isn’t technically one of the colors in my coloring. Not far from my pinched fingertip, though.
Have not bought my own copy of the book yet, but I’ve really been wanting it! So much to think about! Btw, your necklace sounds fabulous! Congratulations.