Notes on Styling | 61 | So many colour thoughts.

I love talking about all things colour in styling.

So much so I’m at it again this week.

In case you missed last Sunday’s post, you can read back here - it was specifically about the decision to go grey naturally and aligning your style to this decision. It was so great to hear the comments shared and stories emailed to me - THANK YOU. Whether you colour your hair or are deciding not to anymore, our hair is so wrapped up in how we feel about our style.

My little greys this week :-)

If you feel good about one you are much more likely to feel good about the other. Your style will always feel best when you feel happy with all it’s parts - of which your hair is a big part. And so I wanted to share (with their permission of course) some of the thoughts you guys posted or emailed to me, which have so many little nuggets.

I hope they help you along your journey - to colour or not to colour.

I also talk this week a little about about the colour process I use with clients as part of their style design process with me.

Onward and happy weekend.

Jx

Sue

“I absolutely love this topic too…no matter how much I learn, there’s always so much more to discover. In terms of Feng Shui my colours are much more Metal since going grey; I rock pastels! 🤣 But I still need the red and purple of Fire to support my intentions on ‘those’ days, it’s easy for others to overlook a woman with grey hair, no matter how elegant, if there isn’t a bit of ‘punch’ to her colours. If we’re talking seasonal colour analysis, yes, my colours have softened with age, my eyes are no longer as bright as they were and my hair varies with the light that shines on it. I was classed as a Winter long ago, but more recently as Light Summer. As long as I stay broadly cool, I’m fine. Colour theory is always nuanced when it comes to the practice of it…and always fascinating.”

I should caveat this by saying Sue is a style aficionado! She has been investing in and enjoying her style and exploring it as an evolving thing for a long time, by her own admission. I love having the chats with Sue. I created some styling boards for her a while back too, of which her grey hair formed a big part of the colour direction I took.

Helen

“Hi Julie, I had dark brown hair when I was younger. I did dye my hair for many years and made the decision several years ago to stop. I now use a purple shampoo occasionally to soften the grey. I actually get a lot of compliments about my hair which I find funny. I am completely comfortable with my grey hair. I have changed colors that I wear now, black and white which I could not wear previously look good now.”

Lastly another Sue and this time my wonderful very very talented Style Coach, Feng Shui Teach (my Feng Shui Teacher) and friend Sue Donnelly.

“I too was mousy brown as a teenager. Spent my life being blonde and suffering same warm issues that you describe. By the time I’d gone platinum my whole routine was based around blue shampoos and purple toners every 3 weeks on top of the bleach. An accident with said bleach put paid to my remaining platinum and I cried when I realised I would need to go grey. So silly in retrospect. I love being grey and so will you. Trust me on this. When you wear cool tones you will rock them even more. Join the club!”

A STYLE DESIGN COLOUR JOURNEY

THE total colour nerd in me thinks this section is far from complete but in the spirit of trying to overcome my need for perfectionism before I put things out, here we are.

a picture I saw this week that was very inspiring to me ;-)

I will call this a jotting down of my process as I navigate encompassing some different methods into one coaching process to really design a look that feels totally you.

When I first meet my client on day one in their home, we look at colour in terms of their existing clothes. Colour is discussed in looser terms, I am taking a lot in. Looking. Seeing what you are drawn too. How much or how little you seem to like. What the reasons seem to be for this. I am taking in tones and depths, neutrals and brights and any other colour patterns I see. I try now to overwhelm you, my lovely client with all this on day one but it is helping me build a picture, and it will find it’s way into so many other discussions we have during our time together.

Starting in Session 2, our colour session.

Do you fall neatly into a Season?

I first use the Seasonal system to identify if a person falls neatly into ‘Spring’ ‘Summer’ ‘Autumn’ or ‘Winter’ by testing with over 100 colours on my virtual colour charts (from session 2 all steps happen online as I have all the info I need from our day together).

The first step of Seasonal Flow is exploring your skin tone.

Then we move onto colour charts and explore skin-tone and eye colour.

A little sample of virtual colour cards.

To fall neatly into a season, you will have all 3 of that season’s colour tones clearly present when in your unique mix of features.

SPRING Light/ Warm/ Bright

SUMMER Light/ Cool/ Soft

AUTUMN Soft/ Warm/ Deep

WINTER Deep/ Cool/ Bright

However, not every woman falls neatly into a season. In fact it’s much more common not too. And so when this happens I continue the process with ‘Tonal’ colour testing, which then identifies really which 2 tones (from the above seasonal tones) are most dominant in your colouring.

If not, what are your two Dominant Colour Tones?

Depending on what comes out of that you will have a season you sit closest too but tonal testing just helps us be a little more specific and can explain that for so many women who have been told they are a certain ‘season’ - why some colours within that season, still kind of wash you out.

For example, you often see someone who is more tonally ‘Soft & Warm’ so lovely muted Autumnal colours work so well against her skin and hair and eyes but add in something brighter or very very strong from the deep end of Autumn and it might overpower her overall ‘Softness’. Tonal testing therefore, in some cases can help you be really specific.

This is an Autumnal palette, which with my dyed hair (this picture was taken when I first dyed it warm brown) looked great against my hair but when you take all the factors into account (blue eyes/ cool skin undertone), these colours kind of end up in a fight between skin and hair. Granted, it is hard to tell here but you get the process. I have seen this fight so much with clients. Having the facts just helps you make the best decision for you.

Once I have the best colour direction and palette for a client, whether that’s a seasonal palette or a more specific tonal palette, we take that forward and explore this colour direction more holistically using The Chinese 5 Elements.

We start with questions around our colour palette.

• How does this palette feel/ initial thoughts and feelings?

• We explore looks (see below) using this colour direction and see how this feels as seeing a palette in looks can have a big impact one way or another.

  

• We look at how a colour palette can still take 100’s of actual style directions. You can take a soft colour palette and make it feel creative or minimal or….

• We will also examine what you love from a colour perspective in your existing wardrobe. This is where you begin to see why certain colours have been worn and loved and maybe why you’ve always had questions about others.

• In lots of cases, the colour palette is not what is in your wardrobe at all and that’s ok too. Remember, this is about what happens from now. You have to give yourself time and space to digest colour and it’s knock-on effects & that takes time. You can still love what you own, but you might make tweaks going forward that end up surprising you.

Taking it Deeper

The next part of colour exploration that I complete with a client is in using The 5 Chinese Elements to help us dig down into what really you drives you towards certain aesthetics and ideas. What truly matters in your clothes comes from the innate part of who you are and it helps us to get there by identifying what mix of the 5 Chinese Elements (for this purpose, I call them my Styling Elements) can teach us, which ends in the creation and vision of your own unique mix of colours that will likely include a mix of your colour palette alongside other colours and ideas you love for other (important) reasons.

Your colour analysis palette may be Summer and your Elements may be ‘Fire’ & ‘Metal’.

It is my job to combine this mix into a direction we take. And this BECOMES THE STYLE RECIPE we are playing with in your looks and in feeling more confident in putting clothes together. Here’s a little example. Fire personalities love a statement. Bold and interesting patterns, colours and ideas light them up in their clothes. Metal on the other hand has more of a preference for quality items, lighter colour tones, a feeling of elegance. A putting together of items with this mix of detail is a dance of and a play in order to land on how much or how little of each part of you, feels best to you in a look. and this play continues on your own once I have left you too.

That’s the thing with style. Once you begin to explore, the fun and learning and connection and confidence building and creativity becomes part of your everyday.

So for example we have soft colours here but made to look laid back, cool, interesting with a silver bag (fire), the lighter colour direction (both summer and metal). I could have another client whose Metal is more dominant and she might love this look but swaps out the trainer for a more sophisticated heel.

This is another expression of the same combination of elements - Fire, Metal & Soft summer palette. Perhaps all you need in an outfit is something different in an accessory and everything else feels great in Soft Summer and with a feeling of Sophistication that we bring by focusing on Metal items.

THE LAST STEP - YOUR STYLING BOARDS

Finally, our exploration of colour takes us ultimately to the creation of new looks on Styling Boards because the truth comes through in the clothes!

And, well - new looks and to see things come to life is MAGIC!

These are Styling Boards for a client with a warm colour direction with Metal & Fire Style Elements.

It’s easy in theory to love an abstract idea on a mood board but seeing those ideas using real clothes and then putting them on and feeling them on your body will bring out your truth - one you may not even be aware of yet when you explore colour in a colour session.

For me, colour used to be about learning your colour facts but now it’s more so about understanding yourself better so you can find your unique flow with it all.

By understanding your skin tone, your eye colour, your hair colour, you can see perhaps why some items have gotten worn so much and others have always felt, well, a bit meh. It can be a big part of understanding your current wardrobe, outfits, loves and not so much. But it is the beginning of knowing for you why, you are drawn to certain things.

It also helps of course with make-up colour direction buys, which is also an integral part of our everyday style.

But for me exploring your style personality and drivers using the 5 Elements is the game changer. It helps you see beyond the physical parts of yourself to see into your soul, to the parts that are hard to see as our focus becomes so crowded by our habits and beliefs.

By having this understanding you can explore why warm carmel tones are not the greatest for your skin tone but they still feel so good to you. Maybe it’s because you like to wear them in a minimally styled way and you can see how your style elements helps you understand these parts of yourself better.

I’ve learnt through my work with the 5 Chinese Elements that our elemental mix can have a bigger impact on our overall Style Design than colour analysis in itself but it is the combination that can be really powerful.

My own Personal Journey.

I know my skin tone is cool.

I have made the decision to explore my grey and see how that feels based on the fact I know it works well with my skin tone and the fact that one of my style words is ‘natural’. This really matters to me in how my clothes and style feels. We all know it doesn’t get more natural than letting the greys free flow! But I am also exploring a more overall cool colour direction with all my clothes, which my elements help to give me a broader perspective on too. My two dominant elements are Wood & Metal.

In terms of colour and texture Wood is drawn more to natural fabrics like denim and linen and also blues and greens on the colour chart. Metal is drawn to more beautiful fabrics like silk but colour-wise, it’s usually neutrals - everything from warm camels to soft whites and delicate creams. When I began to understand my elements I felt so much weight lift off my shoulders around colour. I didn’t HAVE to wear all the cool tones I didn’t like just because they suited me. I loved warm golds and beige and mocha and deep browns. Cools and Warms. It was my Metal alongside my colour instincts leading the way and I realised something I felt for such a long time on shop floors with women. There are deeper reasons, why we like things and some (most of us) are led more by our elements than by colour analysis. This was a powerful learning for me with all the experiences I had.

If I have to pick a colour colour (that isn’t a neutral!) I am drawn to a lavender (I don’t really understand this one myself but it just makes me feel feminine without it being pink). I can see now with my hair turning more grey, that soft blue feels interesting to me but I think I can also already see I am a little more intrigued by and drawn to navy now over camel’s and browns. Last Autumn I invested in a Navy Arket long Wool Coat for this reason and I think this year it might be my most worn. It’s all layers of learning. And. Things change in what what we want.

I’m nowhere near finished on this topic ☺ Notes on Styling could honestly just be about colour and I’d be perfectly happy here. Ironic, given how little colour I love to wear myself. But that’s the truth of being a stylist and coach, it’s not about me, it’s about you and getting you to that place of your own style design through exploration, play and lots of AHA moments in between!

To finish, I have some of the colours that traditionally are identified with each of the elements. I always say, nothing you see or read or learn has to be gospel for you but everything you see and read is another seed to make it easier to know how and why things might feel the way they do when you put them on.

Thanks so much for reading and for being here as always. It’s so appreciated. Would love to continue the conversation below or you can always email hi@juliecobbe.ie.

See you soon,

Julie x