If you’re curious as to why some colors highlight your best features and others make you look washed out, you’ve found the right article. 

Color seasons in fashion is a key concept, and understanding how it works and what’s yours might be the answer you are looking for when going out shopping. 

You’ll be able to pick out more flattering clothes, enhancing your natural beauty. 

Let’s explore the world of color seasons and find out how to discover what’s yours. 

Color seasons 101

In fashion, the concept of color seasons is based on the idea that a person’s “natural coloring” —meaning a combination of hair color, skin tone, and eye color— goes best with certain shades and not as well with others. 

This is a concept borrowed from the world of arts, where artists such as Johannes Itten noticed that people look great when they’re around colors that complement their natural features. 

The fashion industry has been related to art and arguably has been art from the get-go. 

Fashion designers understand color theory, and they often express themselves through their work. Research shows that the fashion market will probably reach US$770.90bn in 2024. 

There are a lot of trends to choose from here, but what suits you best? Let’s find out.

The four seasons 

There are four main categories in which color seasons are classified: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. 

Of course, each season has its palette, and this palette can be subdivided into twelve categories. 

This is how diverse individual coloring can be! So, for a quick rundown: 

• Spring: Warm, light, and clear colors. Some good examples are fresh flowers, bright sunlight, and new grass. 
• Summer: Here, we can find cooler, softer, and lighter colors. Think of clear skies, pastel shades, and fresh fruit.
• Autumn: for this category, we have warm, rich, and somewhat muted colors. Browns, golden shades, think of falling leaves and harvest times. 
• Winter: In winter we find cool, vivid, and deep colors. Bright berries, pine trees, and snowy landscapes are some of the examples in this season. 

Determining your color season

As we introduced before, finding out what’s your color season involves examining your hair color, skin tone, and eye color. 

Let’s go step-by-step. 

Step 1: What’s your skin tone?

Here, you can find the foundation of your color season: warm, cool, or neutral. Here’s what to look for:

• If your skin has yellow, golden, or peachy tones, or if the veins on your wrist look greenish, you have warm undertones. Gold jewelry looks best on you. 
• If you have pink, red, or blue hues, your skin can have a cool undertone. The same thing happens if your veins look bluish and if silver jewelry compliments you better than gold. 
• When both silver and golden jewelry look good on you, you probably have a neutral undertone. 

Step 2: Examine your hair color

Oftentimes, the most striking feature of our body can be our hair. That’s why it plays a crucial role in determining your color season. Here’s how to classify them:

• Golden blonde, strawberry blonde, auburn, and brown with warm highlights are, of course, warm hair colors. 
• For cool hair colors, we have shades like platinum blonde, jet black, ash blonde, and brown with cool undertones. 

Step 3: Analyze your eye color

For a final step, let’s examine your eye color. This can help you fine-tune your seasonal palette and bring out your eyes with the right color in your wardrobe. Here’s the list for you:

• Warm eye colors are shades like warm brown, hazel, and green with golden flecks. 
• Cool eye colors are, of course, blue, gray, and green with blue flecks and deep brown. 

Finding out your season

Once you have an accurate assessment of your skin tone, hair, and eye color, you can combine these three elements and find out what your season is. Let’s give you some references: 

• Spring: A spring season means you have light hair, like blonde, and light eyes, blue or green. Your skin, however, has warm undertones. 
• Summer: Being a summer means you have dark hair, like auburn and warm brown, and warm eyes, such as hazel. Your skin has warm undertones. 
• Autumn: People who classify as autumn have warm undertones with dark hair and warm eyes. 
• Winter: Winter people have dark hair and skin with cool undertones. They often have cool eyes, like deep brown and blue. 

Professional color analysis

If you’re not sure what your season is, a lot of people hire the services of a professional. 

Color consultants go shade by shade, and they find out what flatters you the most. They drape different colored fabrics to determine which ones make your best features come out. 

Of course, while you’re researching a professional to hire, don’t forget to stay safe online. 

Consider using a VPN like Surfshark for more security, and always remember not to leave too much data on websites. 

Especially if you’re going to shop online, since by 2027, online fashion shops could reach just over 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars. Remember, scammers are always watching. 

Final thoughts

In your fashion journey, finding out what your season is can change the game for the better. 

If you understand and apply this concept when going shopping, your wardrobe will look a lot more flattering, and it will make you feel your best. 

So, whether you determine it on your own, or look for a professional, the result is that your self-esteem goes up. What’s not to love? Explore this concept and unlock the secret to a better wardrobe.