Every year when the weather turns, I see so many inquiries from women who are Brights, Lights, True Spring, and True Summer wondering what they should wear in the autumn and winter months.
The simplest answer is that you should continue wearing the colors that suit you best. Light Summers shouldn’t suddenly start wearing warm mustard, and Bright Springs shouldn’t start wearing dark burgundy. While you might look appropriate for the season of the year, you will not look your best, any more than you would look your best wearing mustard or burgundy in July.
That said, I know this pull toward cozy, autumn colors is a strong one for many women. You may want to carefully bend the boundaries of your season, or choose colors within your season that feel more autumnal to you.
Here are some ways to tweak your season toward its warmer/darker shades, construct outfits to feel more autumnal, and even indulge in autumn colors outside of your style.
For Clothing/Makeup:
If you’re a Bright Winter, you’ll want to look for deep emerald, berry purple, and rich navy during this time. If you can find Bright Winter’s cool espresso brown, it’s an excellent choice. You might prefer red lipstick over pink or fuchsia.
If you’re a Bright Spring, you’ll want to look for mango yellow, clear root beer brown, rich coral, and bright navy. For lipstick, you might like orange-toned coral and red more than pink.
If you’re a True Spring, this transition is a little easier due to your inherent warmth. Look for warm sandy beige, coconut brown, golden yellow, and juicy red-orange. Your usual orange-red lipstick will work just fine - on you, no one will notice they aren’t autumn shades.
If you’re a Light Spring, you might like more neutrals during this time of year, like sandy taupe and warm light brown, with accents of fresh golden green and papaya. Resist the urge to choose browner lipsticks, which will look muddy. Instead, go for cantaloupe or sheer gold.
If you’re a Light Summer, things get tricky due to your cooler palette. Look for your soft light aubergine, blue gray, and navy, with watermelon red and raspberry pink as accent colors. For lipstick, you might prefer a warmer coral-rose during this season.
If you’re a True Summer, neutrals and darker shades will help make up for the distinct lack of warmth in your palette. Look for your denim blue, soft grape, and red berry. Gray-taupe and cool cocoa brown are great neutrals. For lipstick, choose the darker shades of raspberry and rose in your palette.
For Outfits:
One of the hallmarks of autumn colors in general is that they are not very high contrast in relationship to one another. When putting autumn outfits together, aim for a more layered or blended look by combining different shades of the same color. You can also choose to wear predominantly your season’s neutrals, with a pop of seasonally-appropriate color. For a Light Spring, this might be a warm ivory sweater paired with a golden khaki skirt and boots, and a cantaloupe purse.
Earthy detailing can also add an autumnal feel to your clothing and accessories. Fringe on a scarf, patterned buttons, and polymer clay or leather earrings are great for this. Textured fabrics like cable knit (and sweater knits in general), ribbing, and corduroy feel cozy regardless of color. Grommets, whipstitching, tassels, embroidery, braiding, and other design motifs can add texture and visual interest to your seasonal colors.
For Beyond:
Nail polish can be a cheap and fun way to step outside of your season without investing serious money or storage space in clothing that doesn’t work for your coloring. If you usually get your nails professionally done, you won’t even get stuck with the bottle.
One of my favorite ways to indulge a craving for colors outside of my season is to acquire them in a mug, a notebook, a phone case, or a throw blanket - something I’ll be in contact with on a daily basis, but not wearing on my body. After all, I’m not usually staring at my own outfit or makeup all day. This way you get all the enjoyment of looking at the colors, but you won’t suffer the visual side effects.
Want to work with me? My fall books are open for color analysis, image analysis, and style coaching packages. You can explore all of them here!