Tonal vs Seasonal Analysis

I recently discovered a new website "Looking Stylish", which has some great advice for those of us trying to build a coherent capsule wardrobe based around our best colours. What interested me in particular was that Maria uses tonal analysis rather than the usual seasonal colour analysis, which ties in with the 7 Steps to Style system used by Imogen. Of course colour is only one of the 7 steps, as explained in my previous posts. Using Imogen's system I am an Enigmatic, which is a combination of deep, smoky and warm: you can see my swatch in the photo below.

Maria told me that my dominant colour characteristic is warm and my secondary is soft. She said that the colour of the top in the picture below is perfect for me: it just so happens that it blends well with the colours in my swatch as well as being warm and soft.....!

The closest match to my dominant colour characteristics is Autumn in the seasonal analysis system but, like any attempts to pigeon-hole human beings, it's not always accurate and not all Autumn colours look good on me. I think this is always going to be a problem when undertaking any type of colour analysis. How can you divide individuals' colouring into four, twelve, sixteen or any other arbitrary number of groups? We are a lot more complex than these systems would suggest.

Going back to the aim of building a capsule wardrobe, and starting with some colours that already reside in my current wardrobe, my neutrals for autumn and winter are going to be navy and brown., with accents of coral (see above photo), aqua, teal and spice red. Of course I can't afford to buy an entirely new wardrobe but, as items need replacing, these will be the colours that replace them.

You may be interested in checking out the following post on Looking Stylish: Capsule Wardrobe Essentials. When you visit this page you can also sign up for Maria's Friday Bulletin and you can download your free colour guide if you're not sure what your colour dominant is.

Do let me know what your colour dominant is and whether you prefer this way of deciding your best colours to the traditional seasonal colour analysis. Having read many of Maria's blog posts, and looked at various capsule wardrobes for those of us with warm colouring, I for one am finding it very helpful.

If you decide to join the Looking Stylish Style Club like I did, you will not only have access to even more helpful information, but you will also receive a monthly magazine and can join the friendly and helpful Style Club facebook group. I hope to see you there!