Personal Branding, Colour and Style

Green

2015-08-24T13:24:00.000+01:00

Green

LIGHT GREEN	Good for growth, new ideas and a fresh approach	Fresh thinking, harmony, balance, rest, vigorous growth.
DARK GREEN	Denotes long nurtured traditions	Stability, dependable, reliability, reassurance

Green is a healthy colour according to this quote:

‘When you're green, you’re growing. When you're ripe, you rot.’ Ray Croc

I’ve always loved Green, but that is not the case for many of my clients I’ve seen through the years. Given that there is a colour for everyone to look great in AND I’ve seen many people looking great in their best shades of greens, I’ve also experienced a greater frequency of clients expressing a dislike for green over and above any colour, even when it looked good on them. I concluded over time that it must have something to do with the energy and/or the memories it was eliciting.

Everyone in the class agreed that she looked elegant and confident in her 2-star colours, so it was a surprise to hear her say, ‘I don’t like this colour!’

AND PAUSE! The power of silence to let her process what she had just said in contradiction to the feedback given by her friends in the class. As she absorbed the effect the colour was having on her, she continued, ‘And I know why I don’t like them! The woman that went off with my first husband wore these colours’.

Fortunately, she was now happily married so we were able to engage in a conversation about how well she looked, how many ways she could use it, how to introduce it into her life more gently so that she could learn to love the colour the way the colour loved her!

This would probably have been a different experience if she had not been able to identify the source of her distaste so clearly!

Was ‘the other woman’ the green-eyed-monster, or was she herself ‘green with envy’ a few years earlier? I doubt the world would have looked like ‘Green and pleasant lands’

I’m not sure that any other colour conjures up emotions quite like green. Green around the gills suggesting a certain level of nausea has a very different application to that of green fingers and of young people today being taught well with Green principles to respect, conserve and save their natural environment. It is a very grounding colour in my experience and hence, when you consider its energy is that of ‘stability and reassurance’, a possible explanation for seeing green as a popular colour for interior design in traditional living rooms.

Green with envy/green fingers/green eyed monster

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/green-eyed-monster.html

I love the sound of ‘sea green’ as well as the colour and the image it conjures in my mind of azure seas, Mediterranean holidays, warm balmy evenings and diving off the deck of the tourist boat.

Equally delighted was my 6 year old recently with his illustrative description of ‘Troll Snot’ for my spinach based smoothie!

Unfortunately, I too am guilty of disparaging colours not to my liking and I’ve even heard others talk of the ‘sludge’ colour when describing autumn. How much better to picture the leaves as they change and find something to create the image of ochres, oranges and olives in a Mediterranean orchard because, on the right person, that is the effect!

Your Greens range from:	Strong :	Light / Bright
Spring (warm & clear)	Leaf, Kerry	Apple, Mint
Summer (cool & soft)	Sea Green and Jade	Duck Egg to Pastel Aqua
Autumn (warm & soft)	Moss, Dark Olive, Forest	Light Sage
Winter (cool & clear)	Emerald and Pine Green	Ice green

Grow well with your greens, whether experimenting with the fresh and bright end of your spectrum as the vigorous growth of spring, or the deeper end enjoyed by the established trees of both conifer and deciduous forests. There is something indisputably powerful about them, which could account for its ‘marmite’ reactions when people are introduced to their best greens!

Colour mixing your Greens
Spring	A soft background of neutrals (honey, beige, tan) can be complemented beautifully by a bright leaf green as well as a pastel collection of banana, peach and Apple
Summer	A deep collection of burgundy, plum, navy and sea green can always be lightened with a hint of pastel aqua. Or mix sea green with rose brown and mushroom
Autumn	Olives with Orange, Pine green with Royal purple
Winter	Emeralds with…

Green with envy/green fingers/green eyed monster

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/green-eyed-monster.html

Yellow

2015-06-09T14:09:00.000+01:00

YELLOW

Good for sharing factual information, promoting conversation, sociability, family harmony

Joy, happiness, intellect, energy, inspiration

When asked to look at being happy or angry and then attributing a colour to it, Yellow was automatically the colour for happy, Red for anger. The child was about 6 at the time. A purely instinctive reaction, from the heart.

‘There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot but there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun’ – Pablo Picasso

It’s a colour recognised to be good for harmony – is that why we love primroses and daffodils so much in the spring? Energy and inspiration abounds when the newness of spring approaches and I can feel it as I sit looking out to sea with the sun shining down on the golden sands. One of my favourite memories is stopping by a field in Tuscany and absorbing the sunshine and warm energy of the sunflower fields. Sunflowers adorn our walls and a stained glass window adds interest to the view of the neighbours’ wall!

I once heard statistics from car insurance companies that stated yellow cars were less likely to be involved in Road Traffic Incidents. The implication was that the high visibility was effective in raising attention and thus ensuring people kept a safer distance. Never having been a lover of yellow and particularly not yellow cars, I did wonder whether this was more to do with the distinct lack of yellow cars on the road, I can’t see any in the car park! The bright and reflective nature of high visibility clothing certainly ensures that many people are kept safer in potentially dangerous environments.

And yet, while every season has a yellow, like orange, it is another colour which is primarily the domain of the warm toned seasons, spring and autumn. But, unlike orange, each season has a yellow – enjoy yours! If it’s not a 2* colour, then use it for accents and complementing colour schemes.

Try these combinations for something a bit different:

Spring (warm & clear)	With anything from your palette!
Summer (cool & soft)	Primrose, Coral Red and Hyacinth
Autumn (warm & soft)	Yellow Ochre, Orange and Amber
Winter (cool & clear)	Mole, Stone and Acid Yellow

Returning from the hairdressers where people were admiring the natural blonde highlights that adorn my son’s head when the summer arrives, I recognise that many people want to replicate the blonde hair that adorns so many young heads. Apparently, it is the change in hormone levels as we get older which causes most of us to lose the blondeness and turn darker. I recall a very humorous moment when I was in my 20s when someone described me as having dark, curly hair – my program of me says I have blonde, I have the photo to prove it, I was 4!

I believe everyone is lucky to have their natural colour - what we need is learn how to choose the clothes, make-up and hair style that will show it off in its best light! Watch as mousy grey turns to distinguished silver and ‘bleached yellow’ turns a stunning shade of honey beige purely by changing the colours of your clothes and make-up. It is, however very personal and some are not ready to change - if that’s the case, consider temporary colour to help the transition as mentioned in an earlier blog.

‘Without my Johnson trademark mop of yellow hair, I think I would be nothing’ – Rachel Johnson

It’s clearly an emotive colour, I’d love to be a fly on the wall as they get into the nitty gritty of what shade of ‘pastel’ this yellow house needs to be repainted!

And on a practical note, thanks to a school t-shirt, I’ve learnt that yellow needs to be washed with whites to avoid it absorbing all the colours in the wash and turning grey.

Your Yellows range from:	Strong to:	Light / Bright
Spring (warm & clear)	Daffodil, lemon	Lemon
Summer (cool & soft)	Primrose
Autumn (warm & soft)	Old Gold,	Yellow Ochre
Winter (cool & clear)	Acid Yellow	Ice Lemon

As for lipsticks? If in doubt, wear your red but if you aren’t wearing any point of red with your yellows, your favourite colour will harmonise well.

Orange

2015-06-01T12:39:00.001+01:00

ORANGE

A prime communication and meditation colour

Joy, enthusiasm, happiness, creativity, attraction, success, stimulation

Orange – a good colour for restaurants where happiness and joy in communication are fundamental to an enjoyable experience of eating out with family, friends and colleagues! Maybe this is why I feel it’s strongly associated with Retro. For communication and stimulation it appears it’s a highly appropriate choice that my colleague made on the flip charts we’ve been working on as we look at the long term future of the business.

And while Frank Sinatra feels it is the happiest colour, it is a colour (as a Summer) that I struggle with - it’s not in my palette - the closest being Musk Pink, and, as a strong colour, has a strong reaction for me in my environment, to the extent that when I moved to a new house I needed to pull up all the marigolds in the garden and replace them with cyclamen and grape hyacinths! Not so effective on bug control but easier on my eye!

An earlier blog I wrote connecting the colour of your mug to the flavour of your hot chocolate reported that Orange mugs produce the best tasting hot chocolate. No mention was made regarding the research sample as to what season each of the tasters was and thus how much unconscious personal preference may have played a part!

And so I sit down with my purple mug (there wasn’t an orange one!) and consider the virtues of Orange every colour has its place and contribution to the rainbow:

‘There is no blue without yellow and without orange’ – Vincent Van Gogh

In its rightful place, it looks stunning and when I passed a colleague last week wearing an orange top, matching lipstick and a Kingfisher Poncho, I was reminded of the joys of wearing colours appropriately (to the wearer) and in complementary harmony with each other. It was as if the light had been switched on and she was illuminated. The hair colour, cut, make-up, trousers and boots served to support the strength of the picture frame and she was ‘In Focus’.

‘If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable – each segment distinct’ – Letty Cottin Pogrebin

The thirst-quenching fresh flavour of a fresh orange presse.

The burst of zest when my finger nail first breaks the skin of an orange or tangerine.

The juicy calmness I experience from the ripest, juiciest mango.

The warming mellow as orange merges towards rust with its comforting homeliness in soft furnishings.

Orange, as a bright, can make a fantastic accent colour – Men, if you’re an Autumn or a Spring, try it in a tie; you might be surprised at how appropriately impactful it can be when balanced with your trousers/suit/shirt combinations. Particularly stunning against a dark brown, chocolate combination.

Ideas for introducing Orange:

Spring (warm & clear)	Aquas, Turquoises and all the neutrals – navy, browns through tan to cream etc
Summer (cool & soft)	Somewhere you can look at and enjoy it!
Autumn (warm & soft)	With Royal Purple, Apricot, Amber, Rust, and with all your Greens, browns and navy
Winter (cool & clear)	Somewhere you can look at and enjoy it!

And if Orange in its purist form is a bit strong, Autumns can soften it by moving to Amber or Rust while Springs can introduce the lighter Tangerine moving into Salmon or the stronger, deeper Terracotta.

Your Orange lipsticks range from:	Strong to:	Light / Bright
Spring (warm & clear)	Terracotta	Tangerine
Summer (cool & soft)	Musk Pink is the closest but it’s not really there!
Autumn (warm & soft)	Orange, Rust, Amber,
Winter (cool & clear)	Scarlet is the closest, but it’s not really there!

Great Oranges for your Season	Soft	Clear
Warm	Autumn L308, L621, L648, L653	Spring L308, L410

You can wear any colour – of course you can, but they don’t all suit you or make you look your best. If you want to embrace the colour of orange in your life, maybe it’s about knowing it’s there rather than showing it to the world; a piece of orange fabric, orange underwear, a picture of wonderful things that are orange.

I love pictures, photos and imagery – maybe I’ll try that! Put it where I can look at it, rather than putting it on me and making other people look at it. Remember, I make the colour look good (or not) as much as the colour makes me look good (or not)!

Brown

2015-03-02T15:43:00.000+00:00

BROWN

Good for rustic homeliness

Warmth, earthiness, reliability, support.

Brown

What can I say about this? As a summer it is no longer my favourite colour, much preferring the prettier shades of pink, however, I clearly remember a phase in my childhood when brown was the ‘in colour’ for me. AND with a husband who is an autumn, surrounded by friends and family of all seasons, I can clearly see browns working well, weaving that luxurious, subtle harmonious flow of neutrals – just not on me!

As the colour of rustic homeliness, I read a recommendation somewhere to wear brown when ‘first meeting the mother-in-law’, on the basis that it’s a non-threatening colour and her son would be in safe hands! I guess if you want to portray that image, then it’s good advice…!

When we settle into our sofas and relax into our armchairs at the end of a long day, we need to feel safe, secure and restful. The pace of life is such these days that ‘grounding’ is required for its restorative powers. As I pass through friends’ homes, I recognise a proliferation of warm toned colour themes with accents being set off by the neutral of brown in its various forms: beige, tan, chocolate, mahogany, mole, oatmeal and stone. Interestingly, regardless of what the inhabitant’s seasons are, there is still a propensity to furnishing in warm shades.

I’ve noticed that when I’m in need of restorative time, I move towards my browns which start at Rose Brown and verge into plums/purples; when I’m in action, inspired and engaged with work, life and business, I tend to wear more blues, reds and greens.

On the basis that everyone has every colour available to them, we each need to identify which shade of the colour works best for us and, if looking for a specific colour such as brown, which shade is yours? Is it dark brown, chocolate, moving into burnished burgundy/dark red or chestnut? Winters particularly, need to make sure their ‘brown’ goes no warmer than the beautiful, luxurious mole, but be warned everyone else, mole won’t look luxurious on many others. If Brown isn’t great at 75% or 50%, try accenting with piping or patterns to incorporate the colour and contrast without dominating the outfit….and you.

I wonder whether Winston Churchill was a Winter, as a result of this statement:

“I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.” — Winston Churchill

Remembering of course that every 5 years, “Brown is the new Black” and referring to Almonds, Chocolate, Nutmeg, Beer and Coffee, whoever you are.

Phrases:

· As brown as a berry - alluding to our never ending search to be tanned. From

Elizabeth I when pale, sallow skin was a sign of being able to afford a life indoors

· Browned Off – WWII phrase signifying ‘fed up’ or ‘bored stiff’

· To be done brown – to be deceived, taken in

· Brown Badger – swot type of undergraduate, derived from the brown attaché case

which students used to carry their books!

· Brownie points - a hypothetical social currency, which can be acquired by doing good

deeds or earning favour in the eyes of another

· Brown Shirts – Hitler’s Nazi Party, so called from the colour of their shirts

Your Browns range from:
Spring (warm & clear)	Light beige, through tan to chocolate
Summer (cool & soft)	Pink Beige through mushroom to Rose Brown - a pink tinge
Autumn (warm & soft)	Beige through coffee, camel to Bronze and Dark Brown
Winter (cool & clear)	Stone through Mole – a grey tinge

Great Lipsticks for the Browns of your Season, most will work from your season because Browns tend to be neutrals and benefit from choosing a colour for your lips if your outfit is all brown
	Soft	Clear
Warm	Autumn – L308, L410, L491, L5, L506, L621, L64, L648, L653	Spring – L308, L410, L64,
Cool	Summer - L495, L50, L35, L718, L686	Winter - L512, L54, L673, L718, L50

Red

2014-12-11T16:14:00.000+00:00

There is much excitement in the Perkins' household because we’re flying north to see if we can find the big man himself, you know, the one who wears the red suit. Great debate has reigned as to whether the one at the school Advent fair was real or not – apparently if there is no sleigh, he’s not the real one – the one we saw the following day in the market square, celebrating the turning on of the Christmas lights, was real, proven by the presence of his sleigh (and a wonderful explanation for why the reindeer wasn’t real)!

Debate rages in other circles regarding the red suit yet, debate aside, there is no doubt the imagery is so powerful, we would probably struggle to convince anyone that he was anything if not dressed in the familiar red suit with fur trim. Try green for example!

Red is probably one of the most emotive colours, having many associations with danger and warnings (stop signs), fire/heat, violence, ripeness (fruit) and blood. It is said to be the colour of energy and drive, with dark red implying success achieved. When working with my son recently he was very clear that while yellow is a happy colour, red relates to anger – he must feel this at some instinctive level.

In researching this blog the power of red is obvious, arguably, the most powerful.

· Seeing Red - becoming angry, losing self-control

· Red Rag to a Bull – deliberate provocation sure to bring an adverse reaction

· Caught Red-Handed – caught in the act of a misdemeanour or crime with visible
evidence

· Red Herring – a distraction from the real issue

· Red Tape - rules and regulations especially involving excessive or unnecessary
paperwork

· In the Red - in debt

· Scarlet Woman

o Prostitute or

o Symbol of Pagan Rome

And my favourite, because it reminds me of my childhood and the Cornish skylines:

· Red Sky at Night – an indication of the weather.

It is a colour associated with passion and confidence so wear it with pride but equally be aware that some will see it as an angry colour.

A conversation with a bank manager recently related to her early years’ training and a recommendation to avoid wearing red because it is an angry colour. With ‘anger’ being the energy in Eastern philosophy which drives a snowdrop up through the frozen ground, I think passionate would interchange well here. Maybe with the stiff upper lip synonymous with the British culture, we need to keep a lid on ‘passion’ as much as anger lest we can’t handle it!

Having spent 12 years demonstrating how amazing the right red lipstick for you looks in spite of fears and opinions, it was really refreshing to see two women at a recent function proudly and confidently wearing strong red lipstick. It also reminded me of the L’Oreal campaign earlier this Autumn.

Reds in the House of Colour range are fabulous - use the table below to identify from your skin tone which are your best colours:

Ideal Reds
Spring (warm & clear)	Poppy / Geranium
Summer (cool & soft)	Cherry / Coral Red
Autumn (warm & soft)	Brick / Geranium
Winter (cool & clear)	Burgundy / Carmine / Scarlet

Great Reds for your Season	Soft	Clear
Warm	Autumn – L12, L606	Spring – L12, L55, L606
Cool	Summer - L28, L50, L307	Winter – L27, L28, L50, L55, L302, L307, L499, L512, L673

As the colour at the centre of the colour wheel, the most adaptable of all colours and the first colour the eye sees, resulting in it being the colour of ‘sale’ signs to attract spending customers in a retail environment; in the words of Bill Blass, 'When in doubt, wear red.'

Pink

2014-12-05T13:28:00.000+00:00

As a child, pink was an emotive colour, going through phases of loving it and hating it with equal measure depending on when you asked, what the specific shade in question was and my peer group at the time. From the amazing pink and grey anorak of my early teens to the pastel pink jumper knitted by my Mum and proudly worn until its demise through my mid-teens. I’ve always secretly if not openly, enjoyed pink – but not fuchsia!

The Colour of Love, pink is also associated with femininity, ranging from pastel to hot pink and coral to magenta, there is a pink for everyone and I would hazard a guess that if asked to visualise the colour pink, each individual would immediately picture the colour relating to their Marmite moment, i.e. the one they either love or hate.

My ‘Winter’ son loved the magenta pink bowls and cups as a toddler but soon realised that favouring the blue would enable him to worship his older brother and create competition for attention.

Barbie & Co have perpetuated the use of pink for girls (candy through fuchsia to magenta) to the extent that some girls don’t feel they can wear, nor choose, any other colour - especially blue - which might be a boy’s colour.

Borrowing our friend’s daughter's fuchsia wetsuit wasn’t a problem for me because it was clearly one of his 2-star colours! (and ever the pragmatist, was cheaper than buying one for a week’s worth of wear on a summer beach holiday!) I know someone who responded to the question ‘What’s his name?' with ‘HER cousin is Oliver’ because the baby was wearing a blue hat!

There does seem to be some evidence around the use of pink for boys and blue for girls in the early 1900s which shifted around the time of World War II. If you’re interested, the linked articles provide a fairly full account.

· Tickled Pink – delighted

· In the Pink – to be in great condition, particularly health and emotions

· Pretty in Pink

· Pink Pound – relating to the spending power of the Gay community

As with any colour, men as well as women need to ensure they employ their best shade, in this case, of pinks:

Your pinks range from:	Strong to:	Light / Bright
Spring (warm & clear)	Flamingo / Shocking Pink	Shell, Peach
Summer (cool & soft)	Deep Rose / Cyclamen	Pastel Rose / Pastel Pink /
Autumn (warm & soft)	Rosewood / Coral	Peach
Winter (cool & clear)	Magenta / Fuchsia	Ice Pink

Great Pinks for your Season	Soft	Clear
Warm	Autumn – L174, L303, L697, L709	Spring - L22, L30, L347, L611, L697, L709, L710
Cool	Summer - L17, L35, L61, L301, L 302, L495, L635, L686, L714, L718, L719	Winter - L61, L62, L711, L712, L718

Accessing the Energy of Colour

2014-11-11T10:45:00.000+00:00

Every now and then, people and ideas cross our path that are similar and compatible but not necessarily the same as our own beliefs.

On my journey exploring whether to become an Image Consultant, I also explored the world of Feng Shui. As someone who likes clear and clutter free, but is a natural hoarder trained with consummate post-war values, this little book was a godsend. Scroll to the bottom of the link and you’ll find a connection to the audio version so you don’t have to further clutter your bookshelves!

You don’t have to subscribe to the beliefs of Feng Shui to get value from this book – at every page turn, it felt like Karen Kingston had been looking over my shoulder! How did she know about the box of ‘useful things’ under my desk, the broken bits and pieces that might ‘come in handy’ being stored in the cupboard? So began my lifelong journey with clutter clearing and considering the impact of items on my energies.

This moved further into choosing things for the positive energies they bring which, with my training, extended into considering the energies of Colour and the impact they have on us. For me, Colour is the root of everything, wearing and surrounding myself with my Colours feels good; from an alternative perspective, why do I feel on some days that I need a certain Colour?

Recently, instead of being at the mercy of the clothing and choosing things that suit me, I’ve started experimenting with actively choosing things to wear from my wardrobe that will help me create the energy I want for the day.

I’ve been working with my friend Vanessa Edwards, Feng Shui Consultant and Peace Ambassador, on her original list, incorporating the Energy of Colours and the benefits.

This coincides with a recent blog entry from Sue Donnelly, an independent consultant friend who specialises in Fashion Feng Shui and talks of intuitive dressing for health and energy….hey, that’s what I’ve been doing! Sue’s blog provides another perspective on using Colour for positive coming from the Chakras.

At House of Colour we believe that Colour is the start of everything around our appearance. The right Style in the wrong Colour will not be as effective as the right Colour in the wrong Style because the first thing people look at is your face, where Colour has more impact. Better still to identify your best Colours and combine them with your best Styles because everyone has a blue, a red, a yellow, a pink, a grey, – the question is, which shade of each Colour is the one which best complements your skin tone as each season has plenty of examples of light, dark and bright Colours? So you can do exactly that – actively choose your Colours for the energy they provide and you want to invite into your life.

Over the coming months I’ll be working through these Colours – if you have anything to add, interesting anecdotes or stories, please email me at blog@houseofcolourhq.com. I’ve never done this before so it will be fun trying something new!

Wearing The Power of Neutrals

2014-10-21T14:13:00.000+01:00

Sitting in a London café waiting for my train I am surrounded by a sea of neutrals. It’s not exclusive to this station, or indeed any station; I’ve seen plenty of it as I travel through the capital. Commuters and travellers in their thousands wearing blacks, greys, whites, browns and beiges with the odd spattering of accent colour; a red hat, a pink bag, a purple coat.

While I do believe that most of our great race are not confident enough in their knowledge of colour to risk experimenting with it “I would never have put these colours together, but I bought it from the website as suggested and it feels really good” - Kelly, Chrysalis Consulting is evidence that we can be moved safely into areas beyond our previous comfort zone. It’s clear that neutrals have a place in the working environment, a cacophony might be too much of an affront or a distraction, so you learn how to push the boundaries appropriately and confidently.

A quick foray onto Wikipedia and I discover that the purpose of neutral in electricity is grounding.

A fascinating article is provided by Wholistic Tennis on returning to neutral in a game of tennis and fully understanding the power of neutral whilst pinpointing a key challenge:

….In terms of tactical play we talk about offense, defense and neutral…………..

Neutral is the least glamorous, and for most people, the least enjoyable of the three possible conditions

…There is a great deal to learn in neutral.

The concept of neutral never changes although the neutral ball a player hits will change dramatically as he or she develops

Keep playing at your neutral and as you become bigger, stronger, quicker and as your strokes become more grooved and effortless your neutral will often automatically become bigger and bigger

It is impossible to win on offense alone…. One has to earn the right to play offense and playing solid neutral will offer you the opportunity to ultimately play offense.

Finally and very importantly, the patience required to stay in neutral is excellent mental training for the competitive player……………

And so, replacing the context of playing tennis with dressing for authority, i.e. being taken seriously, it is important to understand the power of neutrals as a foundation for your wardrobe, you then earn the right to use colour creatively and with confidence.

Ground your big or core investment pieces (suit, skirt, trousers, jacket) in a darker neutral and ring the changes of variety through fashion and your seasonal colours and styles of your tops and accessories. Providing your weight doesn’t change drastically, a good investment garment will still be looking good and serving you well for years to come.

How interesting to hear fashion editor Anna Wintour’s response to the question ‘Is there anything you would refuse to wear?’ is simply ‘head-to-toe black’.

So there you have it - identify the neutrals and how they work for you so that you can confidently apply colour or texture to achieve interest at your desired level of impact. As with any successful recipe, it’s the balance of ingredients which makes the magic work; colour to neutrals is like cake to icing. ‘Everything in moderation’ could be a wise approach.

Ground the core of your capsule wardrobe around your best neutrals, keep returning to them as the basis from which you launch yourself into offensive (high visibility) or defensive (low visibility) and you’ll grow from strength to strength!

Colours for Business

2014-10-10T20:17:00.001+01:00

I’ve just returned from our annual conference where it is always a joy to see so many people (mostly, but not exclusively women) in one place looking so amazing; confident; In Focus; happy, comfortable and enjoying how they and their colleagues look; A perfect illustration of what is possible through using House of Colour services – creating empowered, authentic and visible people.

Some of our consultants choose to expand their training to incorporate our House of Colour in Business material, enabling them to deliver bespoke or tailored workshops into the full range of business environments. From Schools and charities, self-employed, sole traders through to SME’s and Blue chip organisations there is something relevant for everyone who has an area of their life where they want to be taken seriously. I suspect this applies to most people out of full time education, many still in it and clearly brings homemakers and carers into the remit – don’t we all want to be taken seriously? In a blog last year, I touched on what was possible; One of the tools to achieve this, is understanding our individual colour rating.

For clarity and to enable you to use your colour analysis effectively, at House of Colour we use the tried and tested system of splitting the colour wheel into four quarters or distinct families called seasons and we refer to them by name; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Each season represents a quarter of all the colours in the universe, so to further aid everyone, we identified 36 colours which represent the various points and extremes on the continuum of each season. Evaluating these 36 colours against your unique skin tone and colouring, enables us to identify more precisely which are your best, most complementary and most flattering colours in the spectrum. Some colours clearly work best as foundations, others as a big block, some next to your face and others provide amazing accents to punctuate and define your outfit. This is your ‘colour rating’.

We know just how powerful this work is if you use it but having Quality as one of our core values keeps us looking at how we can refine and enhance this offering for your benefit. We discovered that what works best for us in our everyday lives doesn’t always serve us so powerfully in a business environment and vice versa. Consequently, all Consultants attending our annual conference were introduced to the concept of Business Ratings as used in HOC in Business.

What a revelation for many. Mary (HoC Huntingdon and sometimes contributor to this blog - left) wrote a great review of her experience and discoveries in her blog and provided some great images of how the colours were working. After 13 years, an experienced consultant there's still more to learn!

Generally, although not exclusively, this is about using your neutrals (see table) – at the heart of our colour wheel - more powerfully.

Autumn	Spring
· Oyster · Khaki · Beige · Lizard Grey · Coffee · Camel · Bronze · Dark Brown · Navy	· Cream · Oatmeal · Light Peach · Shell Pink · Dove Greys · Beige · Chocolate · Bright Navy · Oxford Blue
Winter	Summer
· White · Silver · Greys · Stone · Mole · Charcoal · Black · Indigo · Navy	· Winter White · Pink Beige · Dusty Pink · Mushroom · Rose Brown · Blue Greys · French Navy · Airforce

.. And of course, all those shades that live in the gaps on the continuum between these colours! (If you have any questions about this, please review your colour notebook and get in touch with your consultant, they’ll be happy to explain it to you.)

Business ratings are about using your neutrals to greatest effect; this Wyse Women article refers to neutral as a 'centred place', so next week I will expand on this with another analogy and look at the Power of Neutrals. In following weeks, look out for entries on individual colours using the rainbow as my route guide!

Foundations for Colour

2014-09-22T15:02:00.001+01:00

Last week I wrote about wearing black and came to the resounding conclusion that YES, everyone can wear it …but why would you want to if it doesn’t flatter you!

A world without colour is unthinkable for most of us, and yet, walking down the high street, there is always an abundance of black, a heavy spattering of beige and usually a reasonable quantity of white available. This is because they’re neutral colours which ideally form the backdrop to a wardrobe – the trick is to choose from the selection of neutrals that sit harmoniously in your colour palette to provide a supportive backdrop.

Back in the 1940s when colour film emerged on the scene the significance and impact of colour came to the fore. The previously elegant and sophisticated actors/actresses somehow didn’t have the same effect – colour was recognised as the difference and the world of image consulting was born.

In a previous blog I’ve shown the screen test images of Julia Roberts as they made their colour choices for the 1990 Film, Pretty Woman. I regularly cite this film as an excellent example of how we can change the way people perceive us simply by looking at the way we present ourselves.

Choosing colours and styles that flatter you and honour your personality is an incredibly powerful way to help people to ‘get’ you – giving them an idea of who you are, what you stand for, your values and ideals – not directly from what you wear but because what you’re wearing and how you construct your outfit will support and reinforce your verbal messages or undermine and conflict with them. I’ve also talked about how, when you honour who you are with what you wear, you make it easy for your listener to hear you.

Liz Jones’ summary in The Daily Mail last week gives a few amusing takes on using colour: ‘You can wear any colour next summer as long as it’s white’ reminding me of the announcement I heard many years ago about ‘the Thursday club meeting on Tuesday to discuss what colour they were going to whitewash the walls of the village hall!’

While travelling in Asia a few years ago it was clear that white was a status symbol because it demonstrated that you could afford to keep up with the cleaning and maintenance. As Liz astutely points out: ‘White hair to match is not compulsory… but expect your cleaning bills to soar’. I love the white jacket I bought last year but don’t wear it as often as I might had I the time, money and staff to cover my cleaning requirements, including a Nanny to keep the children and their sticky fingers away!

I don’t however, agree with Liz’s statement that ‘You will not be able to avoid sheer next Spring…’ a confirmed classic that will be no hardship for me! As for purchasing big pants, well, that’s entirely up to you but visible underwear is a faddy look and never for anyone serious about their image. In this world of Personal Branding to gain competitive advantage, every little helps – or hinders!

One of the most famous sheer looks on the planet (right) will clearly never be repeated for that very reason – a far classier way to employ sheer is with the use of lace in a wedding dress (left).

See-through clothing reminds me of the Emperor’s New Clothes. It's interesting how some images protect his modesty with underwear whilst other interpretations have assumed the outfit to include the underwear. Coming back to 2014/15, for me it’s another good excuse for the fashion industry to produce poor quality and justify it. One golden rule to follow, the lighter the colour of your clothes, the higher the quality needs to be.

All wardrobes, regardless of your season, need a foundation of neutrals which form the backdrop to a variety of outfits. Adding colours to neutrals enables the full impact of the colours to be seen, excluding neutrals can provide an onslaught of colours which at best distracts your audience, at worst, causes them to look in the other direction.

With the release of our latest colour report, highlighting the colour trends for the Autumn/Winter Season, I thought it would make an interesting journey to explore how colour affects our lives over the next few weeks – including neutrals.

Anyone Can Wear Black!

2014-09-11T11:55:00.001+01:00

Of course anyone can ‘wear’ black, and on the right skin tone it can look stunning - elegant, sophisticated and lovely but why would you want to if it doesn't suit or flatter you?

In the examples below, I suggest that black suits Victoria Beckham and American singer Keri Hilson but not Nicole Kidman, the best make-up artist in the world can't cover the gaunt look it gives her and the air of inauthenticity which doesn't exist in the other two photos.

Victoria Beckham

Nicole Kidman

Keri Hilson

I have friends from all seasons and the light that comes into people’s faces with colour, especially when they’re Spring, Summer or Autumn, is drained away when they put black on. It’s as if someone has cut off their head, highlighted the dark rings around their eyes and prepared them for their own funeral! Mary’s Halloween blog entry provided an entertaining view on the negative effects of black on a Spring!

In all seriousness though, Clare Bumford provides a compelling article around why black is so important but where she says ‘why not?’ … I ask ‘why?’ There are many reasons, apart from funerals and black tie ‘dos’, that might cause people to choose black. So let’s take a look:

It’s slimming!

Is it? Dark colours absorb the light making things seem smaller (slimmer), where light colours (e.g. white) reflect the light making something appear larger. It’s an optical illusion property of all dark colours, not limited to black. Far better to chose a dark colour which suits your complexion so that you look slimmer AND healthy! Besides, there are other tricks to help you look slimmer - focus around wearing styles to suit your body shape and accentuating your assets/best features.

"The best colour in the whole world is the one that looks good on you"
Coco Chanel

It goes with everything!

Of course it does and, depending on your perspective, some people say, so does ketchup ! Black is a neutral colour and all outfits benefit from using neutrals to provide a supporting backdrop to the colours and patterns. Neutrals from a complementary range of colours will enhance an outfit, but will diminish, even slightly, an outfit chosen from an alternative range to the neutral in question. Choosing all your clothing from the range of colours which complement you provides you with neutrals that enhance you and you’ll find your neutrals do go with everything.

It’s easy!

If everything in your wardrobe is black then life is very easy! Widely recognised in the energy world as an absorbative colour it could be seen as good for learning (absorbing everything, albeit it not selectively) but is more generally associated with depression due to absorbing everything. It takes courage to know what suits you and wear it with confidence, but when you know WHICH colours are yours and WHY, choosing the colours which suit you from the full colour spectrum is easy.

It’s quality!

The quality and construction of a fabric is not easily visible on darker fabrics as they absorb the light. We know that the lighter the colour, the more important it is to ensure quality is inherent in the garment construction, for example light coloured skirts and trousers need lining in order to be able to wear them away from the beach (see pictures).

It’s available

It is and always will be, for all the reasons above, but you don’t have to rush into a purchase. Knowing what suits us gives us the confidence to be more selective and wait for a great item of clothing to turn up in our style, size AND colour. Supply and demand is my theory. When people understand how to wear colours confidently they buy and wear them.

Kettlewell affirm this by noting that House of Colour clients purchase more colours (than neutrals) than any other group. They understand the amazing effect it has on our energy and and how we appear to others.

In the following examples, I suggest that Victoria and Keri look sallow and inauthentic where Nicole, in her warm colour, looks healthy and naturally authentic.

Nicole Kidman

Victoria Beckham

Keri Hilson

By selecting bright colours from their spectrums, to suit each individual, they all three look healthy, interesting, confident and authentic.

Nicole Kidman

Victoria Beckham

Keri Hilson

Give yourself permission and the freedom to use your best colours and not be bound by the inaccurate statement that everyone suits black! Everyone can wear it, but it doesn't suit everyone!

Patterns -v- Plains

2014-08-22T12:18:00.000+01:00

A friend and long term client of House of Colour sent me through this link earlier in the summer with the comment ‘I’m speechless!’

From the raft of comments that bounced around social media it clearly hasn’t rendered everyone speechless! The majority of comments, humorous though many were, merely shared the opinion that they didn’t like the outfits. However, opinions abound in the 21^st Century, it doesn’t take much of an invitation for them to fly generously and freely in the absence of action. And with the Games now behind us (didn’t they do well!) the reality of the action, predictably far outweighed any commentary on the outfits.

So, with the caveat that the quality of the photograph may well be distorting the colour I’m going to lend my opinion. This is unusual for me because I generally prefer to ‘live and let live’. If someone makes a different choice to one I might make, or selects something I actively dislike, I question them to understand what is driving their choice - criticising it says more about me than them.

Opinion 1: Select colours for a garment or outfit from ONE colour season to get the best benefit.

When it comes to choosing clothing with patterned fabrics I frequently despair. I somehow missed learning about the colour wheel in school and so, it appears, have many fabric/pattern/designers. Many beautifully styled garments appear ruined by the uneasy combination of colours the designers have selected.

These examples reinforce my belief that any discipline requiring participants to combine colours needs first to understand the colour wheel. Further, when these colour combinations are to be worn by people, an understanding of how these colour families (we call them seasons) relate to the myriad of skin tones so that a range can be designed as close to the mid-point to suit as many as possible or, as Kettlewell intend, to cover all seasonal options so there is something for everyone.

‘Designed by textile artist Jilli Blackwood, the uniform includes turquoise, fuchsia and navy tartan’

This all sounds fine, until you discover the background is caramel (see below). Navy and turquoise can bridge the gap between cool and warm tones but fuchsia is firmly rooted in the cool spectrum as much as caramel is in the warm. To all you foodies out there, that’s like putting ketchup on your apple crumble or sugar on your bacon!

Opinion 2: Don’t mix patterns

At the age of 5, my friend’s daughter showed up wearing all her favourite clothes! On a 5 year old it was cute and funny to be so ‘busy’, not classy, sophisticated or elegant though. Patterns are fabulous but please show them in their best light by complementing them with a supporting plain and probably in a neutral colour. If you MUST mix patterns, then learn how to recognise those that match in scale or at least genealogy. I believe we respond positively to balance and harmony and this is a wonderful example of inharmonious scale, colour and style all pulling in different directions – a tug of war with more than 2 ends!

The dresses are a nice touch, but at what point did Jilli think a ripple pattern would support and complement a tartan? Looking at her appearance the answer is clearer, but therein lies the difference between creating an outfit which makes a statement reflecting your unique personality and designing uniforms and dressing for the masses.

One response tweeted ‘It’s refreshing and a definite surprise’ !

My fervent prayer is that fabric and pattern designers learn how to harmonise and complement – leaving competition to the athletes!

The Hidden Cost of Discomfort

2014-08-16T22:49:00.000+01:00

15 years ago I bought my first adult bike. Thanks to injuries sustained in a motorbike accident several years earlier I included front suspension and at the suggestion of the sales assistant, a suspension seat post.

I loved riding that bike and regularly rode around the local lakes and meadows, into town and took the children to the ‘ice-cream’ park!

And then one day, disaster struck; it broke. (Overly) confident from my regular riding, I discovered it was almost as cheap to buy a replacement bike as it was to repair it; a quick test ride around the car park and I was the proud owner of a new bike.

12 months later I realised that the bike was hanging dormant in the garage, I had stopped riding; why? It hurt! The height of the handle bars was too low and, combined with the angle, left me with significant wrist pain after 10 minutes of riding. And let’s say the contribution of the suspension seat post, I’d forgotten to specify, was sorely missed!

We often say to clients that we will wear something 2 or 3 times before regularly overlooking it in the wardrobe in favour of something else if it’s not comfortable. Unfortunately, that recognition doesn’t always filter up to the conscious mind and so those items that we liked and spent good money on, reside as squatters in our wardrobes under the illusion that they will be worn again, one day!

If it is a relief to take your clothes off at night, be sure that something is wrong. Clothes should not be a burden. They should be a comfort and a protection.

Ellen Swallow Richards

How many times have we tried to replace a favourite item with little success? I was so comfortable on my original bike, I hadn’t realised which bits of the specification were important.

I used a recent activity holiday to test out some different specifications and realised that the fundamental mismatch between my architecture and this new bike meant that the sensible solution, if I wanted to return to riding, was to admit my mistake, cut my losses and purchase another new bike – this time paying attention to replicating the original specification which had clearly worked.

Frequently, with our clothes, we don’t recognise what it is about an outfit which makes it enjoyable to wear, (colour, style, pattern, fabric, texture, fit, flexibility, durability, quality etc) which is why the replacement is never quite the same. I’ve often felt this is partly due to the fact that we’ve never learnt what we need or quite what the comfort gives us!

I've been quite a late developer on the clothes front, but I've suddenly realised it is one of life's joys.
Benedict Cumberbatch

With the onset of this glorious summer, so the inspiration to try a little more exercise gained momentum and I’ve ventured out on a few early mornings. My body’s memory of painful riding is fading; the more I ride my new bike, the more inclined I am to go again.

My usual forays are either 30 minutes on my own, or a slow amble of not more than 1 hour with the children. On seizing a rare opportunity to go for an hour a few months ago, I discovered my helmet was the wrong shape for my skull and gave me a painful headache L. I don’t expect you’ll be surprised to learn that I’ve enjoyed experiencing the wind in my hair of late!

BUT, I had a friend who once said ‘£10 head, £10 helmet’ and he had a point – it saved my life on the motorbike. So, guess where I went today? That’s right, to buy a new helmet!

I’ve long suggested to clients that they wear a new outfit, especially shoes, around the house for a few hours at a time to make sure they are comfortable before that important occasion.

I have a clear memory of one client who, just prior to heading off to Cyprus for her dream wedding, fortunately took this advice. Her dress and lace overcoat were finished but on collection, and one final try, she discovered she’d lost weight. The dressmaker hastily altered the dress for her and sent her happily on her way. On arriving home, she asked me around to help make sure everything was perfect and we discovered that in haste, the lace overcoat was not re-tried at collection and thus had not been altered to accommodate the weight loss. With a few days to spare before departure, and an obliging local seamstress, she still had time to fix it.

More than that, on ‘test driving’ her shoes around the house she discovered that 30 minutes was the absolute limit before that the ankle strap became uncomfortably tight. A quick visit to the local cobbler to fit an extension piece and all was well. We often laughed about how different her experience of her wedding might have been, distracted by an ill-fitting coat and painful shoes.

So here I sit, tapping away on this blog entry, wearing my new bike helmet (mine is silver J). Do I feel stupid? Not really! The children are in bed, my husband is at work and I’m not expecting anyone to arrive.

I’ve adjusted the tension 2-3 times - I won’t be stopping every 5 minutes to adjust and readjust. I’ve also used a pair of scissors to trim an irritating piece of ribbon where it has been frayed near the stitching on the chin strap. I don’t tend to carry scissors with me on bike rides - that would have been just a little annoying! Time well spent. And more than that – if after an hour it doesn’t feel good, I can take it back to the shop for a replacement or refund having thoroughly tested it.

I love this quote from George Harrison:

There is one thing I have learned and that is not to dress uncomfortably, in styles which hurt: winkle picker shoes that cripple your feet and tight pants that squash your balls. Indian clothes are better

My ‘Indian Clothes’ don’t look so ‘Indian’ but I’m with him all the way on the comfort, it's a false economy to ignore it!

The Healing Power of Colour

2014-07-18T14:36:00.000+01:00

Having been heavily involved in the world of colour for many years, I’m used to meeting people who suddenly become conscious of the colours they are, or more probably are not, wearing.

A couple of weeks ago, I met a friend who’s going through some challenging times. She noticed she’d been wearing black recently during a period that felt like bad news on bad news. We’ve all recovered from something in our lives, from a lost toy as a child through to lost friends, relatives and health. Our reaction to each event and our recovery time, is relative to many other factors in our lives. However, I’ve noticed colour frequently plays a part; whether it’s wearing colour as a confidence boost or removing colour due to a knock in confidence, the colours we surround ourselves in can give a clear indication to our emotional state.

I recall a situation when I had an important deadline to meet at work. I woke up on the day of the deadline feeling awful but decided that the inconvenience to myself and others of missing the dealine through taking time off was not worth it. I put on my red top, brightly patterned skirt and headed off to work with the intention of keeping my head down, getting the job done and not attracting attention – I didn’t feel like interacting with anyone.

Well blow me! Nearly everyone who walked past my desk (remember, I’m feeling awful!) commented on how well I looked. The effect was fascinating; as the day went on, I started to feel much better – the psychological impact of people saying I looked well rather than a sympathetic ‘Are you OK? You look a bit tired!’ was profound.

Feng Shui, Chakras and other energy disciplines understand that colours carry energy and represent elements of our life. Why else would we decide that today is the day for the red (green/blue/yellow/brown) item of clothing? Therefore, it stands to reason that our mood can dictate the colour choice or the colour choice can influence the mood. Chromatherapy uses colours to actively promote healing and there are lots of references to the energy of colours and what they mean.

Two years ago my winter wardrobe was almost exclusively in the Burgundy/Purple/Smoked Grape/Pink range – incoroporating the need for love, grounding, creativity and homeliness… I was ‘recovering’ from the birth of my second child.

The following summer, I wore almost exclusively blues and pinks – incorporating comunication, peace, relaxation, safety, security and love.

So, how interesting to come across this really candid article written by Jenni Murray relating to her experience of wearing black almost from the day she was diagnosed with cancer. I can relate to everything she says about herself but also about her friends who’ve done the opposite and used colour to give themselves a boost through their recovery. It’s easy to give advice from the outside about what we can do to improve our outlook, not so easy from the inside.

The power of image is subtle and yet immense. If the image and perception is healthy, we feel uplifted, if the image and perception is less favourable we can feel downhearted; sometimes we’re just not ready to feel better.

So what small steps can you take to enhance your reflection while keeping a low profile?

Have a colour consultation to find out what colours suit you and put these colours around your face so your reflection is lifted.

Make-up: knowing your colours enables you to achieve the subtle, natural glow
Hair colour: match warm tone skin with warm tone hair, and cool tone skin with cool tone hair. Anything else competes and drains you.
Jewellery: Use the right metal colour for you (silver or gold), choosing beads, pearls and stones in your colours can bring real joy.
Tops and scarves: Choose the colours which reflect your healthy, positive, confident side to feel happier and more at ease in your skin (i.e. with your reflection).

Have a style consultation to identify flattering styles for your body … the one that you have now. Learn to choose the right:

Shapes
Proportions
Neck lines
Patterns

…to start feeling comfortable and gradually build your confidence. You don’t want to be swamped or looking like you’re trying to squeeze a ‘quart into a pint pot’.

Jenni closes her article by saying:

‘I see a different woman from the one before. I’d like to see her in the pink, but am not sure I ever will’

When the desire to achieve that goal becomes strong enough or the pain of sitting in the dark becomes intolerable, or we wake up one morning and decide to do something different, it’s amazing what can happen. With all these tools at hand, a dash of courage, a little action every day and a lot of friendship, love and support, you’ll be amazed at what is possible when you embrace The Healing Power of Colour.

Knowing Your Colours – Empowering YOU

2014-07-04T11:20:00.001+01:00

Knowing your colour season versus understanding WHY you’re a certain season are not necessarily related.

Knowing -v- understanding

My niece has known from the age of 4 that she’s a Winter. Last year, she had her colours analysed for her 15^th birthday. At this point she SAW it for herself and it’s had a profound effect on her understanding of (her) colours, what it MEANS to be a Winter and why certain colours don’t belong in her palette.

My colouring has changed!

With the House of Colour system we analyse and identify people according to the season their colours fall in (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter). By using a thorough, systematic process of analysis, based on your natural (genetic) colouring it’s our experience that people, when analysed correctly, stay with the same basic colour range (season); it’s your best/top/2-star colours within your range that may change over time or with tanning. I find that some of my pastels look good on me in the summer but I need stronger colours in the winter (still from my season) to balance and complement my natural colouring. Some people think you need to have your colours re-analysed I think you may just need a refresh – a fresh perspective.

I used to be able to wear anything but now I can’t.

This is related to the fact that a younger or tanned skin tone can be more forgiving – there is more colour and definition in your skin tone to be drained away before you start to look tired. As we get older, our skin and hair colour move closer together, making them less forgiving when we venture away from our core seasonal palette. You’ve also got several more years’ experience of seeing images and reflections of yourself to recognise that some work better on you than others.

Thank you for giving me permission to wear something I love, but thought I couldn’t anymore!

Having the confidence to know something suits you and to wear it proudly is one of the biggest gifts we share as Colour Analysts.

Part of the human condition is concern about what people think of us, whether something suits us, makes us look stupid or is in fashion. My teenage years were spent trying to find what suited me by asking my friends. The opinions I received were rarely objective, more based on their own preference rather than an objective view of what flattered me.

The challenge of emotional interference.

Bad experiences

Colours may evoke an emotional (positive or negative) response in us, (school uniform, fashion trends, parental imposition, favourite experience) disabling our ability to see whether they look good on us or not.

One overriding memory is of a client who, on realising she was an Autumn, immediately retorted ‘I don’t like these colours….. and I know why I don’t…. the woman who went off with my ex-husband wore these colours’. By identifying this emotional repellent she was able to separate her colour selection from the emotional trauma of that marriage breakdown and give herself permission to look good.

Objectivity/Subjectivity

As a consultant, analysing my elder son as a 6 week old baby, having only known him 6 weeks it was easier compared to his younger brother who was over a year old by the time I sat him down with the drapes. As his mother, analysing a 12 month old was influenced by our year together and what I WANTED him to be rather than what he was! But what a joy to be able to buy them clothes in colours that suit them and really see them shine as individuals. More importantly, a sense of who they are through what suits them; enabling them to have freedom to choose and like their own colour choices rather than being influenced by each others’ subjective preferences.

Practicality

Knowing what colours suit someone I’m choosing for means swapping and exchanging clothes is less hampered by the emotional baggage and possibility of offending someone. Second hand clothing, keeping the ‘hand-me-downs’ which work and dyeing, or freely releasing those which don’t, to someone else is a liberating and empowering place to be.

I know someone who regularly buys presents for people in her own colours (and often styles) thinking, in the absence of knowing their colours, that this is a ‘safe’ colour. Safe for her as the giver, not necessarily for the receiver if they are a different season/style!

A world without colour is unimaginable - the joy of colour is in surrounding yourself with those which empower you as an individual. The challenge is in finding a compromise that works for everyone in the home when you are all different seasons!

How Many Hats Do You Wear?

2014-06-26T10:24:00.003+01:00

There are periods in life when balls get dropped, some are more visible than others, and the regular readers among you have commented when it gets a bit quiet on the blog front – feel free to feedback any time - your views are always welcome!

My excuse is much the same as many - ‘too busy’, although given that some people manage to organise multi-million pound businesses and their families, it must be that my support structures are not sufficient or my organisational habits not up to scratch, as every now and then I drop a ball or two!

When your life is full to the brim, how many hats can you wear at once and who can you bring in to help you with a ‘hat’ which is maybe not your area of expertise?

I’ve been heard to say that I can be 3 things, wife, mother and career woman. But is that true? Is it possible to do more than one thing at a time?

The world of technology is clear that there is no such thing as multi-tasking – the concept of multi-tasking is merely an illusion created by the processors working so fast or in parallel that they appear to be able to do more than one thing at a time – a bit like an effective parent!

But, when the systems get overloaded, the computer crashes! When I try to take on more than my own capacity, something drops and nothing seems to get done effectively. Bring in the cavalry – back up required! This Blog gives some good ideas for reducing the number of hats you may be trying to juggle! Whether this is asking for help from a friend, hiring a PA, a team of staff or even outsourcing to a company, it’s possible, BUT a certain amount of organisation is required to get to that point!

Just as order and structure supports me in work, so it does in my home - everything in its place and a place for everything’ - thus, frustrations mount as the clutter increases with expanding work, school activities, birthday parties and the Christmas influx! All the ‘places’ are full and ‘things’ start to pile up in the corners.

Working mostly from home means my space needs to be organised and (subject to the limitations of having young children) relatively tidy; I walk around the ‘clutter’ and TRY to ignore it but notice how distracting it is. I say ‘try’ because in reality mess has an adverse effect on me; tidiness leaves me feeling relaxed and able to breathe.

But it’s more than tidiness - at a basic level, the areas of my home need to support ME, i.e. do the right job in the right way.

At House of Colour, we work to identify that your clothes do the right job in the right way, supporting you in your lifestyle. Enter Rannveig (pronounced Ranvay), of Anna Stone Design, an interior designer who works with ‘space’. Rannveig listened to what I was trying to achieve and my frustrations with it not seeming to come together. Trained, professional and objective, her fresh eye, made my space work better for me just as I’ve helped people’s wardrobes work better for them.

My problem was reduced to about a quarter of its original size by reorganising 3 out of 4 of my downstairs rooms - space and energy is apparent!

After an exhausting but enjoyable day spent rearranging sofas, chairs, tables, toy storage and pictures, my home felt completely different. With only Rannveig’s time as my cost, I was well on the way to solving a problem that had seemed insurmountable because it drained me of energy and I always had too many things to do. I’m used to being brought in as the ‘cavalry’ but today I’d been the recipient!

And the best bit? Nobody noticed! I’d say that’s because it’s right, it works - just as when someone is wearing the colours and styles which suit and flatter them, people notice the person not the clothes.

Life Changes

2014-06-20T10:59:00.000+01:00

House of Colour clients come from all walks of life and choose HOC for all kinds of reasons - the intangible (emotional, look good/feel good connection) to the tangible (practical, measurable, saving time/money/effort, to help secure jobs, promotions, relationships and sales).

Whether people are successful, visible and happy with their life or feel completely disempowered or invisible, the overriding reason to decide to invest in themselves can frequently be defined as a desire to become more visible (noticed for the right reasons), often triggered by a life event which focuses attention:

Employment changes: finding that first job, making the transition from education, wanting more success as you climb the career ladder, moving to a position of self-employment and needing to secure sales, returning to work after a maternity break or moving into retirement. People want to be distinguishable as an individual, looking professional, friendly and approachable, as though they can do the job in question – they want to look the part.
Starting or ending a relationship often leads to a change in hairstyle and clothing. The retail therapy element cannot be ignored but when making changes it’s far better to invest in things that will suit you to ensure you get full cost per wear and a return on your investment. A major milestone is a frequent trigger - 18 and 21 may be welcomed with as much gusto as double digits or the teen milestone, but those blessed with youthful looks sometimes wish to look more mature to help career progression. 40 and 50 tend to be more resistant milestones, our pictures and reflections seem to defy how we feel, we know there must be a way to stay looking younger and slimmer for a bit longer without the need for surgical or chemical intervention as we prepare ourselves to embrace the ageing process; fear not, with HOC help is at hand!
Recovery from any period of change can be a big deal - the varying levels of recovery from traumas or a period of illness (as patient or carer) also bring a need for a personal morale boost.
Also included in this group are mothers - the impact of having children cannot be underestimated. Every mother I would dare to say, without exception, will have experienced at some point a loss of power, self-esteem or self-confidence, which has a direct impact on our confidence when selecting clothes which suit us. With time and space to think about ourselves for the first time in a long time, a change in lifestyle, body shape and budget, leaves us a little disorientated as we learn to find a new balance. When life changes result in disempowered people and they want to pick themselves up, it’s something visual that needs changing – new hairstyle, outfit and/or accessories. The power of the image is grossly underestimated but we need the image we see in the mirror to be a true reflection of who we are - we owe it to ourselves to be empowered, visible and authentic.
From a business perspective a review of your personal appearance may be triggered by the company revisiting their corporate business strategy and recognising the value of bringing congruence to the staff, representatives and corporate brand.

All over the world, businessmen and women work hard to get themselves and their businesses ‘noticed’ (visible), seen for what and who they are (authentic) to customers. One visit to a local business networking group will show you that, unfortunately, too often the focus is around getting the business card, brohure or product right, with little attention paid to the appearance and presentation of the person.

From a personal perspective we want to be seen for who we are, from a business perspective we also need to be seen to represent our company, product or service with authority and make sure that our personal appearance (brand) supports and reinforces the corporate brand while empowering us to be ourselves.

The paradox of life is our conflicting need for both continuity and change. Empowering people to embrace these changes by taking themselves on first is a real gift - ‘chin up’, ‘best foot forward’, ‘tomorrow’s another day’ - it’s not what happens but our approach and reaction to it which will determine how we handle it – knowing you look your best is akin to knowing you’re as well prepared as you can be.

Essential holiday make-up

2014-06-14T10:09:00.001+01:00

As the holiday season approaches, so too comes the ‘holiday shopping’ and all too often unnecessary purchases, excess baggage allowance and frustration of ‘no liquids over 100ml’ through security for your hand luggage.

All is not lost!

Firstly, your make-up bag doesn’t have to be as large as you might think. Unless you particularly think you need to carry your full selection to the other side of the world, a minimal kit will suffice and still have you enhancing every outfit you take with you, or indeed purchase while you’re away.

The 5 essentials:

1. Foundation - on holiday, I find it helps me look more awake than I might feel after a night out, always a good step towards feeling better! A heavily tanned person may require a stronger shade than normal, although in my experience, this is rare. Finding the right colour foundation to match your skin tone is better when done in natural light. The colour needs to sit on your face (not your neck) and the colour needs to blend naturally with your neck colour, if you see a line and feel the need to blend it, your foundation is probably not the right colour. Foundatoin provides an element of protection to your skin and there are different types to suit all lifestyles:

Liquid foundation – provides a full and professional looking finish, a great look when you are going out for an evening.

Dual-Foundation – wet and dry mineral foundation also comes in a handy compact; easily applied with a Kabuki brush it can be used to touch up after a long day (on holiday, at a wedding, on business) and used in combination with a liquid foundation or BB cream depending on your requirement.

BB-creams – a versatile product combining serum, moisturiser, primer and foundation in one. Perfect for a natural look, providing skin protection and can be combined with translucent powder or dual-foundation for additional coverage. Take advantage of our special offer on BB creams (June 2014) and get yourself set up for the summer.

2. Blusher – pick up and enhance the natural pink tones in your skin draws the attention out to your cheek bones and makes your face appear more defined and less pinched. You’ll probably find you only need one colour to take you through the whole year because it’s your underlying natural pinks which are enhanced.

3. Lipstick – THE handbag essential! Lipstick provides definition to the mouth and face and works it’s magic by making your eyes shine when you're wearing the right colour. At HOC, we recommend 3 as a minimum, enabling you to have something to suit every possible outfit from your colour spectrum. Of course, you are not limited to only three, but choosing 1 red, 1 pink, 1 plum, rust or coral, depending on your season, will provide maximum flexibility.

4. Eyeliner – using eyeliner (liquid or pencil) on the outside edge of your eyes makes them appear more defined and larger. For holiday, you may choose a neutral eyeliner (black, grey, navy) or you may wish to include a bit more choice (green, plum, blue) – after all, eyeliners aren’t bulky!

5. Mascara – Mascara appears to lengthen the eyelashes, providing further definition for the eyes, a girl’s best friend! While I have two colours (navy and brown) in my make-up kit, I find that most days I migrate to one colour – navy, as a summer, for my travel kit!

And one for luck:

6. Eye-shadow - while not essential, limiting yourself to 1 or 2 highlighting shades for the eyelid and 2-3 accent colours (navy/grey/purple for cool or olive/brown for warm) can provide more elegance to your look when you go out to dinner in the evening and for the space of about 5 small eye shadows, you may prefer to invest in an eye shadow palette to provide everything you need for an easy time away.

For the activity holidaymakers, or the really light traveller, where there is less time or space for make-up, these 5(6) things can be limited to 3; Foundation, Blusher and Lipstick.

....after all, you may well be wearing sunglasses most of the time!

Cool

Warm

Death and Public Speaking

2014-06-02T10:08:00.000+01:00

It is often acknowledged that the two things people are most afraid of are death and public speaking.

Most people can acknowledge that these are variations on Fear – of the unknown and being vulnerable. Preston Ni has an interesting perspective, suggesting that these two fears are related by the fact that the fear of public speaking is the fear of emotional death!

Although it might not be so extreme, at House of Colour we’ve experienced people feeling intimidated by the thought of meeting an Image Consultant; they suddenly become self-conscious about their appearance, invest additional energy (compared to their normal levels) in thinking about what they’re wearing and apologise for various elements of their attire which they don’t have complete confidence in. Otherwise confident people are reduced to varying degrees of nervousness.

At the very least, this is something that needs to be acknowledged at the meeting introductions, and then put to one side, so that we can get on with the business of the meeting. But what would it be like if you could remove most of the fear, releasing the energy for more productive use?

At our annual conference last year, we heard Mo Harford speaking about how our brains and thinking get in the way of our performance and producing great results. In effect it is often only our beliefs which support (positive) or hinder (negative) us in our performance.

By focusing on getting your look ‘right’, i.e. one that you are comfortable in, comfortable with and that makes you look your best, you’re able to confidently step out and take care of the primary business at hand. In the case of a ‘business’ person, this is getting on with their ‘business’!

Special events can typically take a lot of our energy and attention when looking for the right outfit - often costing a lot of money - but it doesn’t have to. For women, the problem often stems from a lack of confidence in coordinating items, so the safe option is to invest in a complete outfit which is clearly designed to coordinate and look good. The problem with this approach is that you may have invested over £500 (clothing, accessories, shoes and in some cases underwear) and ended up with 1 outfit, rather than spending £500 on several items that can be used and adapted to create many more outfits in combination with clothing in your existing wardrobe. Return on investment is about your cost-per-wear, shifting the focus to cost-per-outfit, an item of clothing or an accessory reveals itself as a good investment or not.

We need to know we look right, we have phrases such as ‘I need to put my face on’, ‘I’m having a bad hair day’, ‘I can’t go out without my lipstick/perfume/necklace (delete as appropriate)’. All these statements point towards our need to ensure we ‘look the part’. I particularly enjoyed reading this article on clothing related expressions!

Why are they fears? Because we all have a fundamental concern about what people think of us. This blog by Michael Hyatt gets succinctly to the point – take the focus off yourself! Ironically, by focusing on yourself and your image, this is exactly what we are aiming for - get your physical presentation to such a level that you are able to take the attention off yourself and focus on the job in hand.

Maybe a business friend of mine who is considering a career transition from Business Consultant and Professional Speaker to Undertaker has the ideal solution to help you through your fears!

Beautiful Colouring!

2014-05-26T16:29:00.000+01:00

It was almost sad to read that a Yorkshire village used for filming recently could only employ a handful of locals as extras because the tattoos and body piercings weren’t appropriate to the era of the film.

Last week, while I was in another room, my children were both enjoying a bit of colouring time. Things apparently aren’t always what they appear; my 4 year old came and stood proudly in front of me with what can only be described as fantasy stage make-up, comprising polka dots on his eyelids and around his brows, through the centre of his face and covering his tummy, ‘Look Mummy’ it’s beautiful!’ I had to agree - a truly magical moment!

The potential significance of his internal conversation didn’t hit me until a few days later however, when he started colouring his legs in the car on the way home from school. When we arrived home, he had to stop. He was so upset because he had only completed one leg, it took a little bit of persuading to find out why, then I heard the words I shall always remember, ‘but Mummy I’m not beautiful if it’s not finished’.

I gently explained to him that he was gorgeous and a beautiful person, the colouring was pretty but it didn’t make him beautiful – he already was.

I often wonder at the proliferation of tattoos in our society – is it because our self esteem has become so low that we think we need to ‘make ourselves beautiful’ I wonder?

‘Mummy, I don’t want your skin to go wrinkly – I like it the way it is!’ Oh boy, now that did test my response! ‘They’re smile lines’ I replied and proceeded to show him how, when smiling, they show up more! Like most people in their 40s I’m seeing the early effects of ageing and while I’m not at the point of surgery or Botox myself, I have an understanding of why some people choose that route - but it doesn’t solve the problem.

Dismantling these disempowering conversations is akin to dismantling what it is to be human, however they don’t need to be as loud as they are. When the reflections looking back at us from the mirror or photos of ourselves reflect and honour us as accurately as possible we are able to hear the more empowering conversations about ourselves that have previously been pushed to the background. This article recently shared on our Face book page highlights a perfect example.

It is however, all in the perspective and it reminded me of a friend commenting on my ‘crow’s feet’ – up until that point I’d only known them as ‘laughter lines’!

‘Good is the enemy of Great’…

2014-04-30T13:01:00.002+01:00

'Good is the enemy of Great'.......

…is a well known Jim Collins quote From Good to Great - he states that:

‘Get rid of the good to make room for the great in your life’.

I’ve noticed an ongoing theme this week:

Holidays are useful changes in energy which either cause a spate of activity before the deadline of leaving, or an injection of inspiration and enthusiasm after which a spot of spring cleaning is often initiated.

My trusty swimming costume got left on holiday - it saved me finding a plastic bag to carry it in after using it during the day and flying home in the evening! But this wasn’t the real reason, the Lycra was starting to go (Chlorine is the enemy of Lycra!) and I realised that I bought it when I was about ½ stone heavier, maybe not a lot, but on a 9½ stone frame, that’s 5%. It didn’t make me feel great.
As I started to unpack and return everything to their rightful homes, I recognised that at least 8 of my tops, trusty stalwarts, were no longer in regular use - past their best. They didn’t make me feel great.
I moved along to my dresses and realised a couple, while fine, never really worked. Each time I would overlook them in favour of another. While I thought I liked them, they didn’t make me feel great.
I’ve never quite bought into the handbag graveyard, preferring to have 5-6 covering the main colour/purpose points in my spectrum rather than one in every style or colour possible. One, well loved and used, was past its best, another too floppy, unstructured, I could never find anything because it either fell to the bottom of the ‘bucket’ style, or the bag flopped over when I put it down and everything fell out. They didn’t make me feel great.
And so to shoes. There comes a time in every shoe’s life when it has earned its retirement but at what point? Sometimes they’re looking past their best before date, other times, past the fashion trend, even though I like the colour or style and they still fit - 2 pairs gone. They don’t make me feel great.

Are you noticing a theme here?

Working through accessories and jewellery, I removed 20+ items, resulting in a gentle feeling of relief at the extra ‘breathing space’ in my wardrobe.

By removing a small percentage of energy drainers I’ve freed up myself and the space in my wardrobe. Even without any more clothes I immediately feel better because the ones left are the ones which make me feel great!

The mantra I’ve passed on to many friends and clients over the years is ‘if you don’t use it or love it, pass it on’. Regardless of your feelings for 'it', if ‘it’ doesn’t love you, it won’t make you feel great and you deserve more than that!

Why settle for ‘good’ when ‘great’ is available?

Personal Branding in a domestic world

2014-04-24T13:23:00.000+01:00

‘Brand’, a term used to distinguish a product, service or concept in terms of a ‘personality’, is assumed to refer to business, so what place does this have for me if I’m a homemaker? I can hear it now….

‘I clean the house, manage schedules, play ‘taxi’ driver, make sure the ‘machine’ of ‘home’ works to support everyone’ but too often people lose their sense of self in serving others in this way.

Enter stage left the ‘young person’ who honestly believes and declares that 'it doesn’t matter what you wear these days, people don’t judge you on appearance. It begs the question, do you dress for yourself or dress for others? Maybe in the past we dressed more for others but the younger people of today dress more for themselves.

The heightened focus on the Duchess of Cambridge’s attire, in her many roles, tells us that it’s still important to dress for your audience but more leeway’s given to dressing for comfort and style. Ultimately, when you dress to flatter yourself, people notice YOU, the person.

We need labels and categories to help us make sense of the world but, as individuals, we frequently resist labels (boxes, categories, structure) in favour of the ‘freedom of self expression’ - it’s the conflict between belonging and needing to express our uniqueness.

Early in my career, I distinguished 2 main motivators for people searching out my services:

- Emotional: recognising the connection between how we look and how we feel enables us to take control of the ‘looking’ element to empower and strengthen the ‘feeling’ element, thereby enabling us to improve and enhance our feelings, increasing inner confidence and self-belief, leading to a sense of inner peace and frequently, greater success in work, social and business life.

- Practical/Financial: the dawn of realisation in this group of clients was making the connection between how they look and money. Whether it was sales attracted through being self-employed or in a sales role, promotions, pay rises or additional sales and, in the case of the self-employed or management, an increase in confidence. As a result of ‘looking the part’, business increases.

Often client gender could predict the motivator but not always. As a graduate, it was important to make the most of my limited budget so that clothes I bought for work were going to work hard and earn their keep in my wardrobe. A very practical reason which led to me experiencing an increase in confidence and self-belief. Within a year I’d experienced a pay rise, new job role, improved training opportunities - one thing led to another in a positive way.

A trigger at the ‘emotional’ stage, caused by a life change, relationship, job, status, moving from full- time employee to full-time mother is a culture shock for many and with plenty to keep yourself occupied, appearance is often the last thing on people’s minds! Reverse that shift, as the children grow older, and try to return to the workplace with a different figure, body shape, lifestyle, budget and time constraints plus a need to reclaim your sense of identity, the offer of a consultation with House of Colour appears at the right time.

Personal Brand may not appear to sit in this ‘domestic’ world in the same way, but our need to have a clear sense of identity, who we are, our values, strengths and weaknesses, balanced against the need to be unique and that of fitting in, enables us to confidently negotiate the path between dressing how we are ‘supposed’ to look and dressing for ‘ourselves’.

There’s no ‘best before’ date on style

2014-04-15T13:21:00.000+01:00

The lady wore black……. almost unrelieved black.

An electric blue fairy danced gaily on her hat and a scatter of white polka dots, like a starling’s wing, graced the gauzy silk of her scarf. But, apart from that, she was in black; black hat, wide black belt nipping in a slender waist in a black winter coat, black gloves, black riding boots.

And she looked great!

We bonded over a stray shopping trolley which required escorting ‘home’, when she expressed admiration for my sartorial style (I, needless to say as a Spring, was not in black).

Well, right back atcha, sister!

The curls escaping from her hat may have been silver, the mischievous eyes set in a sea of fine wrinkles but this lady clearly showed that you don’t have to give up on looking spectacular just because a certain birthday has passed.

When I told her how fantastic she looked she giggled unashamedly and told me it was all done on a shoestring. The belt had come from Primark, the scarf from a charity shop, the hat from Claire’s Accessories. The dancing fairy had been made for her by her great grand-daughter. The coat and boots she laughed, well they had been in her wardrobe for ever!

Despite obviously being in her eighties, this lovely lady was subtly but exquisitely made up, with a vibrant raspberry coloured lipstick enhancing her bright blue eyes. Black was so obviously right for her, the neat but slightly dramatic style complementing her naughty personality.

I didn’t get her name but she was an inspiration. I think I want to be just like her when I grow up - only not in black - Chocolate or Geranium Red, maybe……..?

The Business of Life!

2014-04-03T15:52:00.001+01:00

The business of life is a fascinating subject. Whether we’re educators, homemakers, charity workers, carers, entrepreneurs, business owners, creative, service or armed forces personnel; employed or self-employed, it’s all business!

Leadership and personal development courses, coaches and training resources are plentiful; I’ve attended and benefited from many, without even touching on and enjoying the literary resource from books and audio books.
As a child, it never crossed my mind that ‘normal people’ won Olympic medals, never mind knew that they wanted to. When my local Rotary Club sponsored me to attend their Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) programme in my 20s, rather than following and trying to make the best of the journey I thought I was on, I realised it was MY journey to plan, direct and steer.

In the early days books like Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, The E-Myth Revisited and Rich Dad Poor Dad illustrated entrepreneurship and new ways of looking at the business of life. Audio/visual learners can now also enjoy the experience of watching TED talks. For anyone interested in education of any kind, making time to watch Sir Ken Robinson will be time well spent. This animated one on changing education paradigms was my introduction to his work and I still love it.

Recently I had the privilege of meeting Lis Protherough who is passionate about ‘…students everywhere to aim high, be all that they can be and keep on climbing.’ She has established her business around this, writing The Book on Successful Teens and is leading by example with her own sons.

So, with everything pointing me towards entrepreneurship, it was interesting to come across this article highlighting some of the pitfalls.

Robert Kiyosaki laid out a strategic plan for developing his key business skills, leadership, sales, marketing and finance. Ken Robinson talks about why education is changing and needs to change and Lis talks about the 3 pillars of success in her YSC Training Programme:

Personal effectiveness,
Practical finance and
Modern entrepreneurship.

I’m an advocate of collaboration and sharing. Learning from others to further my goals, sharing my knowledge to support others in achieving theirs and working together to achieve a greater result than would be possible by working alone as well as creating opportunities for young people to start fulfilling their dreams. I believe this is consistent with seeing the return of apprenticeships in the UK as an alternative segue from education to work.

Recently I heard a teenager quoted as saying 'but it really doesn't matter how you look Mum, people really don't care anymore!' While it may not be AS important as it might have been in the past, being empowered, authentic and visible (as your true self) is key to supporting you in achieving your goals. If you don’t look the part, it will take you a lot longer and you’ll have to work harder to convince people that you know what you’re talking about. Nothing works alone in this life and while your own expertise is paramount, communication is becoming increasingly more visual (YouTube) and all communication needs to support who you are, whether it’s a still photo, a filmed presentation/conversation or a face to face meeting, the messages need to converge not diverge or worse, conflict.

As a young graduate, investing in myself with a Colour and Style consultation was one of the best things I did, further developing this to gain clarity on my personal brand has been a key enabler for me in focusing on pursuing what’s important to me while progressing my career. While it's never one thing alone, I'm clear this is one of my investments that has delivered the greatest ROI (return on Investment).

What were some of your best investments or resources that empowered you to move forward in your life?

Green Fingers....or Blue?

2014-03-27T12:18:00.001+00:00

I never did understand the phrase ‘green fingers’. My Granny loved her garden and her plants and flowers always looked amazing. But when she came indoors, from a spot of digging and weeding, her fingers were any colour but green!

This week MY fingers have gone a shade of grey, again! I KNOW the instructions say to wear gloves but that all seems a waste of time until the damage is done! Since experimenting with a khaki jumper (which clearly didn’t suit me after all) by adding black dye (achieving charcoal) and the obligatory tie-dying at school, altering the colour of things to make them more appealing has become a minor hobby!

I changed (uninteresting) cream bed linen to a darker shade of pink by mixing pink and red dye, it worked a treat. The silk embroidery took on a different intensity of colour than the cotton fabric, which I liked a lot, I chose lavender and pink for the extra pillow cases and with a lot of colour experience, but a relative lack of dying experience, created a beautifully coordinated bedroom!

In the late 90s I remember the joy of discovering a pair of purple jeans on a holiday to San Francisco and the accompanying sadness when they died (pun intended!) a few years later. In 2014 coloured jeans are more readily available but in the intervening years I’ve been known to buy jeans in the palest shade of stone wash, acquire some burgundy dye on the way home and introduce them to each other in the washing machine before wearing them. The fabulous plummy shade that resulted was a joy to wear at a time when jeans came in any colour as long as it was blue!

Then there was my friend on a budget with what would have been a cool and comfortable skirt for the warm summer days - if she had been a summer. Looking for something to go with it was her challenge so I suggested a cheaper alternative would be to dye the skirt terracotta to match the rest of her wardrobe.

As one of her 2-star colours, that skirt has become a staple of her wardrobe, all year round rather than an occasional summer skirt which she only has 2 tops to choose from to go with it.
I would never have dared to suggest this without my understanding of the colour wheel, cool and
warm colours and how
                                                                       they befriend and
                                                                       alienate each other
                                                                       depending on their
                                                                       position on the wheel.

Shoes are not immune. A client with extra wide feet found a great style for her in the right size, wrong colour; applying a dark brown shoe dye took them into her season and gave her a pair of shoes that will form the core of her capsule wardrobe.

I decided my grey suede knee-length boots weren’t quite the right shade after all, 4 bottles of dye (£20) later and they became navy blue. This has faded a little with time so this weekend’s playtime was to use another 2 bottles (£10) to freshen up, restore the depth of colour and give them a new lease of life; a more cost-effective route than purchasing a new pair, given the ones I’ve seen recently (navy having a scarcity value) range from £150-£395!

My nails and fingertips have nearly recovered! Reminiscent of granny’s gardening hands, it’s just as well I’m working from home this week!