The Controversial History of Color Season Analysis

The trend of finding your color season has produced dozens of filters on tiktok, various fashion YouTube videos, and angst for countless people just trying to decide on their next shirt. But where did it come from, and how does it work? Or does it work at all? There are plenty of mentions of the origins being found in the 1980s, but the story of color seasons goes back a little bit further. In fact, the history of color analysis has a much older origin story that may take you back to your Art 101 class. It may also answer some questions about how the system does, or doesn't, work. The rules had to come from someone- and the answer may be a 19th century Frenchman.

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00:00 Finding Seasons
06:09 Undertones & Lipstick
10:18 Victorian Rules
13:30 Color Theory
18:26 Self Analyzing

[TIRU]

honestly the "$10, 000 for color matching supplies" set off major alarm bells for a certain illegal style of marketing 😂

[calihhan]

Another thing to consider: sometimes people want to achieve a look that is "wrong" for them. For example, my best friend as a teenager was very into gothic style. She has almost golden hair and pretty warm features, but by wearing the "wrong" colors, she got that paler, fairy look she wanted. And she looked stunning, because she felt herself and was happy.

[juls_krsslr]

I always assumed this came from color theory. I'm glad to know I was right! Incidentally, I had my colors done by David Kibbe himself when I was a teenager in the early 90s. I am what he called at the time a "vivid autumn" which was horrifying to me because I typically dressed entirely in black and dyed my hair black, too. At the same time, I was taking an "Intro to Design" class in which we were studying color theory and doing experiments with color, so it did make a certain amount of sense to me. And I could see a difference when Kibbe did the draping. I've come to realize, the thing about color analysis is, it depends on what look you want to achieve. Now, I like wearing "autumn" colors because I want to look warm and welcoming to people, but when I was 18, I wanted to look kind of pale and sickly, so wearing a "wrong" color, like black, was not necessarily a bad thing.

That color analysis was also the first time I realized that I had green eyes. Up to then, I thought I had brown eyes because they're dark, but Kibbe pointed out that they're actually dark green, not dark brown, and when he draped me in certain colors, you could actually see that they're green. That was kind of cool to discover. I don't know why no one noticed this until then.

[merrygrammarian]

My Grandmother gifted me a Color1 analysis for my birthday when I was in college, and it made SO much more sense than the seasons. The theory is more about finding colors that are already present in your body, even the yellow flecks in one's eyes. The woman who did my analysis had been trained in California, where they were required to match people of all skin colors. It was one of the most encouraging and body positive experiences I've ever had. She would say, "if you are looking to wear black, this kind of black will highlight your natural colors best" But Color1 fell out of popularity and the weird seasons thing is all people know about.

[wanderingspark]

My elementary school guidance counselor in the 1990s believed that your color season was linked to your personality type. I remember her trying to sort my classmates into a simplified version of Myers-Briggs by looking at color season palettes. Even as a 6 year old, I was skeptical about the claim that your skin tone correlated to your personality.

[jasper]

When I was in a high school fashion class, we got one of those "seasons" charts, and all of the categories were describing white skin while one of them listed "Most people with darker skin are in this season." I was honestly kind of shocked they were allowed to use that in school, this wasn't that long ago.

[bawi]

My mom forces herself to wear colors she hates 30+ years after reading Color Me Beautiful. She self-diagnosed as an autumn and cried, but still took the rules like gospel.
She encouraged me to read it, then resented that my season contained colors I like and already wore.

[amberdulay]

There was a moment in the book Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She speaks of Pa bringing home calico for Ma to make the girls new dresses, and laments that her calico is red, because her hair was brown. Mary, on the other hand, got a lovely blue, due to her being a blonde. I remember as a child wondering why the heck it mattered, but now I’m sort of impressed that, if this passage is true, even Pa had some sort of understanding of the “color theory” that may have been prominent at the time.

[myragroenewegen]

We're really dealing with this history of things starting out presenting themselves as style and art advise and slowly trying to present themselves as scientific, whether or not they actually incorporate real colour science. I love the thought of rich 1800s women heading to their favorite painter to be like "I like your understanding of colour. Could you suggest what colours look good on my and paint me a little pallet sampler?"

[ManuelaPatzel]

I had two ‘professional’ color analysis done . Two totally different results. Ever since, I wear what I like and feel good in. Works for me.

[MeMe-Moi]

The recommended colors for a person since 1900 (based on my limited reading, anyway, so I could be wrong) seems to be designed to play up the "fashionable" complexion. So, pre-1930 seems to be angled towards making a person look as pale as possible, while the 1930s-1940s played up a "healthy tan/glow" complexion. Then the 1950s happened and the look was again paler but with more vivid makeup and clothing colors. Them the tan look came back in fashion, and so on. So my theory is that color analysis as we know it sine 1900 is meant to make one look as much like the current beauty ideal as possible.

[QueenOfTheNorth]

My one-time stepmother worked for Color Me Beautiful in the late 80’s - early 90’s. She would tell people their “seasons” much like fortune tellers tell your fortune. People hung on every word. This company would also sell you clothing in your “season.” You could buy separates in your colors and build a wardrobe.

[mermaidstears]

I remember someone strongly suggesting “having our colors done” when I was 13-14, so circa 1977-78. I went home, held up some of my clothes and discovered some really made me look glowing while others made me look like I’d been dead three days. Lol. I look great in cool pink tones, so I still build on that almost 50 years later. By the way, that deep green looks fabulous on you

[doris]

And when shopping online, , one company's deep emerald green will not be the same as another, though they may look the same on the computer. We have truly tossed away a way of shopping that really was lovely. My grandmother would go to her dressmaker, be served tea and be presented with opportunities to touch and see the fabrics or at the very least, swatches. 😢 [sighs]

[lizzygreenhood]

I analyzed my own colors in high school in the 80s in a 4-H sewing and fashion club, and it actually gave me "permission" to wear the rich earth tones that were no where near as trendy as electric blue and neons were at the time.

[MzShonuff]

I recently found a great YouTuber who tackles this for Black people, as we have like 220 different skin tones before you even get to the undertones and she explains why something is good on one person and not another, which is fascinating. I think she’s a graphic designer in her offline life so knowing colors is legit her job

[Jane-sspg]

I adore seasonal analysis personally, but people misunderstand something: it's not for people who already know what they like. It's meant to be for people who are unhappy with their wardrobe and don't like how they look in certain colors, but they don't know why. Discussing very real color theory topics of undertone, value, and chroma is not a scam, it's physics! It offers an explanation as to why you don't like how you look in that green dress you never wear, or why you look great in mauve but others look sick. But if you're happy with your wardrobe, keep on keepin' on. No one is saying to do anything different, and if they do, they should mind their own business.

[erinchristman]

My Girl Scout troop did a color analysis thing once. I cried. I couldn't see the difference different seasons supposedly had on my complexion. Doubter ever since.

[persnickety]

I don't know about color seasons, but that emerald green is gorgeous on you for sure

[werelemur]

"Color me beautiful took me BACK. My whole girl scout troop got our colors done as part of earning a fashion badge.