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March 2007 Fashion Secrets
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The Power of Color
By Ginger Burr (Total Image Consultants)
This is arguably the most challenging winter season for dressing I have experienced in the past 20 years. Why, you ask? Just walk into most department stores and look around. What do you see? Black, yes. Brown, yes. Beige and camel, yes. Besides a smattering of reds, a touch of eggplant and a hint of metallic, that's about it. What happened to the rich teals and deep blues? What about green and cranberry? I am still asking why!
When everything around us is gray, beige and devoid of color, it feels only right that we infuse a some vibrancy into our lives by wearing delicious colors. Instead, shopping has become an adventure—searching for colors that add life to our wardrobes. In this case, the smaller stores often have more color choices to meet their clients' needs.
Once you find clothing with color, how do you know what to choose and how much color to wear? It's more than saying red looks good on me. What shade of red? Primary red? Or, perhaps a red that is closer to raspberry, russett, magenta or burgundy? How do you choose?
- Look in the mirror. What color is your hair, your skin, your eyes? Replay those colors in your wardrobe. If you have brown hair, eyes and skin, your natural colors indicate that wearing lots of color at one time will overwhelm you. Wearing one perfect color (perhaps with another closely related color) will be striking. If, however, you have red hair, green eyes and peaches and cream skin, you will look lovely in more color to complement your natural coloring.
- Who are you? Are you outgoing, energetic, and playful, or serene, introspective, and gentle? Your personality affects the intensity (bright vs. quiet) of the colors you wear. A friend of mine is a petite blond with brown eyes and translucent ivory skin. Her coloring alone dictates soft, understated colors. But, let her loose for a few minutes and you know you are dealing with a fireball. If the colors she wears do not reflect some of this intensity, she'll terrify people when she first meets them. Her colors need to correspond to her personality as well as her natural coloring.
- Walk. How you move affects your color, too. Do you have bounce in your step or is your gait smooth and effortless? The former might indicate that your colors have a lively tone while the latter might require more sophistication. One is not better than the other, just different.
- Speak. Do you have a lilting laugh or a deep resonant voice? If your coloring is deep and rich and your voice is light and airy, you'll want to add softness and feminine touches to your outfit, especially around your face.
The colors you wear speak volumes especially when they are in sync with who you are. The next time you get dressed, look in the mirror. Reflect on what you see. Walk towards your image, smile, speak to yourself. Does it work or is something missing? Perhaps you need to add bright earrings to bring focus to the whites of your eyes. Maybe you want to change your pants from black to navy to soften everything? Play, experiment, and see what happens.
Copyright 2007, Total Image Consultants - All rights reserved.
To purchase Ginger's book "Fashion Secrets Mother Never Taught You", please click here.
Copyright 2004-2007, Total Image Consultants - All rights reserved.
Fashion Secret 2007 is written and produced by Total Image Consultants. Please direct all questions and comments to ginger@totalimageconsultants.com.
If you would like to forward this newsletter, we ask that you do so in its entirety. Do not alter its content or form and please include copyright info. Thank you. To purchase Ginger's book "Fashion Secrets Mother Never Taught You", please visit www.totalimageconsultants.com or www.amazon.com.
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