There’s a real buzz around Colour Analysis these days, and there has been for a few years that I’ve witnessed. You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a brand new thing! It’s really not. I’ve been offering colour consultations since early 2012, but I’m certainly not the first.

The earliest book I have on Colour Analysis is ‘Color & Line in Dress’ by Laurene Hempstead and it was written in 1931, almost 100 years ago. Colour theory as a study has existed from at least the late seventeenth century, but applying these principles to what we wear seems to have emerged in the early twentieth century if not the late nineteenth century.

So what should a comprehensive Colour Analysis offer you?

• A whole range of colours that you can mix and match together easily to create great outfits

• A selection of neutrals as well as accent and feature colours

• A smaller group of signature colours that you look particularly good in

• An understanding of what metals are best for your jewellery

• Suggestions of colours for glasses frames (spectacles and sunglasses)

• The direction your makeup colours should take

• An understanding of what hair colours will look best on you

• Knowledge of how to create focal points in your outfits

• What you risk if you wear colours that don’t harmonise with your natural colouring

• An understanding of how you can use accessories to your advantage

• An introduction to the difference fabric texture has on colours

• Measurement of your value contrast and how to work with that

• An understanding of what you risk if you don’t mirror your value contrast in outfits

• Knowledge of your colour contrast and you work with that

• An understanding of how to choose print colours to suit you

• An idea of how far beyond your colour palette you can stray and still look good

SO IS THERE ANYTHING DIFFERENT ABOUT COLOUR ANALYSIS NOW?

No, there’s not.

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN THE WAY IT’S BEING OFFERED?

There can be.

We’re seeing some screen based analyses being offered, either via something like zoom or via still photographs being uploaded. If it’s being offered by a professionally trained colour consultant who has years of experience analysing people in reality it should be a good result (I used to offer this myself).

However if someone is offering colour analysis in a screen based context without a thorough grounding in colour analysis and an understanding of different colour systems, it can be hit and miss. And if you’re relying on AI for a colour analysis, you won’t know how that app has been designed or calibrated or what images it has been exposed to for learning.

Colour is both an art and a science, and a good colour analyst has a foot in both camps so to speak. For example, as soon as I meet someone my logical brain shifts into gear and begins analysing what’s in front of me based on hue, value, temperature and intensity. Then when I actually begin the colour analysis process I try to put all of the assumptions that were based on logic out of my head and allow my eye to see how a person truly responds to the different colours I’m placing on them. Sometimes I look at them from different angles and in different lights. This is the art side of things. AI can’t do this. And in my opinion, the eye doesn’t lie.

Is there a difference in the way the final product is delivered?

Sometimes.

Digital palettes are sometimes offered in place of a physical swatch, particularly when a colour analysis is performed by AI. In my opinion, a physical swatch, whether made of card or fabric, is always superior to a digital one. It is almost impossible to compare something on a screen to a physical object such as clothing fabric, shoe leather or makeup colours.

This is for two reasons: firstly screens can be calibrated differently so that colours look completely different on different screens (this is akin to looking at a physical colour on a cloudy day, in sunlight, at dusk, under incandescent light and under fluorescent light - try it! The results are vastly different, as they are on different screens. Sometimes you’ll like the result and other times you won’t.

Also, and more importantly, colour transmitted via light (ie on a screen) is completely different from colour pigment (ie anything that’s printed such as fabric or card). Digital images are created through what’s called an ‘additive’ colour mixing process and they record and store colour information in various ways depending on their file format and associated encoding methods.

‘Subtractive’ colour mixing processes are used for printing actual things and consist of dyes and pigments rather than light and codes. There is little point trying to compare the two. Comparing two printed objects (two fabrics or a fabric and a card for example) is much easier because you’re comparing an apple with an apple and not an apple with an orange. This is why physical swatches are far more valuable.

My concern with AI generated colour palettes in particular is that they could bring colour analysis into disrepute through being inaccurate. Having a colour analysis should save you money through empowering you to know what colours and prints to choose and knowing how to combine these to best effect so you’re never disappointed by your choice. The whole experience should be an empowering one and you should walk away with lots of knowledge, not just a screenshot of 20 inaccurate colours that are impossible to replicate in the real world.