Just like your most flattering colours reflect your own colour characteristics, so it is true for patterns and prints. In order to choose patterns which complement your colouring, you need to be able to identify your key characteristics.
For those with high contrast in their colouring such as Bright and Cool Winters, patterns which are bold and highly contrasted look wonderful. Patterns which combine bright, saturated hues such as hot pink and turquoise, emerald and violet, and true red and cobalt blue will look dynamic and startling. Geometric prints and abstracts are top of the list but highly stylised florals particularly on black backgrounds are also great.
For those with low contrast and muted intensity like Soft Summers, and Soft and Muted autumns, monochromatic combinations create low contrast patterns. This means pairing slightly different shades of the same hue, such as a medium blue with a darker one. If you are fair with low contrast like some Soft Summers, stick with light to medium hues - pastels are perfect. If you are dark with low contrast, stay with darker monochromatic prints.
Mixing a neutral and a colour of similar value (depth) also creates low contrast.
The important thing is to avoid patterns that incorporate colours from the opposite side of the colour wheel e.g. blue and orange.
Soft and muted colouring, will be flattered by patterns that can also be described as gentle and delicate, and having soft edges; think water colours and florals. The elements of the pattern should be small and disorganised. Choose autumnal colours if you are a Warm and blue-based colours if you are a Cool.
Avoid ordered geometric patterns in particular.
If your value is light, as for Light Springs and Light Summers, patterns with deep, strong colours will overwhelm and overpower you. The former will sparkle in fun, busy and colourful patterns combining gelato tints of yellow, mauve, peach and/or aqua. The latter will shine in slightly more subdued blends of pastel pinks, blue, mauve and mint. Both look lovely in pretty florals and even soft edged geometric patterns.
If you are one of the deeper seasons like Deep Autumn or Deep Winter, you will be underwhelmed and washed out by floral pastels and soft abstracts. Your best prints will match the strength of your colouring. Low contrasts will not be as wonderful as high contrasted patterns. Look for bold prints especially containing unusual and unexpected elements. Geometric patterns with round and angular shapes mixed together are perfect as are defined abstract prints. Combinations of pure colours from the opposite side of the colour wheel make great patterns for deep colouring while black backgrounds punctuated with pops of vivid colour are especially flattering on Deep Winters.
And if you're not sure how to choose your patterns which complement your colouring because you are unsure of your key colour characteristics, consider having a colour analysis. It will take the guess work out of shopping, save you money and save you time. For more information click here. Colour Analysis - AbFab (abfabstyle.com)
COOL Clear (Cool Winter) and COOL Muted (Cool Summer)
Everyone can look fabulous in green, the trick is knowing which greens suit your season. There are a range of greens for all seasons! To find the ones which will look lovely on you, you must consider the three characteristics of all colours; temperature, intensity and value. When you share the same three characteristics as the green you're considering, you can be very confident that it will look fabulous on you.
Greens for the Cool Dominant Seasons: Temperature
By way of example, let's begin by focusing on the Cool Dominant categories: COOL Clear and COOL Muted. These two categories share a cool undertone or temperature as their dominant characteristic. The greens which will look good on them therefore have a COOL or blue undertone. They will both have several greens in common in their palette or swatch.
Greens for the Cool Dominant Seasons: Intensity
An important difference between the two Cool Dominant categories is intensity. COOL Clears look their absolute best in colours which have high to medium intensity meaning they are clear to slightly muted. So, blue- based greens which are clear to slightly muted will harmonise beautifully with them. COOL Muteds on the other hand, are best in slightly softer shades. Their best intensity ranges from low to medium high. They will look fabulous in softened, blue-based greens. And the greens these two categories have in common, as well as being blue-based, will be medium in intensity. It's worth mentioning here that a fabric's surface affects intensity. So, a factor to consider when choosing a garment is whether the fabric is shiny or matte. Highly reflective surfaces make colours appear clearer while matte ones soften colours. So, even when both seasons share the same greens, what can make the greens even more fabulous for each, is the surface of the fabric.
Greens for the Cool Dominant Seasons: Value
The third colour characteristic which determines whether a blue-based green suits a Cool Dominant is its value. COOL Clears can look wonderful in very light all the way through to very dark greens however, COOL Muteds look best in medium light through to medium deep greens. Bearing this in mind, the greens they have in common as well as being blue based and medium intensity will be medium depth; neither too light or too dark.
