The article was entitled "Rethinking Your Colors" and a huge photo of a bright pumpkin-orange suit with matching shoes appeared under the title of the article in the October issue of a well-known magazine for women over forty. The subtitle read "What to wear when you love red, but red no longer loves you."
I shuddered at the thought of any woman over forty wearing the harshest color in existence.

Orange is said to light up the face, but in reality, it lights up the spirits, not the face. The attachment we all have to orange is due to its association with the sun, warmth, a fi replace, brick house, and other "survival" items.
It was only a day later that I picked up the latest book on image to add to my collection. It was entitled What You Wear Can Change Your Life. While the book title announces one of the great truths, the information about how to choose fl attering colors was yet another myth rather than a truth.

Technically speaking, orange causes enormous color loss to the face. Perhaps you have noticed that redheads (whose hair is actually orange, not red) always look exceptionally pale. It's because of their orange hair color that they look so pale. Cover a redhead's hair with a white towel and drape her with a cherry red fabric and she'll come to life and look a lot more healthy-and colorful. Loss of color is not the only problem with orange; it also creates a splotchy effect on many fair-skinned women-redheads in particular.

Even though many people actually look anemic in orange due to the dramatic color loss, we rarely color loss, we rarely notice it. This is because we are caught up in the psychology of the color (the sun and, ultimately, survival) and never get around to noticing the effects in the mirror. In fact, most people choose colors NOT from the results in the mirror, but from the "heart and soul." In other words, they simply like the color and feel good in it. This has to do with the psychology, or personality, of colors. It has nothing to do with looking good, trust me.

Interestingly, there wasn't a bit of technically-based information about color in either publication. All artists (and a few image consultants) know that due to the principle of simultaneous contrast, orange takes color from the face, but the opposite color on the color wheel, blue, adds color. It seems that the eye demands equilibrium, so that when we look at any color, the opposite color is generated by the eyes and thrown on the face. Thus, when we wear orange, blue color is thrown on the face, and since bluing in the laundry makes whites whiter, this effect also makes skins whiter!

The magazine article advocated choosing colors that make you smile, and orange is one of the happiest colors in existence, so it's a trap we all fall into. We're smiling in our heart and soul when we wear orange, but we're looking anemic and pale in the mirror!

The "what to wear" book showed photos of the two British authors, who said they chose colors related to the sunset, like fi re (sounds like orange to me). Other colors they favored were actually the "grunge" colors from the autumn season. The women confessed that previously they had worn pastels, but had now repented. My experience suggests that colors from the autumn season are the least fl attering in the mirror because they take away luminosity from the skin and hair. Of course, when you wear pancake makeup in warm tawny colors, it can make you think that you look good in orange, because there is "harmony" with the skin and clothing colors. False harmony, I call it.

Another myth is that that blondes are suited to pastels like powder pink, blush peach, and baby blue. Women in general are often drawn to pastels because of the feminine nature of these soft, delicate colors. And blondes in particular get compliments when they wear colors like pink and peach. Unfortunately, pastels make blondes look pale, anemic, and invisible. They disappear into their clothing, so that their beautiful pink suit wears them.

An image consultant lets you see that you look "good" in powder pink, but when the pink color is covered with a fuchsia or magenta fabric, the difference is extraordinary. Who wants to look "good" when you can look extraordinary? In fact, upon close examination, most people will fi nd that they don't actually look good-they just feel good in pink. And that explains why so many color myths abound. We don't choose colors from the effects in the mirror. We choose them from the heart and soul!

Sandy Dumont, THE Image Architect is an image consultant and professional speaker based in Virginia Beach, with 30 years of international and national experience helping individuals and Fortune 500 companies improve their image. She conducts customized Branding for People™workshops on a regular basis.
For more information, visit www.theimagearchitect.com or call 757/627-6669.

To view the original article in Tidewater Women, please visit here

by Sandy Dumont, THE Image Architect © 2006
Originally published in Tidewater Women, December 2006