What if your wardrobe is full of the wrong colours? The colour analysis trend helping people find their perfect palette

From ‘I have nothing to wear’ to ‘I have nothing to wear in my colour’— colour analysis is having a moment. Think ‘mera wala blue’, but for your wardrobe. Khushi Vora and Shannika Ramos help you find your true colours.

Ever seen those viral influencer reels where someone sits, head covered and makeup-free, while an ‘expert’ drapes fabric swatches around their neck, flipping through colours like a live Pantone deck until one shade makes everything click? The format has spawned countless reels, including the latest by RichTok queen Becca Bloom, who did it for her cat to find the right wallpaper for his room.

Before you roll your eyes and dismiss it as rich people pish-tosh, know that colour analysis is currently a popular styling method that helps people find the colours most flattering to them based on many factors such as skin undertone, hair and eye colour, etc. Its roots lie in early 20th-century colour theory, particularly artist Johannes Itten's work linking colouring to harmonious palettes. It entered mainstream fashion in the 1970s and ’80s through image consultants such as Carole Jackson, whose 1980 bestseller Color Me Beautiful popularised the four-season system—Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.


Today consultants use expanded systems, sometimes with 12 or 16 seasons, to guide choices in clothing, makeup, hair colour and accessories.

Huedunnit

The process starts with assessing the SHE factor—skin, hair and eye pigment—to determine which tones complement you best. Modern systems use drapes, flags and fabric swatches to identify flattering palettes. Sessions typically last one to three hours in natural light, with clients bare-skinned and dressed in neutral tones.

The effects can be dramatic, says Sonia Dubey Dewan, founder of the Indian School of Image Management. "In some colours, the client's face will light up and pigmentation, scars and dark circles will literally vanish." Wrong colours can have the opposite effect, says Ritika Rele, founder of Rele Colour. "It ages one in an instant. It deepens under-eye shadows, draws out redness and uneven pigmentation, exaggerates skin texture and flattens facial definition," she explains.

But finding your colour is more nuanced, moving through three key steps.

Shade Match

Step 1: Undertones

Understand your skin's undertone—warm, cool or neutral.

Step 2: Seasons

Colours are narrowed through the four-season system (spring, summer, autumn, winter) where shades are differentiated by value and intensity. Value is how light or dark a colour is from white to black. Intensity refers to how vivid or muted a colour appears.

Step 3: Flows

Flows identify which trait—hue, value or intensity—is most dominant in your colouring.

In the 16-colour system, these flows are:

Warm vs. cool: Undertone-dominant

Light vs. deep/dark: Value-dominant

Bright/clear vs. muted/soft: Intensity-dominant

Shady business

Most colour analysts say Jackson's book is the Holy Grail of the business, Dewan says. "It was the first time she had introduced the concept of seasons and made it accessible to the general public."

However, for decades, these frameworks were exclusively for Western skin tones. "Historically, colour analysis was built around lighter skin, hair and eye combinations," says Rele. "But now the industry is recognising that the same assumptions cannot be applied to everyone."Over the past 15 years, the world has shifted to the 16-colour system, which is more universal in nature.

Social media has also connected users with experts and communities worldwide. Gwen Janelle Tan, founder of Singapore-based colour consultancy StyleForth, says an Instagram collaboration with an Indian influencer reached about four million views and resulted in an influx of Indian clients.

"We have trained over 400 people. People say that it's such a new thing. Frankly, it has been around for more than 40 years."
— Sonia Dubey Dewan, founder, Indian School of Image Management

Colour coded

In a world where AI has an opinion on everything, can it also tell us which colours look good on us? It has a good shot. Upload a natural, well-lit selfie, feed AI a detailed prompt and voilà, it can analyse your undertone, contrast and best shades in under a minute.

Try: "Act as my colour consultant and analyse my skin undertone, hair and eye colour, and place me in the 16-season colour category." If a selfie feels like oversharing, there's a workaround: Use a photo-editing app's colour picker to sample your skin, hair and eyes, then copy the six-digit hex codes.

Try: "Act as a professional colour consultant and analyse my seasonal palette using these exact hex codes. Cover my undertone and contrast, seasonal typology, best and worst colours, and jewellery metals."

Match point

The clientele is not limited to fashion enthusiasts. Tan caters to C-suite executives, directors, business owners and politicians. Despite misconceptions that the clientele is only women, Tan says, men make up about 20% of her clients. Dewan spotted the demand early on. During her corporate workshops in 2011, around 85-90% of participants who showed interest were men.

Both conduct workshops and seminars for corporate clients. "When we brief them, we talk about their lifestyles, work environments and colour psychology," says Tan, who has worked with Porsche, Chanel, Uniqlo and LinkedIn.

Cost of colours

Individual consultations

StyleForth: SG$ 180–999 (approx. Rs 13,000–74,000)

Indian School of Image Management (ISIM): Rs 2,000–10,000

Group Sessions

StyleForth: SG$ 2,000–5,000 (approx. Rs 1.14–3.71 lakh)

ISIM: Rs 1,500–23,000 per person; Rs 15,000–30,000 for a group of 10

Pigment of imagination

Experts agree: There are no bad colours. If a consultant tells you to avoid a colour, stay away. "There can be a version of that colour that suits you," says Dewan.

Rele says, "Understanding your colours lets you use them to change how people perceive you." And the idea extends beyond the wardrobe. "In media training, when we are getting people camera-ready, we use colour analysis," explains Dewan. "We use the colours on the basis of the mood of the news to tweak perception."

Colour psychology can come into play in everyday situations as well. For an important meeting, Tan suggests wearing green, which is associated with growth, both in nature and the stock market. Rele says it does help in choosing the right outfit. Once you've nailed your season, shopping becomes a whole lot easier.

"For men, once you know eight or 10 core colours, getting dressed almost solves itself."

— Ritika Rele, founder, Rele Colour'

Five ways colour analysis helps you:

- Shop smarter

- Build a cohesive wardrobe

- Look brighter and fresher

- Choose makeup better

- Dress with confidence and quicker