Be True To Your Hue

Be True To Your Hue. I saw this line in a Gap ad for Spring and immediately thought, "Yes, that's it exactly!" The Gap ad was referring to brightly colored jeans; I'm referring to the fact that we all have that one color which looks best on us. This is the color that makes us shine a little brighter, the one that compliments our exact combination of hair, eye and skin color. Smart celebrities, and their stylists of course, figure out what their true hue is and make it a signature. Think Julianne Moore in green, Ellen in white and Emma Stone in red. And who else but Jennifer Aniston, with her golden hair and skin, could pull off beige as a signature color?

What's your true hue? Don't know? Pay attention to what color garners you the most compliments. It always amuses me when a client has an obviously ill-fitting garment in her closet that she tells me attracts compliments every time she wears it. It has never occurred to her that this is due to the color, not whether or not the garment actually flatters her body shape. This is my way of saying a good color is still no excuse for unflattering clothing.

I'll never forget going into the closet of a woman with very pale skin and beautiful red hair, and finding no flattering colors. We purchased a Kelly green rain coat from Burberry and I swear it changed her life. Remember the movie Pleasantville, when the characters turn from black and white to color? It was like that.

Need some professional help figuring out your best colors but not ready to hire a stylist? Try Life in Color: The Visual Therapy Guide to the Perfect Palette--For Fashion, Beauty, and You by Visual Therapy, otherwise known as the gentlemen who taught me everything I know.

Julianne Moore in Tom Ford

Ellen DeGeneres in Zac Posen

Jennifer Aniston in Donna Karan

Emma Stone in Giambattista Valli

Life in Color by Visual Therapy