seasonal colour analysis 101
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i feel like a teenager writing a beauty article starting this, but it's one of my autistic interests and one there's few actually valuable resources about while it has potential to be useful for everyone, so i decided to explain how it works - in generalities. i'm also recommending this to masculine people - even if you don't have a lot of interest in fashion, it's always good to know which tie and which shirt are going to look the best on you next to each other. seasonal colour analysis has been very relevant to me in developing my own style in adulthood, when i got out of the teenage nerd hiding in greys and black exclusively phase. fortunately i look good in pure black, but awful in most greys, so it's been a tough deal for me.
table of contents:
the types
light spring - clear spring - warm spring - light summer - cold summer - soft summer - soft autumn - warm autumn - dark autumn - dark winter - cold winter - clear winter
what is it for?
essentially, it's very useful for three things:
- it helps you dress to look good - "good" is of course subjective, but in light of colour theory and fashion theory ground this is understood as bringing out your most attractive and aesthetically pleasing qualities. the right colour background will make your eyes more visible, your skintone look healthier, your face overall capable of capturing more attention. consequently, "mistakes" are going to make you look unhealthy, childish, old, skanky... et cetera, bring out traits such as eyebags or unhealthily pale skin, make you look tired or hungover, depending what type you are and what mistakes you make. too much contrast is likely to make you look vulgar or bland, as it draws the attention away from your facial features and blurs them. too little contrast will make you look sick and bring out all possible "imperfections" of the skin, such as red spots, acne, eyebags or facial hair shadow - i have been told i looked like i had a sleepless night or took it overboard with alcohol when i have made this mistake, being a very contrasting type. i will discuss the most common mistakes made by each type later. consequently, however, you will never look out of place in colours that suit your type.
in short, that means depending on your type you can freely things that are usually discouraged by beauty experts and still look good. if you're the "right" type you can wear pastels as an adult, wear red lipstick as the only makeup, wear black with gold or an intense lipstick colour with black eye makeup and you will not look bad in it the way most people do. necessarily, you won't look good in the same colours most other people do, and things that look phenomenal on one type are likely to look mediocre on some types and then horrible on others. it can also explain why you look bad in some clothes you own, or why someone else looks better in them.
for the purposes of this essay you have to abandon, temporarily, the purely subjective theories of aeshetics; we're operating on a model where you can look better or worse. you'll find that it's less "objective" than one could think when i progress to combining colours; for now, dear reader, please adjust to me here. also, i am going to give makeup advice; i don't normally wear makeup and i'm critical of it on political ground, but i am not assuming all readers have to share my politics, plus i see space for gender nonconforming expressions of femininity in the lgbt, so i'm keeping this. - it allows you to wear any style. experiment with colours is likely to help you adjust any fashion styles to look good in them - if you happen to be a dark autumn, you can find a darker and more saturated lolita dress; if you happen to be some kind of a winter who wants to wear "childish" styles, you can replace pastels with combinations of intense colours and white (i.e. red cherries on white background, fuchsia instead of pastel pink) or combine the pastels with black; if you're a light type and want to dress goth, you can replace black lipstick with blue and introduce more graphite and brown hues in eye makeup... unless the "mismatched" effect is what you wanted to achieve.
- it allows you to achieve any effect - knowing what looks "mismatched" or "unnatural" on you is useful if you want to look shocking, dramatic, skanky et cetera on purpose. that's useful for theatrical and subculture dress and makeup.
- if allows you to wear any colours you like - it can point you to what colours you can combine with a colour you love but look bad in so that you can look good in the whole outfit, or help you find the hues of specific colours that look good on you. generally speaking, no one looks "bad in green" or "good in purple" in general; there's softer and more intense, colder and warmer, more and less saturated et cetera hues of any colour, so there's almost certainly some pinks, greens, blues et cetera that look good on you. if you want to dress like regina george, but "look bad in pink"... maybe you're a winter and you need cold, intense hues of pink approaching fuschia, or a dark autumn and you need more saturated, darker pinks closer to falling into reds, who knows. either way you can do that.
relevant: do not trust most internet sources about seasonal colour analysis; especially be alarmed if they claim types go by hair and/or eye colour in generalities, i.e. that clear winters usually have black hair, and if you're a dark, greyish blonde you must be a summer. it does not work like this: it's simplified and oftentimes inaccurate, and additionally it is incredibly white. it vastly limits the range of types that people who aren't white can be, which is simply not accurate. race does not determine the type, though there might be different proportions of types in numbers within different ethnic groups. i have definitely seen black people who were obvious summers, types usually associated with blonde white girls. i have also seen absurd takes about majority of slavic people being summers, and so on. these aren't to be trusted, look for sites with more in-depth analysis of the types, with focus on contrast and the parameters that determine them. i unfortunately don't know many in english right now; i may try and refresh my memory from the time i used to read about it a lot. in my native language i find that sites oriented towards "classical femininity" and older sources tend to be the best in content; unfortunately, some - but not all - are trad. you can also use this essay as a beginner source, as that's the purpose of it, but keep in mind i'm just an autistic hobbyist and not a professional. you can look at palettes on the sites that don't meet my standards, because these tend to be more accurate than advice on which type one can be. later in this essay i will tell you the simplest routes to find your type.
how does it work?
what is the seasonal colour analysis theory about? it's centered about several parameters that determine colouristics of a person's natural appearance:
- temperature - this is about cold/warm hues. one looks the best in hues that suit their colouristics, and everyone has different proportions of cold and warm hues in their appearance, hence why types are divided into subtypes i'll elaborate on later. temperature determines, of course, how much one is suited to wear warmer vs colder colours.
- contrast - appearance can be more or less contrasting; contrast is created by oppositional colouring such as dark eyes and light hair or the other way around, or light eyes and dark eyebrows and lashes, or warm eyes and cold hair colour, or really anything that "clashes". contrast determined likelyhood of looking good in gaudy, neon colours, and opposing combinations of colours, such as black and white.
- saturation - appearance may be less saturated, that is more "delicate", more youthful and more "feminine" leaning in perception, or more saturated, which is usually perceived as "bold", more mature and more "masculine" leaning. low saturation means inclination to suit lighter colours better, while high saturation means an inclination to look better in dark and saturated, intense hues such as pine green. it's the least important scale, but still somewhat relevant.
the types
there's 4 identified types, which were connected by association and imagination to the four seasons and are based off the scales above. domination of cold and intense/contrasting factors has been identified as winter, cold and soft as summer, warm and intense/contrasting as spring, and warm and soft as autumn. each of these have three subtypes, so arguably there's 12 types you might fall into, although some people can find themselves on the line between two closely related types. they go as follows:
light (delicate) spring - warm temperature, high contrast, low saturation
people of this type tend to have "delicate" features, usually falling into softer and/or lighter colours and the contrast is mostly between temperature of isolated elements, such as cold skintone with pink or olive undertones, cold blonde or brown hair, and warm blue or brown eyes. because these types are read as "delicate", they're often convinced they should stick to pastels and avoid intense colours, which is a mistake; they're ultimately still springs and as such look good in pure white, intense, but lighter colours including intense light violet, periwinkle, coral, hot pink, turquoise, alongside the pastels and akin which they do look in because of their proximity to the other delicate/light type - light summer. this type looks great in contrasting smaller patterns such a polka dots, and can borrow colours selectively from aforementioned light summer as well as the ligher colours of clear winter and clear spring.
common mistakes: avoiding intense colours because of perceiving own appearance as delicate and mild, while in reality they're a constrasting type. too much black - this type looks extraordinarily bad in black - it is recommended that pitch black is replaced with dark navy blue, graphite, dark brown.
makeup and jewellery: lipstick should vary between light and middle colours, be warm and intense - blush pink, ultra pink, rouge, salmon, light hot pink, up to strawberry, signal red, coral, cerise, bubble gum, punch, bright pink. smokey eye can be done with dark greys and browns rather than black, black mascara can be replaced with brown or graphite - don't worry, it will look contrasting enough, and will not give you the "skanky" or "too serious" look black mascara gives. jewellery wise, you can wear intense, yellow gold as well as white gold, rose gold and silver as well as various colourful things, this type has a wide choice here, but is recommended to stay away from rusty golds, coppers and black jewellery and tends to look better in gold than in silver.
clear (contrasting) spring - warm temperature, high contrast, middle-to-high saturation
this type is defined by its high contrast. alongside the clear winter, this is the type that looks best in black and white, silver and gold and other contrasting colours. their appearance tends to strike one as "clear", consisting of mostly pure hues, it's often the case that their hair, eyes colour et cetera count as clear representation of their type, without addition of greyish elements and blur. the main difference between this one and the other type defined by contrast - clear winter, from which the clear spring can borrow some colours - is the temperature; clear springs do better in intense, but warm colours. clear types can sometimes tolerate colours of wrong temperature if they're intense enough, but are not going to look their best. they suit the pure hues like from a children's book representing colours very well - grass and forest green, firetruck and poppy red, intense orange, sunny yellow - and big, contrasting patterns. like for clear winters, greyish and blurred hues are murderous for them, and like for clear winters, the best "neutrals" are fully saturated versions of colours such as black, white, military green, navy blue, onyx and charcoal. if wearing blurrier colours, it is recommended that they have an intense, clear colour somewhere near their face or in makeup. they have more space than most other types to experiment with "controversial" hues such as chartreuse.
common mistakes: assuming because of their slightly lighter features they won't suit black and high contrast, trying to hide in neutral colours which simply make them look hungover.
makeup and jewellery: avoid soft and dark lipstick hues. lipstick should be intense, such as firetruck red, hot pink or coral. clear spring can go a bit darker than light spring and utilise purples, oranges and darker reds. this is one of only two or three types that can wear intense lipstick colours without eye makeup, "can" means "it doesn't overwhelm their face and make the lips and only visible point"; their eyes still stand out. jewellery wise, the best pick is intense, yellow gold, or white gold. unlike the light spring, the clear spring is probably going to not look as good in rose gold and silver, unless they're very clear. classic gold is the best choice. more attention-grabbing jewellery is recommended.
warm spring - warm temperature, middle-to-high contrast, middle-to-high saturation
this type is mostly defined by its warmth, and usually has influences from the autumn type, although still enough contrast to need more intensity and brightness. tends to suit warm, saturated colours, but not too dark, looks better in pure white than pure black. teals, olives, moss greens, apricots, crimsons, indigos, denim blues, bumblebee and honey yellows were made for this type. whatever radiates warmth and has intensity to it will probably suit them. not recommended: any cold and cold-ish hues. they can borrow colours from warm autumns and clear springs. sometimes they're difficult to tell from warm autumns - in this case it's good to compare whether they look better in pure or rusty gold. in order to tell them from clear springs, one needs to use a neon colour and see if they can "carry it". i admittedly don't know a lot about this type - i do notice, though, that they benefit from putting contrasting colours together as long as they're very warm, such as warm hues of yellow and green or blue and red. unlike other springs, they can wear beiges, as long as they introduce an intense, warm element in the outfit. pure black is not recommended, but they're not as likely to look bad in it as light springs are and more likely to look mediocre. they usuallly don't suit black and white together well, but handle pure white better than autumns do. the best neutrals include camel, caramel, tawny, sepia, dark walnut browns, light beiges, warm dark blues, white and cream.
common mistakes: there's not much space in this case - wearing cold hues too close to the face will always be a mistake; however, colder hues can be included if paired with a warm neutral.
makeup and jewellery: recommended very warm reds, oranges and corals for lipstick, this type can go very far into oranges and suit them very well. jewellery: all kinds of gold, rusty gold may be fine on this type, although bright gold may be a bit better. colourful items, if warm enough, this type suits well muiltiple accessories people consider "tacky" on most. a lot of jewellery - such as multiple chains - can work very well on this type.
light summer - cold temperature, low contrast, low saturation
this is the other "delicate" type - they naturally suit pastels extraordinarily well, but can wear pretty much any cold or neutral temperature colour as long as it's blurred and not too dark. think watercolour paint - colours for this type are created via "adding water" in a way that dissolves and blurs them. they don't tend to look good in pure black or white, and so it's recommended to replace them with greys, browns and neutral blues they're much more likely to suit; this type does not look boring or tired in grey. black is good to be replaced with graphite. this type is often concerned about looking too immature or childish in their colours. this is not necessary - pretty much any cold to neutral and light to middle brightness colour can be worn by this type as long as it's not neon or very saturated. pastel and banana yellows, cherry and ruby reds, emerald, mint and sea greens, sky and baby blues, rose, barbie and baby pinks and all pastels in general suit this type. soft peach oranges work if they're more neutral in temperature, not too warm. more "maturity" in style can be achieved by composing light and darker colours as well as usage of intense and dark colours in accessories such as shoes and bags. this type can wear all the sanrio stuff and not look like an idiot. recommended neutrals: greys, graphites, beiges and blues.
common mistakes: wearing too much black, mostly.
makeup and jewellery: for lipstick, all pinks and purples light to middle in terms of brightness and cold to neutral in terms of temperature. this type suits violet lipstick amazingly and looks good in blue lipstick as well (if it's not too dark). avoid dark, neon and too intense colours, all warm oranges and corals. for eye makeup, similarly as with light springs replacing black mascara with dark brown or grey tends to improve the whole effect. blush on their cheeks tends to work interesting (if cold hue). jewellery: silver and rose gold.
cold summer - cold temperature, low-to-middle contrast, low-to-middle saturation
this type is defined by its coldness. cold summers can afford themselves more intensity and borrow from winter colours some as long as the hues are cold. they tolerate black and white better than most summers, but get overwhelmed by very saturated and bright winter colours - they can be told from a winter type via not looking good in fuschia, magenta and blood red lipstick without eye makeup. although they can tolerate a lot, too much intensity makes them "disappear" and draws the focus away from their face. they look great in silver, handle sequins and otherwise shine very well. this type can pick from all cold hues as long as they pair them with a less intense, neutral colour, such as some hue of grey, steel or charcoal. recommended neutrals: steels, charcoal, graphite, pigeon grey, blues.
common mistakes: basically wearing anything too warm.
makeup and jewellery: cold hues - pinks, reds and purples; this type can wear more intense, winter coded lipstick as long as they pair with something that draws attention to their eyes. silver eyeshadow very recommended. this type suits glitter and anything akin well too. jewellery: silver and white gold. anything too warm and falling into neutral colours will be a bad idea.
soft summer - cold temperature, low contrast, low-to-middle saturation
these summers have autumn influences and can tolerate some gold as well as more neutral hues, if not too intense. this type, like the soft autumn, is very non-contrasting, and therefore the best colours contain an addition of grey; this type can wear darker colours than most summers too. the main difference between soft summers and soft autumns is the temperature - soft summers suit silver better than gold, and look the best in greyish, softer colours, both lighter and darker, cold and neutral hues. these summers usually look better in middle-to-dark colours than very light colours, and look decently (although not as good as all winters and the dark autumn) in black, while they tend to not suit pure white well. the best neutrals are cream, greyish whites, graphite, umber, cold chocolate brown, hunter and army green. this summer can afford to wear mustard yellow, burgundy and other saturated, darker and warmer colours, especially if they pair them with a neutral that suits them.
common mistake: assuming that as a summer they should stay away from dark colours. this summer suits middle-to-dark well.
makeup and jewellery: middle-to-dark soft pinks of cold and neutral hues, burgundy, cherry and ruby reds, purples. darker eye makeup is fine, black mascara and eyeliner pass on this type as long as worn with eyeshadow of a colour that suits them. they can add some gold too, although still look better in silver. a lot of variety: silver, gold, rusty gold, and rose gold.
soft autumn - warm temperature, low contrast, low-to-middle saturation
this is the sister type of soft summer described above. like the soft summer, the soft autumn leans towards greyish and less saturated, darker hues, but unlike the soft summer they look better in gold than silver and lean towards warm hues in temperature. their best colours are neutral to warm and middle to dark, greyish and blurry, farther from pure hues. therefore beiges, warm greys, teals, greyish blues, creams, tans, brick reds, maroons, garnets, copper and peach oranges. this type suits the "nostalgic" style - rusty metal and so on - very well. small patterns rather than big ones, less contrast is more desirable. the best neutrals: cedar, chocolate brown, warm greys, cinnamon, copper, cream, ecru and "dirty" white, warm soft blues. the colouristics of soft autumn are neutral-warm-leaning, therefore they can wear a lot of more neutral colours, and slightly cold hues if composed with someting warmer, they can also wear lighter colours than other autumns and aren't completely murdered by pure white, although they don't look their best in it; they however look great in any kind of warm creams and greyish whites like for the summers. they can wear white and gold together, and look great in rose gold.
the most common mistakes: because they're non-contrasting, they may think they suit silver better than gold, which isn't true.
makeup and jewellery: rose gold and rusty gold is the ideal, more intense gold will be handled well, and silver will be tolerated decently due to the neutral-ish colouristics. makeup wise, beige lipsticks suit this type, so do neutral, soft pinks, soft oranges and browns. this type looks very good in brown lipstick. glitter and gold elements in makeup look well on them. they suit pearls really well too.
warm autumn - warm temperature, low-to-middle contrast, low-to-middle saturation
like the warm spring, this type is defined by warmth, but unlike the warm spring they look better in less clear variations of the warm colours, such as mustard yellow rather than sunny yellow or brick red rather than firetruck red. their colour are darker and more saturated while less contrasting. a lot of advice for warm springs applies - that is, to avoid cold hues above anything else, although the warm autumn can do some neutral colours if they're dark leaning. warm leaf greens, sea greens and blues, seal, stone and ash greys, canary, honey and mustard yellows, gold, brick reds and vermillions, ambers, ochres, ginger oranges and whatever else is warm suits them, think leaves that fall down in autumn. they don't tend to look good in black or white, and look better in warmer creams and ecrus, like the soft autumn. their ideal neutrals include stone, seal and ash greys, ochres, ambers, chocolate brown, creams, ecrus, saturated dark greens and navy blues if warm. accents can be scarlet, bright orange et cetera. the most important factor is the warmth. they can borrow the darker colours of the warm spring and warmer colours of the other autumns.
most common mistakes: wearing dark, cold colours on assumption that they would suit them if their colouristics are dark overall. wearing anything cold, to be fair. wearing silver.
makeup and jewellery: warm browns and oranges, aubergine and other warm purples and purple-reds, toffee, mahogany and other dark, brown-ish reds, brick red, sangria. recommended gold and rusty gold.
dark autumn - warm temperature, low-to-middle contrast, high saturation
this type is also called intense autumn; as an autumn it's not very contrasting, but it is very saturated, characterised by strong accents such as dark eyebrows and lashes or very dark eyes, often, though not always dark autumns have very dark eyes and hair while relatively pale skin with a warm or neutral undertone. not a rule, however. the most defining trait is that they look the best in dark, intense and saturated colours, such as wine red and burgundy or bottle and pine green. they tend to look extraordinarily good in plum purple and other saturated, warm-ish purples. in this regard they share a lot with the dark winter, but unlike the dark winter they're both warmer and less contrasting. this type can combine black with gold without looking cheap and tacky. also naturally looks great in black. colours overall are similar as for the warm autumn, but darker and more saturated, and for this reason can lean more neutral. the safest style for this type is combining black with intense, but not bright colours. they have a lot of abilities other types lack fashion wise - i would say it's somewhat fortunate to be born a dark autumn. their only clear disadvantage is looking awful in white and pastels, and generally not tolerating bright colours well. by not tolerating well i mean looking unhealthy.
most common mistakes: makeup and jewellery not intense enough because they take discouraging advice meant for other types, "disappears" on them as a result.
makeup and jewellery: plum, aubergine, mahogany, currant, dark burgundy, wine red. darker, more neutral tones for the lipstick. red blush suits them better than orange or pink ones. dark eye makeup very much recommended, including black. the opposite of light and soft types, dark autumns will have the problem of soft, delicate makeup and jewellery "disappearing" in their intensity and not being noticable. recommended gold, although they handle silver and rose gold decently.
dark winter - cold temperature, middle-to-high contrast, high saturation
sister type to the dark autumn above - just as dark and intense, but more contrasting and colder. both dark winters and dark autumns often have very dark eye framing, contrasting with their skin and darker than their hair; dark winters, more often than dark autumns, may have bright eyes that add contrast to the composition, making it both contrasting and saturated. like dark autumns, they naturally look amazing in black, and their most recommended colours are the colder variations of the dark autumn colours, such as pine green, blood red, royal blue, military green, cold hues of chocolate brown, burgundy, saturated purples. unlike dark autumns, they look better in silver than gold, and they look a bit worse in white than others winters do, often need another colour in addition to black and white on their own; notably, though, pure white still looks better than greyish or cream whites. they can borrow colours from other winters as long as they're not too bright, as they'll look good in most intense and cold colours. the best neutrals include: black, sacramento, cold chocolate brown, military green, pine green.
most common mistakes: similar as dark autumns, taking advice for summers, often considering themselves one because they tend to have middle-toned hair more often than not instead of the stereotypical pure black.
makeup and jewellery: silver recommended, although they tolerate gold and white gold well, rose gold can look fine on some. lipstick - intense, such as blood red or plum purple. dark eye makeup or no eye makeup at all.
cold winter - cold temperature, middle-to-high contrast, middle-to-high saturation
like the cold summer, the cold winter is defined by their temperature - the colour range is usually mainly in the middle, tolerating light and dark colours pretty well, but with next to no tolerance of warmth. these winters tend to suit intense, very cold colours such as magenta very well, and look good in black and white. they're more contrasting than summers, and so their best colours tend to be the more intense and bright versions of cold summer colours, such as hot pink, ruby, midnight blue, jade green. their best neutrals include black and white above anything else, and then navy and royal blues and pigeon greys, charcoal. they can borrow colours from the cold summer if intense enough and from other winters basically freely if not too warm.
most common mistakes: convinced they're summers because of online experts not knowing how colouristics work; they then harm themselves with soft, neutral colours and pastels. wearing beige, ever - horrible similarly as it is for clear winters; wearing anything warm.
makeup and jewellery: cold pinks, magenta, blood red, burgundy. a lot of silver is recommended. jewellery: silver, steel and white gold.
clear winter - cold temperature, high contrast, middle-to-high saturation
this type has a lot of contrast in their appearance. myself as one i can tell that i have relatively pale, but olive undertoned skin, then very dark and intense eye framing, and then bright eye colour, so i wasn't sure which winter i was for a while (though certainly a winter subtype). clear winters are defined by their contrast and intensity, and similarly to clear springs gravitate towards pure hues, but in their colder version instead - such as cobalt blue, periwinkle, lemon, lime, cyan, neon colours including cold neon orange, and often also borrow the saturated colours of the dark winter - such as blood red and pine green, if they're cold enough and contrasting enough. they are about the only type who can do gold/silver contrast and look good in it. they look great in black and white, however additionally benefit on adding a third colour, as long as it's a pure hue, and tend to look good in very intense, neutral neon limes and oranges which do not suit cold winters - which is mainly how you tell these types apart. i've found that i'm a clear winter rather than a dark winter - these are the types i most considered - mainly in that i look better in neutral temperature neon colours than neutral temperature dark autumn colours such as aubergine. clear winters can borrow colours from other winters in general, as well as the more neutral in temperature colours of the clear spring, and brighter, more intense colours of the light spring and light summer. the best neutrals are: black, white, silver - can serve as a neutral in case of this type - graphite, cold chocolate brown, pigeon grey, pine green, cobalt and royal blues. like clear springs, clear winters can wear red lipstick without eye makeup and look good in it. they look very good in sequins and everything that shines - i've had outfits focused on combining sequins with white clothes, but gave up since my pure white clothes became a greyish white quickly in washing and then i looked like crap in it. c'est la vie.
common mistakes: wearing beige ever. i can't word how tragically i look in beige. swear i instantly look like i've been sick with something horrible and like i haven't showered in this time. wearing any greyish browns and neutral greys, i tend to look hungover in these. being convinced that one is a summer because of hair and eye colour and then hurting oneself tragically. "subtle" makeup - will make you look like a child or just not be visible; go hard or go home. though i don't wear makeup i had a phase of experimenting with it and i've been there, done that, and looked like a clown.
makeup and jewellery: blood red lipstick, fuschia or magenta are generally the best choices; intense burgundy and light, neon/ice violet or pink also work. any lipstick not intense enough will make you look either childish or old, your choice. white gold or silver are the best choices, but bright yellow gold works. black jewellery is a good choice too from my experience.
how to find your type?
this is a very important part. how does one type yourself, if not via bad internet articles. well, the first step is determining the temperature, which can be easily done by trying on bright silver and bright yellow gold and seeing which one looks better. if both look bad, you're likely to be a soft autumn or soft summer, if both look good, you're likely to be a clear winter or clear spring, and either way it'll limit the range you're picking from. you can then try out less and more intense versions of a colour that's within your temperature to see which ones suit you better. that's very easily done with lipsticks as well as scarves and ties, and trying on an intense red lipstick without any other makeup and seeing if it emphasises your features or overwhelms them can confirm or exclude being one of the clear types, looking good in rusty gold generally limits you to the autumns, and looking good in neons indicates being either a clear winter or a light spring; in this case, if you're the latter you will look bad in black while you will look very good in it as the former. typing can generally mainly be done by the way of elimination like that.
for anyone interested, some of the outfits i posted here before in my diary part are examples of a self aware clear winter may dress:
as well as the two scarves i've bought recently, also picked to suit my colouristics:
have fun with fashion and don't let anyone let you down. remember, if you want to wear something because you like it you can and you don't have to care if you look your best in it. that's your business.
if anyone has questions about seasonal colour analysis, you can email me (email address on the main site) and i'll be happy to help. good luck etc.