Red

There is much excitement in the Perkins' household because we’re flying north to see if we can find the big man himself, you know, the one who wears the red suit.  Great debate has reigned as to whether the one at the school Advent fair was real or not – apparently if there is no sleigh, he’s not the real one – the one we saw the following day in the market square, celebrating the turning on of the Christmas lights, was real, proven by the presence of his sleigh (and a wonderful explanation for why the reindeer wasn’t real)! 

Debate rages in other circles regarding the red suit yet, debate aside, there is no doubt the imagery is so powerful, we would probably struggle to convince anyone that he was anything if not dressed in the familiar red suit with fur trim. Try green for example! 

Red is probably one of the most emotive colours, having many associations with danger and warnings (stop signs), fire/heat, violence, ripeness (fruit) and blood.  It is said to be the colour of energy and drive, with dark red implying success achieved.  When working with my son recently he was very clear that while yellow is a happy colour, red relates to anger – he must feel this at some instinctive level. 

In researching this blog the power of red is obvious, arguably, the most powerful.

·         Seeing Red - becoming angry, losing self-control

·         Red Rag to a Bull – deliberate provocation sure to bring an adverse reaction

·         Caught Red-Handed – caught in the act of a misdemeanour or crime with visible
     evidence

·         Red Herring – a distraction from the real issue

·         Red Tape - rules and regulations especially involving excessive or unnecessary
     paperwork

·         In the Red - in debt

·         Scarlet Woman 

      o   Prostitute or

      o   Symbol of Pagan Rome

And my favourite, because it reminds me of my childhood and the Cornish skylines:

·         Red Sky at Night – an indication of the weather.

It is a colour associated with passion and confidence so wear it with pride but equally be aware that some will see it as an angry colour. 

A conversation with a bank manager recently related to her early years’ training and a recommendation to avoid wearing red because it is an angry colour.  With ‘anger’ being the energy in Eastern philosophy which drives a snowdrop up through the frozen ground, I think passionate would interchange well here.  Maybe with the stiff upper lip synonymous with the British culture, we need to keep a lid on ‘passion’ as much as anger lest we can’t handle it!

Having spent 12 years demonstrating how amazing the right red lipstick for you looks in spite of fears and opinions, it was really refreshing to see two women at a recent function proudly and confidently wearing strong red lipstick.  It also reminded me of the L’Oreal campaign earlier this Autumn.

Reds in the House of Colour range are fabulous - use the table below to identify from your skin tone which are your best colours:

Ideal Reds
Spring (warm & clear)	Poppy / Geranium
Summer (cool & soft)	Cherry / Coral Red
Autumn (warm & soft)	Brick / Geranium
Winter (cool & clear)	Burgundy / Carmine / Scarlet

Great Reds for your Season	Soft	Clear
Warm	Autumn – L12, L606	Spring – L12, L55, L606
Cool	Summer  - L28, L50, L307	Winter – L27, L28, L50, L55, L302, L307, L499, L512, L673

As the colour at the centre of the colour wheel, the most adaptable of all colours and the first colour the eye sees, resulting in it being the colour of ‘sale’ signs to attract spending customers in a retail environment; in the words of Bill Blass, 'When in doubt, wear red.' 

Pink

As a child, pink was an emotive colour, going through phases of loving it and hating it with equal measure depending on when you asked, what the specific shade in question was and my peer group at the time.  From the amazing pink and grey anorak of my early teens to the pastel pink jumper knitted by my Mum and proudly worn until its demise through my mid-teens. I’ve always secretly if not openly, enjoyed pink – but not fuchsia!

The Colour of Love, pink is also associated with femininity, ranging from pastel to hot pink and coral to magenta, there is a pink for everyone and I would hazard a guess that if asked to visualise the colour pink, each individual would immediately picture the colour relating to their Marmite moment, i.e. the one they either love or hate.

My ‘Winter’ son loved the magenta pink bowls and cups as a toddler but soon realised that favouring the blue would enable him to worship his older brother and create competition for attention. 

Barbie & Co have perpetuated the use of pink for girls (candy through fuchsia to magenta) to the extent that some girls don’t feel they can wear, nor choose, any other colour - especially blue - which might be a boy’s colour.

Borrowing our friend’s daughter's fuchsia wetsuit wasn’t a problem for me because it was clearly one of his 2-star colours! (and ever the pragmatist, was cheaper than buying one for a week’s worth of wear on a summer beach holiday!)  I know someone who responded to the question ‘What’s his name?' with ‘HER cousin is Oliver’ because the baby was wearing a blue hat! 

There does seem to be some evidence around the use of pink for boys and blue for girls in the early 1900s which shifted around the time of World War II. If you’re interested, the linked articles provide a fairly full account. 

·            Tickled Pink – delighted

·         In the Pink – to be in great condition, particularly health and emotions

·         Pretty in Pink

·         Pink Pound – relating to the spending power of the Gay community

As with any colour, men as well as women need to ensure they employ their best shade, in this case, of pinks: 

Your pinks range from:	Strong to:	Light / Bright
Spring (warm & clear)	Flamingo / Shocking Pink	Shell, Peach
Summer (cool & soft)	Deep Rose / Cyclamen	Pastel Rose / Pastel Pink /
Autumn (warm & soft)	Rosewood / Coral	Peach
Winter (cool & clear)	Magenta / Fuchsia	Ice Pink

  

Great Pinks for your Season	Soft	Clear
Warm	Autumn – L174, L303, L697, L709	Spring - L22, L30, L347, L611, L697, L709, L710
Cool	Summer - L17, L35, L61, L301, L 302, L495, L635, L686, L714, L718, L719	Winter  - L61, L62, L711, L712, L718

Accessing the Energy of Colour

Every now and then, people and ideas cross our path that are similar and compatible but not necessarily the same as our own beliefs. 

On my journey exploring whether to become an Image Consultant, I also explored the world of Feng Shui.  As someone who likes clear and clutter free, but is a natural hoarder trained with consummate post-war values, this little book was a godsend.  Scroll to the bottom of the link and you’ll find a connection to the audio version so you don’t have to further clutter your bookshelves!  

You don’t have to subscribe to the beliefs of Feng Shui to get value from this book – at every page turn, it felt like Karen Kingston had been looking over my shoulder!   How did she know about the box of ‘useful things’ under my desk, the broken bits and pieces that might ‘come in handy’ being stored in the cupboard?  So began my lifelong journey with clutter clearing and considering the impact of items on my energies.

This moved further into choosing things for the positive energies they bring which, with my training, extended into considering the energies of Colour and the impact they have on us.  For me, Colour is the root of everything, wearing and surrounding myself with my Colours feels good; from an alternative perspective, why do I feel on some days that I need a certain Colour? 

Recently, instead of being at the mercy of the clothing and choosing things that suit me, I’ve started experimenting with actively choosing things to wear from my wardrobe that will help me create the energy I want for the day.  

I’ve been working with my friend Vanessa Edwards, Feng Shui Consultant and Peace Ambassador, on her original list, incorporating the Energy of Colours and the benefits.

This coincides with a recent blog entry from Sue Donnelly, an independent consultant friend who specialises in Fashion Feng Shui and talks of intuitive dressing for health and energy….hey, that’s what I’ve been doing!  Sue’s blog provides another perspective on using Colour for positive coming from the Chakras.   

At House of Colour we believe that Colour is the start of everything around our appearance.  The right Style in the wrong Colour will not be as effective as the right Colour in the wrong Style because the first thing people look at is your face, where Colour has more impact.  Better still to identify your best Colours and combine them with your best Styles because everyone has a blue, a red, a yellow, a pink, a grey, – the question is, which shade of each Colour is the one which best complements your skin tone as each season has plenty of examples of light, dark and bright Colours?  So you can do exactly that – actively choose your Colours for the energy they provide and you want to invite into your life.

Over the coming months I’ll be working through these Colours – if you have anything to add, interesting anecdotes or stories, please email me at blog@houseofcolourhq.com.  I’ve never done this before so it will be fun trying something new! 

Wearing The Power of Neutrals

Sitting in a London café waiting for my train I am surrounded by a sea of neutrals.  It’s not exclusive to this station, or indeed any station; I’ve seen plenty of it as I travel through the capital.  Commuters and travellers in their thousands wearing blacks, greys, whites, browns and beiges with the odd spattering of accent colour; a red hat, a pink bag, a purple coat. 

While I do believe that most of our great race are not confident enough in their knowledge of colour to risk experimenting with it “I would never have put these colours together, but I bought it from the website as suggested and it feels really good” - Kelly, Chrysalis Consulting is evidence that we can be moved safely into areas beyond our previous comfort zone.  It’s clear that neutrals have a place in the working environment, a cacophony might be too much of an affront or a distraction, so you learn how to push the boundaries appropriately and confidently.

A quick foray onto Wikipedia and I discover that the purpose of neutral in electricity is grounding. 

 

A fascinating article is provided by Wholistic Tennis on returning to neutral in a game of tennis and fully understanding the power of neutral whilst pinpointing a key challenge:

 

….In terms of tactical play we talk about offense, defense and neutral…………..

Neutral is the least glamorous, and for most people, the least enjoyable of the three possible conditions

 

…There is a great deal to learn in neutral.

 

The concept of neutral never changes although the neutral ball a player hits will change dramatically as he or she develops

 

Keep playing at your neutral and as you become bigger, stronger, quicker and as your strokes become more grooved and effortless your neutral will often automatically become bigger and bigger

 

It is impossible to win on offense alone….  One has to earn the right to play offense and playing solid neutral will offer you the opportunity to ultimately play offense.

 

Finally and very importantly, the patience required to stay in neutral is excellent mental training for the competitive player…………… 

 

And so, replacing the context of playing tennis with dressing for authority, i.e. being taken seriously, it is important to understand the power of neutrals as a foundation for your wardrobe, you then earn the right to use colour creatively and with confidence.

 

Ground your big or core investment pieces (suit, skirt, trousers, jacket) in a darker neutral and ring the changes of variety through fashion and your seasonal colours and styles of your tops and accessories.  Providing your weight doesn’t change drastically, a good investment garment will still be looking good and serving you well for years to come.

 

How interesting to hear fashion editor Anna Wintour’s response to the question ‘Is there anything you would refuse to wear?’ is simply ‘head-to-toe black’. 

 

 

 

So there you have it - identify the neutrals and how they work for you so that you can confidently apply colour or texture to achieve interest at your desired level of impact.  As with any successful recipe, it’s the balance of ingredients which makes the magic work; colour to neutrals is like cake to icing.  ‘Everything in moderation’ could be a wise approach.

 
Ground the core of your capsule wardrobe around your best neutrals, keep returning to them as the basis from which you launch yourself into offensive (high visibility) or defensive (low visibility) and you’ll grow from strength to strength!

Colours for Business

I’ve just returned from our annual conference where it is always a joy to see so many people (mostly, but not exclusively women) in one place looking so amazing; confident; In Focus; happy, comfortable and enjoying how they and their colleagues look; A perfect illustration of what is possible through using House of Colour services – creating empowered, authentic and visible people.

Some of our consultants choose to expand their training to incorporate our House of Colour in Business material, enabling them to deliver bespoke or tailored workshops into the full range of business environments.  From Schools and charities, self-employed, sole traders through to SME’s and Blue chip organisations there is something relevant for everyone who has an area of their life where they want to be taken seriously.  I suspect this applies to most people out of full time education, many still in it and clearly brings homemakers and carers into the remit – don’t we all want to be taken seriously? In a blog last year, I touched on what was possible;  One of the tools to achieve this, is understanding our individual colour rating.

For clarity and to enable you to use your colour analysis effectively, at House of Colour we use the tried and tested system of splitting the colour wheel into four quarters or distinct families called seasons and we refer to them by name; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.  Each season represents a quarter of all the colours in the universe, so to further aid everyone, we identified 36 colours which represent the various points and extremes on the continuum of each season.  Evaluating these 36 colours against your unique skin tone and colouring, enables us to identify more precisely which are your best, most complementary and most flattering colours in the spectrum.   Some colours clearly work best as foundations, others as a big block, some next to your face and others provide amazing accents to punctuate and define your outfit.  This is your ‘colour rating’. 

We know just how powerful this work is if you use it but having Quality as one of our core values keeps us looking at how we can refine and enhance this offering for your benefit.  We discovered that what works best for us in our everyday lives doesn’t always serve us so powerfully in a business environment and vice versa.  Consequently, all Consultants attending our annual conference were introduced to the concept of Business Ratings as used in HOC in Business. 

What a revelation for many.  Mary (HoC Huntingdon and sometimes contributor to this blog - left) wrote a great review of her experience and discoveries in her blog and provided some great images of how the colours were working.  After 13 years, an experienced consultant there's still more to learn! 

Generally, although not exclusively, this is about using your neutrals (see table) – at the heart of our colour wheel - more powerfully. 

Autumn	Spring
·         Oyster ·         Khaki ·         Beige ·         Lizard Grey ·         Coffee ·         Camel ·         Bronze ·         Dark Brown ·         Navy	·         Cream ·         Oatmeal ·         Light Peach ·         Shell Pink ·         Dove Greys ·         Beige ·         Chocolate ·         Bright Navy ·         Oxford Blue
Winter	Summer
·         White ·         Silver ·         Greys ·         Stone ·         Mole ·         Charcoal ·         Black ·         Indigo ·         Navy	·         Winter White ·         Pink Beige ·         Dusty Pink ·         Mushroom ·         Rose Brown ·         Blue Greys ·         French Navy ·         Airforce

 .. And of course, all those shades that live in the gaps on the continuum between these colours!  (If you have any questions about this, please review your colour notebook and get in touch with your consultant, they’ll be happy to explain it to you.)

Business ratings are about using your neutrals to greatest effect; this Wyse Women article refers to neutral as a 'centred place', so next week I will expand on this with another analogy and look at the Power of Neutrals.  In following weeks, look out for entries on individual colours using the rainbow as my route guide!

 

Foundations for Colour

Last week I wrote about wearing black and came to the resounding conclusion that YES, everyone can wear it   …but why would you want to if it doesn’t flatter you!

A world without colour is unthinkable for most of us, and yet, walking down the high street, there is always an abundance of black, a heavy spattering of beige and usually a reasonable quantity of white available.  This is because they’re neutral colours which ideally form the backdrop to a wardrobe – the trick is to choose from the selection of neutrals that sit harmoniously in your colour palette to provide a supportive backdrop.

Back in the 1940s when colour film emerged on the scene the significance and impact of colour came to the fore.  The previously elegant and sophisticated actors/actresses somehow didn’t have the same effect – colour was recognised as the difference and the world of image consulting was born. 

In a previous blog  I’ve shown the screen test images of Julia Roberts as they made their colour choices for the 1990 Film, Pretty Woman.  I regularly cite this film as an excellent example of how we can change the way people perceive us simply by looking at the way we present ourselves. 

Choosing colours and styles that flatter you and honour your personality is an incredibly powerful way to help people to ‘get’ you –  giving them an idea of who you are, what you stand for, your values and ideals – not directly from what you wear but because what you’re wearing and how you construct your outfit will support and reinforce your verbal messages or undermine and conflict with them.  I’ve also talked about how, when you honour who you are with what you wear, you make it easy for your listener to hear you.

Liz Jones’ summary in The Daily Mail last week gives a few amusing takes on using colour: ‘You can wear any colour next summer as long as it’s white’ reminding me of the announcement I heard many years ago about ‘the Thursday club meeting on Tuesday to discuss what colour they were going to whitewash the walls of the village hall!’

While travelling in Asia a few years ago it was clear that white was a status symbol because it demonstrated that you could afford to keep up with the cleaning and maintenance.   As Liz astutely points out: ‘White hair to match is not compulsory… but expect your cleaning bills to soar’.  I love the white jacket I bought last year but don’t wear it as often as I might had I the time, money and staff to cover my cleaning requirements, including a Nanny to keep the children and their sticky fingers away!

I don’t however, agree with Liz’s statement that ‘You will not be able to avoid sheer next Spring…’  a confirmed classic that will be no hardship for me!  As for purchasing big pants, well, that’s entirely up to you but visible underwear is a faddy look and never for anyone serious about their image.  In this world of Personal Branding to gain competitive advantage, every little helps – or hinders!  

One of the most famous sheer looks on the planet (right) will clearly never be repeated  for that very reason – a far classier way to employ sheer is with the use of lace in a wedding dress (left).

 

See-through clothing reminds me of the Emperor’s New Clothes. It's interesting how some images protect his modesty with underwear whilst other interpretations have assumed the outfit to include the underwear.  Coming back to 2014/15, for me it’s another good excuse for the fashion industry to produce poor quality and justify it.  One golden rule to follow, the lighter the colour of your clothes, the higher the quality needs to be. 

All wardrobes, regardless of your season, need a foundation of neutrals which form the backdrop to a variety of outfits.  Adding colours to neutrals enables the full impact of the colours to be seen, excluding neutrals can provide an onslaught of colours which at best distracts your audience, at worst, causes them to look in the other direction.

With the release of our latest colour report, highlighting the colour trends for the Autumn/Winter Season, I thought it would make an interesting journey to explore how colour affects our lives over the next few weeks – including neutrals.