Color Magic: How a 1900s Painter Influences Fashion Today

TikTok and Instagram are saturated with seasonal color analysis filters, palettes and influencers vlogging their professional analysis consultations. Everyone wants to know if they are a winter, summer, autumn or spring.  

This age-old question is rooted in the discovery of Johannes Itten, a Swiss painter and art professor in the early 1900s. Itten's theory claims that all humans are born with a preference for a specific color palette based on the undertone of their skin, said Shelli Holechek, House of Color stylist and color analyst.  

When World War II broke out, his students dispersed throughout the world, Holechek said. Many came to the United States. At this time in history, Hollywood had begun transitioning from black and white to colored film. In light of this shift, Hollywood started using seasonal color theory to cast roles.  

"If they wanted to cast a beauty queen, they would put her in the correct colors, and if they wanted to cast a villain, they would put them in the wrong colors," Holechek said.  

The theory gained mainstream popularity in the 1980s with the publication of color consultant Carole Jackson's book "Color Me Beautiful: Discover Your Natural Beauty Through the Colors That Make You Look Great and Feel Fabulous."  

"In the '80s and even early '90s, people would go get their color analysis to figure out what season they were. It was a huge thing just like it is now," said Alicia Knight, hairdresser, licensed cosmetologist and color specialist.  

Following the 20 to 30-year trend cycle, seasonal color analysis has reemerged stronger than ever with the rise of social media and new technologies that allow seasonal color theory devotees to experiment with filters and apps. 

TikTok videos tagged #coloranalysis have generated more than 631 million views, according to Allure. The social media platform offers a variety of color analysis filters, a popular feature that has bled over to Instagram reels.  

"A lot of people say, 'I saw it on TikTok,'" Holechek said. 

The explosion of popularity in seasonal color theory has caused a residual barrage of AI-generated analysis apps, digital quizzes and DIY YouTube tutorials.  

"Filters and apps are 100% inaccurate," Holechek said. "If you want a color analysis, it needs to be done in person, in natural light. It needs to be done with good precision drapes."  

While DIY tips and tricks will likely reveal general aspects of a person's coloring, they will not reveal the subtleties of their season and sub-season. 

"I think there is definitely a level of DIY, but it's going to be extremely surface," said Knight, stylist of 15 years. "You're not going to get all your nuances. The fact is, it takes a trained eye, especially if you want to go deep with it, but I think that the majority of the population can at least deduce if they're cool or warm."  

The Analysis Process 

The process of seasonal color analysis begins with determining whether a person's undertone is warm or cool. A professional analyst does this with colored drapes. 

"If a person is warm, they're going to overcool the cool drapes. The cold drapes will turn them ashy looking. They're going to look cold. It may even make their lips turn purple," Holechek said. "If a person is cool and we put them in warm drapes, they're going to over warm. They'll look yellow, sallow and kind of jaundice."  

Once the undertone is determined, the analyst will decide whether their client looks best in soft and muted or clear and bright colors to help specify their season. This determination is affected by the contrast in the client’s features.  

The most stereotypical example of high contrasting features is the cartoon character Snow White. There is a stark contrast between her black hair, dark eyes and bright lips in comparison with her fair skin.  

Someone with low contrast features will have light skin, light hair and light eyes; medium skin, medium hair and medium eyes; or dark skin, dark hair and dark eyes. Each feature will be similar in depth without any one trait standing out from the others.  

Whether a person is soft and muted or clear and bright correlates to the level of contrast in their features. “Soft colors are closer to gray or brown, while clear colors are the pure form of the color without gray or brown mixed in,” Knight said.  

People with low-contrasting features will often look best in soft and muted tones, while those with high contrast features will likely look best in clear and bright colors. Some people fall somewhere in the middle of a season. Others lean heavier to one side.  

"Those little intricacies, those people who don't sit right in the middle of their season, are a little harder to figure out. That's why doing it in real life, natural lighting and having the best drapes is so important," Holechek said.  

Depending on the color analysis system, color analysts will place clients in different sub-seasons based on these complexities. 

"Winter is the clear and bright. Spring is the clear and bright. Autumn is the soft and muted. Summer is the soft and smoky. Within each of those seasons, there are four sub-seasons," Holechek said. 

Some people sit heavy in a sub-season, Holechek said. In some cases, the person sits close to another season. A burnished winter, for example, sits close to autumn but maintains a cool undertone that roots it in winter.  

The colors in a person's sub-season are often considered their "wow" colors. "Wow" colors are the colors that look best on the client, achieving a three-star rating from the color analyst. These colors will be the ones a person wears head to toe.  

Two-star colors are those that are great for a splash of color. One-star colors are the neutrals that will form the base of outfits.  

"Everyone needs to learn to rock their neutrals, but you've got to know what they are because they're different for different seasons," Holechek said.  

‘Seasonal guidelines are empowering, particularly when choosing hair and makeup colors. Hair and makeup are the closest to your face and will either compete with your natural coloring or complete it,” Holechek said.  

Common Color Misconceptions 

A common misconception about color seasons is that warm seasons exclude all blues, and cool seasons exclude all yellows. 

"Everyone can wear yellow. Everyone can wear blue. It's just about finding the right hue for your season," Holechek said.  

“It can be challenging to distinguish the yellows or blues that will work for a particular season. However, the ratio of yellow to blue in the color can help determine whether a shade is warm or cool,” Knight said.  

A similar misconception is that red is a warm color. Pure, primary red contains neither yellow nor blue, making it void of warm or cool tones. It only becomes a warm or cool shade when yellow or blue is added.  

"Primary red is the only color that harmonizes in every single season," Holechek said. "So, everyone can wear red.” 

Applying Seasonal Color Theory 

It can be overwhelming and even emotional to think about strictly sticking to the colors in your season. However, you do not have to overhaul your closet completely. 

"I tell my clients, ‘Tools, not rules.’ It's not my job to take colors away from you. It's my job to instruct you on how to move forward in the way that works best for you," Holechek said. "So, I tell them to go through their closet, and if it's not truly honoring them, it's not in their season and maybe they haven't worn it in a while, then sell it, take that money and go start buying the things they do need."  

Knight has known she is a summer for as long as she can remember from her mom, a retired color analyst, and grandmother, a retired hairstylist. Even she does not believe in turning season palettes into the Ten Commandments. 

"I never limit myself completely," Knight said. “If there's a color I like, I wear it even if it's not necessarily in my color season, but I might put a neutral color from my season over top to balance it. I may even try to balance it by wearing a particular color earring because that will be right next to my face."  

Trends come and go, but as the culture shifts from fast to sustainable fashion, seasonal color theory will live on, influencing people's wardrobe choices for years to come.  

"For certain people, it is a trend. They just wanted to know what they were in the moment and perhaps they don't live it out. But for people who put it into place, it isn't a trend," Holechek said. "I met a woman the other day who had this done 40 years ago. She's still living by it today. She said it changed her life. So, if you take the information and live it out, it's not a trend, and it shouldn't be a trend because it builds a harmonious wardrobe that brings joy and simplifies your life. It's a total style transformation, and it starts with being in the right colors."