If you love finding outfit inspiration and elevating your personal style, but something still feels off when you look in the mirror, the issue might not be the clothes themselves — it could be the colors you’re wearing.
No matter how beautiful an outfit is, choosing colors that sit outside your natural color palette can dull the overall effect. The outfit may look good on its own, but it won’t look right on you.
Welcome, friend. I’m Alessia, the writer and founder behind Italy with an Italian.
Since I share a lot about Italian fashion, outfit inspiration, and personal style, I felt called to write this post to help you go one step deeper in your style journey.
So, are you ready to take your outfits to the next level with color analysis?
The fact that you’re here tells me you are — and I’m here to help you make the process simpler and faster.
Today, I’ll walk you through a simplified way to do your own color analysis for clothes. Whether you’ve already watched countless YouTube videos or don’t feel like going down that rabbit hole, you’re in the right place.
I’ve done my own color analysis and feel confident in the results. That said, if you’re a color analysis expert and see things differently, feel free to reach out — I’d be happy to update this post and give you a shout-out if you’re right.
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Table of Contents
A Few Notes On Color Analysis For Clothes
Before we go through the process, I’d like to share a few points to make everything that follows easier to understand.
I’ll be using my own color analysis as an example. Even if you’re the complete opposite, you should still find it easy to do your own.
To help you even further, I’ll also be sharing my husband’s and my sister’s color analysis inside my newsletter — so now is a great time to join Buona Settimana. You’ll receive one email every Sunday from your Italian friend, chatting about fashion, food, travel, and life from an Italian angle.
While this color analysis is focused on fashion, once you know your details, you can apply them to other aspects of your appearance — including hair, makeup, nails, your wedding colors, your brand colors, and even your home décor.
With this post, I’m not trying to discount the role of professional color analysts. In fact, I’d still love to go through the experience myself, both to confirm my analysis and to learn more about it. My advice is to start here, and then — when you’re in a position to do so or find the right person — invest in a professional service. Alternatively, you can use this post to better understand color analysis and then work with an expert instead of doing it yourself.
Color analysis for clothes is important for a few key reasons:
- Wearing the right colors will make you look healthier and naturally glowing, so you may feel more beautiful in them compared to wearing the wrong colors for you.
- The right colors will also make your wedding photos, or any other photos, look better — even with little to no editing — because they naturally complement you. This matters not only when choosing your wedding dress or your partner’s suit, but also for flowers, bridesmaid dresses, mothers’ outfits, and even strong color elements in your venue (like a deep sea-blue carpet or a rusty red sofa).
If you’re worried that your favorite colors might actually be your wrong colors, don’t be. You can still wear them with a few simple tricks in mind — and I’ll share those with you later on.
A Note on Dyed Hair, Colored Lenses, and Fake Tan
If you currently have dyed hair, wear colored contact lenses, or regularly use fake tan, it’s important to start your color analysis based on your natural coloring, not your current one. Your natural hair color, eye color, and skin tone are what determine your original color palette.
Doing your analysis this way gives you a solid baseline. From there, you can assess whether your current choices — hair color, tan, or lenses — truly suit you, or if they’re working against your natural features. You can then use that information however you wish.
Once you’re confident in your natural palette, you can also repeat the process using your current coloring. This will help you understand which colors work best for you right now, while still keeping your original color palette in mind as a guide.
Simplifying Color Analysis: This Is What You Need To Know
Theory always comes before practice, right? But don’t worry, I am going to keep this short and very simple.
The aim of color analysis is to find your season and sub-season. So, if you have heard about being a Winter or Summer, there’s much more to it than just the main season.
The four main seasons in color analysis are the same climatic seasons we know and go through every year:
- Winter
- Spring
- Summer
- Autumn
If you are asking yourself whether you can be more than one season, the answer is yes. Some people will fall between two seasons, but the majority of us will have a clear winner.
In order to arrive at that information, color analysis helps you determine three main pieces of information:
- Value: how light or dark you are
- Chroma: the intensity of your colors
- Undertone: your skin undertone
It’s important to understand that color analysis only looks at your face and what’s in it and around it in terms of color; it precisely looks at the color of your skin, your eyes and your hair.
With that said, all you need to do your own color analysis is this:
- A mirror
- Your glasses or lenses, if you eyesight is not naturally good (like mine).
- Some general information you likely know yourself, or you can ask your mum or a parent.
- Access to Youtube as I will point you towards a few videos, in case you would like to dive deeper in the topic.
- If you want to take things further, you can also use different colored clothes in your wardrobe to do different color tests.
- You can also use jewellery to confirm your color palette. For that you will need silver and gold jewellery; it’s better if you use a bigger piece that’s going to stand out more and help you see things more clearly.
This Is How To Do Your Own Color Analysis At Home
Stand in front of the mirror and look at yourself.
It’s best to wear a neutral light color, like white, have your hair pulled back, and be wearing no makeup and no jewellery. You should be standing under natural light, and the room should be not too bright and not too dark. That way you can see your true colors.
Step 1: Are You Dark, Light, or a Bit of Both?
When you take your colors together – your skin tone, your hair color, and the color of your eyes, what’s the overall theme? Is it dark or light?
Dark (deep) – it’s closer to black
Light – it’s closer to white
If we take me as an example, my hair and eyes are dark, while my skin is light.
What about you?
You might likely be asking yourself this question: how can I determine my season if I am both dark and light? Or maybe you are even starting to think you fit in two seasons.
The answer to that is that it’s too early to say. We need to go through the rest of the process to determine it. So, let’s continue.
Step 2: Are You High Contrast or Soft?
Look again in the mirror, and observe your hair, eyes and skin tone again.
When you look at the overall picture, at how they all work together, do you see a high contrast or do you see more blending going on?
High Contrast colors – also known as bright and vibrant
Blended Colors – also known as soft and muted
In my case, there’s definitely a high contrast between the two largest pieces of information — my hair and my skin are the complete opposite. As we already said, my hair is dark and my skin is light, and that makes me high-contrast.
If you look at the season color wheel, you will likely see that with the information we’ve gathered so far, I can either be Winter or Spring.
That’s stemming from the fact that I know I am dark (my hair and eyes are), light (my skin is), and bright (high contrast).
I already know I am not one of them, but we will find out together in the next step.
Step 3: What’s Your Skin Undertone?
The third and final step of your color analysis within this simple system is to look and determine your skin undertone.
Not everyone suggests ending with the undertone but I found this process to be the easiest and most effective too.
There are different ways to do this, and I will list the most important ones below. Doing more than one test will help you clarify any doubts.
- Look at your veins and determine their color. If they are more blue/purple toned, then you are likely a cool undertone. If they are fully green with a little yellow, you have a warm undertone. If you can see a bit of both blue and green, you might have a neutral undertone.
- How does your skin react to the sun? If you burn, you are likely cool. If you tan easily, you are likely warm. And if you first burn, and then tan, you are likely neutral.
- What jewellery tone suits you best? Cool toned skin suits silver the best. Warm tones should wear gold. Neutral tones can wear both, but they’ll usually have a preference — because there’s no true neutral, only neutral-cool or neutral-warm.
- Finally, you can use different shades of the same color fabrics or clothes, with cool, warm and neutral undertones to confirm your skin undertone one last time. For example, you could use a cream, a pure white, and a white with a blue undertone to do this test. Or you could pick a color from your seasonal color palette and do the test with three different undertones of that color.
In my case, here are my results for those tests:
- My veins are mostly bluish and purplish but I can also see green.
- I suit both silver and gold jewellery, but I prefer how silver and white gold looks on me. That’s why you rarely see me wearing gold.
- When exposed to the sun, I tend to first burn and then tan, even if it’s just a little burn.
- Because I am so fair, I actually don’t like white that much on me, but it’s usually the truest white that wins for me. Beige and ivory are not a great color for me. I wish I knew this before choosing an ivory wedding dress! Luckily, because I am a neutral it wasn’t that evident.
Step 4: Combine It All to Arrive at Your Season & Sub-Season
If you take those three pieces of information and look at the color wheel you will arrive at your season and sub season.
Here’s a list of all the combinations to help you.
WINTER (Cool · High Contrast)
- True Winter: Dark · Bright · Cool
- Bright Winter: Medium–Dark · Bright · Cool Neutral or Cool
- Dark (Deep) Winter: Dark · Medium Bright · Cool Neutral or Cool
SUMMER (Cool · Soft)
- True Summer: Light · Soft · Cool
- Light Summer: Light · Medium Soft · Cool Neutral or Cool
- Soft Summer: Medium · Soft · Cool Neutral or Cool
SPRING (Warm · Bright)
- True Spring: Light · Bright · Warm
- Light Spring: Light · Medium Bright · Warm Neutral or Warm
- Bright Spring: Medium · Bright · Warm Neutral or Warm
FALL / AUTUMN (Warm · Soft)
- True Autumn: Dark · Soft · Warm
- Soft Autumn: Medium · Soft · Warm Neutral or Warm
- Dark (Deep) Autumn: Dark · Medium Soft · Warm Neutral or Warm
Let’s take my information and combine it all together:
Two things are deep (my hair and eyes) and one is light (my skin).
I am high contrast, which means I am bright (not soft).
I have a neutral undertone that leans into cool.
Between the deep and the light, the deep wins.
If I take the third piece of information, which is my neutral cool undertone, my second option of being a Spring is no longer an option. So I am left with Winter, which is my season.
My season is Winter.
For me arriving at my season was the easiest part of doing my color analysis. Finding my sub-season was the tricky part.
Watching this video by Briget Cappel helped me clarify things and arrive at the final answer.
The visual list of the various options for those of us with neutral undertones is what made it clear for me. Here’s the list for cool neutrals:
Bright Winter: Bright Cool Neutral
Light Summer: Light Cool Neutral
Soft Summer: Soft Cool Neutral
Dark Winter: Dark Cool Neutral
Because I already know I am a Winter, I narrowed it down to two options.
Bright Winter: Bright Cool Neutral
Dark Winter: Dark Cool Neutral
Again, if I only take two traits in consideration, my main one is dark and my second one is the cool neutral undertone.
True Seasons cannot have a neutral undertone, hence why none of them are listed above. That means that in my case, I can only be a Deep Winter or a Bright Winter, but not a True Winter.
Based on your undertone, you can eliminate a few options. Here’s a list of combinations to help you with that. This is based on the two color traits system (most systems are based on that).
WINTER
- True Winter: Dark, Cool
- Bright Winter: Bright, Cool Neutral or Cool
- Dark (Deep) Winter: Dark, Cool Neutral or Cool > this is mine
SUMMER
- True Summer: Light, Cool
- Light Summer: Light, Cool Neutral or Cool
- Soft Summer: Soft, Cool Neutral or Cool
SPRING
- True Spring: Light, Warm
- Light Spring: Light, Warm Neutral or Warm
- Bright Spring: Bright, Warm Neutral or Warm
FALL / AUTUMN
- True Autumn: Dark, Warm
- Soft Autumn: Soft, Warm Neutral or Warm
- Dark (Deep) Autumn: Dark, Warm Neutral or Warm
To arrive at my final sub-season I looked at the color palettes of my two options: deep winter and bright winter. By doing that I immediately realized that I couldn’t be a bright Winter, because I can’t see myself in a bright red, or a bright blue and green.
Moreover, when I think about the colors that suit me best, most of them fit in the deep Winter palette.
Extra Color Analysis Steps
It’s not always this straightforward. I tried to make it as simple as possible so that you don’t get intimidated, but because we are all so different, you might find you don’t fit in any of those categories perfectly.
If that’s the case, I suggest you go through the process above on your own first. Then, you can confirm it using two other methods:
1. Use colorwise.me and upload different pictures. See if all of them confirm the results from your own color analysis. In my case, it gave me my result of Deep Winter along with Cool Winter.
2. Chat with AI about it. I did this using Google AI mode. I told the AI that I was having doubts as to whether I was a Deep Winter or another type of Winter. Those doubts stemmed from hearing about the terms clear and soft, which are part of the more complex color analysis system. I even uploaded different pictures, and the AI confirmed that I am Deep Winter leaning into cool. That means that I can also borrow from the colors of Cool Winters (aka True Winters).
Most color analysis systems actually work with two main color traits – a dominant color trait and a secondary one. AI helped me understand mine. This is the information it gave me.
Primary Trait: Depth (You are dark, you need dark colors.)
Secondary Trait: Cool (You are neutral-cool, you need blue-based colors.)
Tertiary Trait: Clear (You have high chroma/vibrancy/clarity. *)
*The colors in your features are saturated and clear, and you require equally saturated and clear colors in your clothing and makeup to match that natural vibrancy. Muted, dusty colors would make your clear features disappear.
How To Use Your Color Analysis To Style Yourself
So, you’ve determined your color season — what now? Here’s how to make the most of this information and curate a wardrobe that complements your natural colors.
1. Explore your color palette
Look up your seasonal palette online. For example, I would search “Deep Winter color palette”. I personally like the one by Dream Wardrobe.
Check your neutrals: does white suit you? Black? Then look at your favorite colors — do they work for you, or are they part of your “worst colors”?
For example, my worst colors are warm, muted and pale, and I can definitely agree with that. I was also happy to confirm that black is a great neutral for me.
2. Audit your wardrobe
Look at the pieces you already own in colors that are less flattering. Decide whether to keep, donate, or repurpose them. Remember: the colors near your face matter most — tops, dresses, and coats.
If you love a piece in a less flattering color, it can still work. Pair it with a scarf, blazer, or cardigan that better matches your palette. This way, you can make existing favorites work for you.
3. Jewelry and accessories
Your color palette also guides your jewelry choices. Wear more of what suits you — silver vs gold, or cool vs warm-toned metals — and less of what doesn’t. This applies to purses, shoes, and even hardware details.
Cool: silver, white gold, pewter, platinum
Warm: gold, rose gold
Neutral: all of them, but your preference will be based on whether you are neutral cool or neutral warm.
4. Keep your palette handy
Save a photo of your palette on your phone. Use it when shopping, but most importantly, look at how different colors make your face appear: healthy and glowing versus dull. Use your palette as a guide to experiment with new colors and discover new favorites.
5. Observe your personal preferences
Looking at my Deep Winter palette explains why I’ve been gravitating toward deep reds and burgundy lately — I have a full row of them! I also remember loving dark purples, so I’ll be wearing more of them.
Based on my palette, I’m curious to try mustard shades and different greens — I rarely wear green, yet I have several shades in my wardrobe that match Deep Winter. Blues are next: patterned dresses already attract me, but trying solids in my palette might help me find a new favorite piece.
And there you have it — my top tips for making the most of your DIY color analysis and curating a wardrobe that makes you look and feel your best.
I truly found getting to know my exact season really helpful. I immediately noticed a big impact, just by simply choosing to wear colors that suit me best. The result is more glowy skin, my eyes stand out more, and even my hair looks healthier.
I am sure that learning your color analysis will help you achieve similar benefits.
More Italian Fashion & Personal Style Reads
I truly hope you found this post about color analysis useful. I really enjoyed doing the research and writing it. So thank you for reading my blog, as it gives me the opportunity to continue doing more of it.
If you want to support me, please give this post a heart and share it with your friends who love fashion and personal style. This article is useful for anyone, no matter the gender.
If you want to dive deeper into personal style and Italian fashion, I suggest these reads:
How To Like Yourself First, Then Your Outfit
How To Find Your Personal Style
The Pillars Of Italian Style
20 Items Every Italian-Inspired Closet Needs
Don’t forget about my invitation to join Buona Settimana, my weekly newsletter that lands in your inbox every Sunday. I will be sharing two more examples of color analysis. Once you join you can access them even if I have already sent those emails. See you there!
A presto,
Alessia
