What’s Your Color? How to Find What Colors Look Best on You

 

New year, new you. You’re in your closet and you’re looking for an outfit to wear but can’t seem to decide between navy, light blue, or royal blue. Then, you realize your entire wardrobe is centered around one color! Sure, everyone looks good in blue and it’s easy to match, but it’s time to expand past it. The solution? Color coordination—but which color to wear on which day? Not only is it crucial to a cohesive look, but knowing the ideal hues separate those who merely wear clothing from those who emanate style. It’s important to understand complementary shades in order to solidify any wardrobe decision, for the best color to wear according to your skin tone, hair, and eyes. Successfully identifying these key features and color schemes will have you guaranteed to be the best dressed in the room. 

What is the most attractive color to wear? Let’s first understand the primary colors and their complementary tints to embody a vibrant look, all based on the concept of the color wheel. The 3 primary colors are blue, yellow, and red. Complementary colors are those directly across on the color wheel. Supplementary are on either side of the complementaries. For the lovers of all things blue, the opposite shade is orange for a safe, simplistic scheme. If you want stylish pairings, opt for brighter hues like yellow, pink, or red, which are some of the top colors to wear in the sun. Since yellow is highly saturated, combinations will naturally be more luminous. The contrasting shade is purple, whereas supplementary blue and green make for a more balanced look. While red is considered the bolder choice of the three, it has a lot of leeway for correlation. The main complement is green, and orange and blue are excellent supplementary choices. Now that we’ve identified the primary colors with their complementary and supplementary pigments, it should allow you to harmonize your wardrobe fluently. Save this guide for future reference! Picking the best color to wear for an event will be much smoother. 

Next, let’s examine which colors and pairings are most delightful for you based on your hair, eyes, and skin tone. 

We’ll start with what color to wear by eyes. Here we have a standard brunette with brown eyes. These features tend to luxuriate in deep navies, maroon, gray, violet, and emerald green; deep shades bring out the richness of the browns for everyday color to wear. Lighter colors tend to overshadow deep brown eyes, so try to keep them as the subtle detail of your attire. With blonde hair and blue eyes, neutrals can best emphasize your features by highlighting the intensity of your eyes. Wear mint green, baby blue, and colors with a grayish-blue undertone. For those who have red hair and green eyes, embrace navy, violets, and a range of deep greens like emerald, olive, and kelly green. Since red is a primary color, you can reference back to what complements it!

Now let’s evaluate colors to wear based on skin tone. How can you determine flattering shades, especially for pale, light brown, and melanated brown skin tones? With a pale complexion, emerald, royal blue, and maroon blend best. Certain pastel hues have the tendency to wash out your tone, so opting for darker colors allows for a favorable contrast. With a light brown complexion, tones that draw attention are burgundy, teal, green, and blue. Generally, brighter colors will also align well as the slight pigment in your skin tone allows for the color to pop without being too overpowering. Melanated skin tones can actually radiate in all colors since the risk of being washed out isn’t as common. While you have complete freedom, the perfect shades for this skin tone are yellow, purple, and white. Although your hair does play a factor in coordination, your eyes serve a larger role in determining compatibility, especially if they’re bright blue, green, or hazel.

Don’t be afraid to include brighter tints in your closet! You can rely on this guide as your safeguard when picking what color to wear every day of the week. We love a navy monochromatic look, but adding an array of colors will bring new life to your look. Flaunt your style! Try a red blazer with navy chinos or red chinos with an emerald blazer instead. The intensity of the unified shades make for a rich ensemble. Showcase your personality as you pick the best color to wear for photos, that first day of work, event—be they office parties, weddings or funerals—or for your daily wardrobe. Show us some of your favorite combinations and tag us on IG!

 

Author

Kayla Washington
Stately stylist, writer, and designer based in Los Angeles, CA