The colourful history of colour analysis

One of my lifetime interests is colour. I am an artist with a rusty analytical chemistry degree and graduate teaching diploma. I'm interested in the art and science of colour. I especially enjoy painting.

I wrote a series of blog posts some years back about colour, such as why our eyes are the colour they are. They have since been deleted but perhaps I will touch on some aspects I researched at the time.

In this blog post, I would like to try to summarise some of the main influences towards the development of personal colour analysis. Plus address the question: "Is colour analysis pseudoscience?"

Comparing some of my 'seasonal' palette with a metaphorical self-portrait

Seasonal colour analysis became popular in the 1980s, including in New Zealand. I'm old enough to remember how ladies at church groups and teenage girls at school were trying to work out which season they were: Summer, Spring, Winter, Autumn. I borrowed a book from the school library called Color Me Beautiful by Carole Jackson (USA) which had four colour palettes. Colour printing had advanced enough to reproduce palettes, to publish such a book which was a bestseller. The colour palette for summer is actually brighter than most summer palettes used today.

In the early '90s, even though I was a poor university student (no car and had to think twice about buying a chocolate bar), I decided to 'get my colours done'. It was a lot of money to me, over NZ$100 back then. I enjoyed the experience. A lady draped me with various fabrics, concluding I am a 'deep autumn'. Meaning my colouring is neutral leaning warm and I suit darker and richer colours best. Rather than pastels or very bright colours. 

Adding subcategories like 'deep' was to divide the four seasons further, as obviously not everyone fits neatly into four palettes. I found this quite helpful to try colours I hadn't tried before, when adding anything to my tiny wardrobe.

Now when I did some digging about this, the idea of seasonal colour analysis was developed before Carole Jackson's bestselling book. Jackson was influenced by the ideas of Suzanne Caygill (USA), who published a book Color: The Essense of You in 1980. In the book Caygill strongly associates colours with personality types, as well as promoting the idea of four seasonal palettes with of nature, further divided into subcategories. She proposed the harmony of colour in nature could apply to humans.

Spring was described as fresh, bright and vibrant; Summer was muted with greyish pastels; Autumn was rich, mellow and warm; Winter was dark and icy contrasts. All very poetic, matching models to flowers.

Now, I do think both Jackson and Caygill were overstretching when describing what how someone from each season looks (face shape, body type) plus their personality. There were also stereotypical physical attributes: golden blondes were typically Springs; ash blondes were Summers; redheads and brunettes with golden highlights were Autumns; Winters had black or dark brown hair.

The core message was one would look and feel more beautiful if they wore their 'harmonious' colours, comparing to harmony in music and colours in nature.

Jackson is often credited for developing colour analysis in the 1970s. However, looking a bit deeper, it seems Caygill developed the concept of seasonal colour analysis for the individual in the 1940s. Jackson apparently wrote her book after doing a course under someone who used Caygill's method.

Caygill referenced available paint pigments eg burnt sienna for autumns.

From what I gather, Caygill was influenced by artist, teacher and colour theorist Johannes Itten (Switzerland). After influence from other artists, Itten developed a colour wheel with 12 colours. Red, blue, yellow primary colours plus secondary and tertiary colours in between. This is the basis of a typical colour wheel used in art instruction today.

There are numerous versions of colour wheels, including a more recent colour wheel with magenta, cyan and yellow as the primary colours. The colour wheel is a tool for artists and art students. I've never actually owned one (it's easy enough to make your own). Colour wheels are quite simplistic, as colour dimensions are better represented as a 3D model, not flat, as every colour also has a value (how light or dark). Yellow is lighter in value than untinted blue.

My version of a colour wheel, comparing paint pigments

It was Itten who first suggested a link between a person's natural colouring and personality. He also constructed a colour star of contrasts, a variation of a colour wheel, divided into 4 sections. Identifying contrasts as hue, light-dark, cool-warm, saturation and complementery. He was also apparently a member of a cult, which taught white supremacy and racist ideas.

From my research, it appears Itten was the biggest influence to Jackson and Caygill and others in the fashion world to develop seasonal colour analysis as a consultancy business. Color Me Beautiful, cofounded by Jackson, is a multimillion dollar business, annually. To this very day, it's still very expensive to train as a colour analysis consultant. I'm gonna say ridiculously expensive.

Valid criticism is that the origins of seasonal colour analysis was borderline racist and based on stereotypes (eg body shapes/build, face shapes and personality). Also, that it's not as scientific as claimed.

From looking up some history, it seems that colour analysis was already in vogue before seasonal colour analysis became a thing. Makeup companies were offering colour analysis to customers to help choose makeup. There were also Victorian rules published in newspapers about what colours should be worn (mainly based on hair colour).

In the mid-1800s, chemist Michel Chevreul (France) published a colour wheel with 72 hues (still quite dull with pigments available then). His theory of simultaneous contrast, where colours appear brighter or duller relative to nearby colours influenced the artists and the fashion and textile industry. He also published recommendations for colours to most flatter complexions.

The first colour wheel seems to have been developed by Sir Issac Newton, an English mathematician, philospher and alchemist in the 1600s. He also made contributions to early science (now called a scientist, even though the term wasn't in use back then). Incidently, alchemy was a mystical practise which involved developing experiments which led to the development of the scientific method, modern chemistry and medicine.

When I worked in laboratories in my twenties, I prepared solutions which reacted to form colours which were analysed with a high-tech instrument called a spectrophotometer. The colour was calibrated to concentrations of what chemical substance (usually invisible) was being measured in the solutions.

Me in childhood, with more obviously warmer colouring than as an adult

Me back in the '90s

Newton split a beam of white light into colours using a prism, then joined the ends of the spectrum to make the first known colour wheel. Which looks very different to modern colour wheels. His early work in optics contributed an extensive field of science based on the visible light spectrum. Leading to the red, green and blue light mixing to make colours on our digital screens.

Probably one of the more logical and scientific approaches to the colour wheel was by artist and teacher, Albert Henry Munsell (USA). He invented the Munsell color system in the late 1800s, organising and classifying colours using tools invented to measure characteristics of colour, such as luminence. He organised colours into a 3D colour space, based on the dimensions of hue, value and chroma. His colour system has bridged science and art.

More colour spaces, have been developed since, including digitally, used in graphic design and photography.

Now seasonal colour analysis has had a resurgence in popularity, after it's taken off on social media. There are claims it originated in Korea, which I doubt is true, as it seems to only have been adopted there since around 2022.

Now, the history of fashion is a long one, and I won't go into it in depth (I'm only interested in some of the colour aspects, not the fashion itself). I think the ultimate goal of the fashion and cosmetics world is to make a lot of money from people's insecurities.

Bright colours in clothing ancient times was quite limited to those who could afford it or had status. Red dye was made by Aztecs by crushing insects. Purple dye was made from murex snails. Purple was only for royalty, as it was as expensive and rare as gold.

Various colours have cultural significance. For example, white has been traditionally for wedding gowns in the West; yet for mourning in China.

A synthetic dye boom started with the discovery of mauevine, a purple dye, in 1856 by British chemist, William Henry Perkin. He commercialised this dye and other chemists synthetise an array of colours. These early synthetic dyes were in demand but faded quickly, so light-fast dyes were developed.

Now, this has given us many colours to choose from for clothing and textures. But not without devastingly enviromental impacts, such as water pollution. I used to work as a lab technician testing water and wastewater. All the contaminants chucked down the drain can't be removed.

Personal colour analysis has been promoted as a way to coordinate a wardrobe. It think that it can be useful in this regard. But not everyone fits into 12 or 16 palettes. Also, there are millions of colours available, so limited palettes don't cover the diversity of colouring.

It's fashionable for people to wear makeup and colour their hair (also with environmental impacts from packaging and water pollution). The cosmetics and fashion industry are multibillion dollar industries. A multitude of cosmetic colours have been developed, since red lipstick was worn as a power statement during World War II.

I looked up some of the history of cosmetics company, Max Factor. Their website says they introduced the term 'Color Harmony' in 1918, referring to coordinating makeup shades with natural complexion, eye colour and hair colour. Also, their website claims Max Factor invented the term 'make-up' in 1920. 

Some people will toss out their wardrobes after a consultation, adding to more waste. Just comparing palettes online, I can see that for example the 'deep autumn' palette varies considerably between analysts. Also, current 'summer' colours are now more muted than in Jackon's book. There's no consistency. It's very subjective.

The palettes are still subjective, as colours are 'warm' or 'cool' or 'neutral' etc relative to each other. You can have 'warm' reds and 'cool' reds, for example. It's more an art than a science, to combine colours into palettes.

Recent pics showing apparent colours are different in different lighting

I've seen some colour analysts exaggerating the 'science' as an authority in colour analysis. Sure, there is a little bit of science, thanks to contributions from Munsell et al. But most of it is still subjectively choosing palettes and making subjective comparisons. One can get different results going to different analysts. Some of whom consider hair and/or eye colour. Some whom don't.

I've even seen some claims that wearing the 'wrong' colours will make one ill. Now, one may look ill with some colours but there seems to be fear generated by some, that it literally makes people ill. Throwing in some 'science' terms mixed with New Age terms such as 'frequency'. Also, claims that doing some special mathematical calculations (not disclosed) makes their ridiculously-priced colour analysis 100% accurate (a total scam).

Personally, I prefer a more natural look, with minimal makeup. I try to have my clothes last me a long time (one top lasted 20 years). I'm not into the latest fashion trends, buying the latest new season thing.

I am also mindful of environmental impacts with art materials. I choose less toxic paint and aim to use it all up in a session, to avoid waste and unnecessary pollution.

I will agree that some colours will suit some people more than others, but there is still a lot of subjectively (hence not scientific). Also, colour psychology isn't robustly scientific. Sure, we are influenced by colour but not all in the same way. We can be attracted to different colours depending on mood. Colour can be a form of self-expression (one reason I enjoy art).

I have found seasonal colour analysis somewhat helpful, although some palettes I've seen are so different they have colours in that don't suit me. I've noticed that nothing much has changed in the last 30 years. The same general system - warm vs cool etc. A bit more focus on 'tonal analysis' (contrast, value etc). It's very loosely based on Munsell's ideas of chroma, hue, value (also used by artists).

I wear some 'out of palette' colours (and have been complemented on them). I don't suit all colours in the preset palette equally. I doubt anyone does. It's more cleverly packaged palettes of convenience. I've seen some companies rebrand their own palettes with different names from the traditional seasons.

The only recent change really, is that it's now offered virtually (which can have some pitfalls). I think some analysts are ripping people off, by just comparing some quick preset filters for the same fee as in-person draping.

I saw a colour analyst threaten to sue people as copyright infringement for doing virtual analysis with photos using a white piece of paper (a suggestion from a photographer). This is ridiculous, as a white piece of paper is an inexpensive photo exposure and colour balance check, widely used.

Some are dogmatic about their methods and system, making false claims, including they are 100% science when saying their analysis involves chakras (spirtuality, pseudoscience). People arguing all over the internet. I've also seen lots of people go 'wow' at the apparent change on video, when it's just the camera auto exposure adjusting.

Something I've observed, is that lighting will affect results. Also, I think seasonal colour analysis does have a problematic history (bias towards light skin, stereotypes about personality etc).

I think a spectrum approach is more relevant, customised to each person. I am offering a custom virtual colour analysis service (not seasonal) for a reasonable fee. Using my skills and knowledge gained from art (semiprofessional artist), science (BSc & GradDipTch) and photography to recommend a palette. The lighting matters though for the comparison photo, so I will add more information soon.

I am not claiming anything ridiculous, such as 100% scientific (anyone who does so is lying). I have developed an eye for nuances with colour. I also think it's unfair that some analysts are ripping people off because it's currently trendy again.

Does everyone need colour analysis? Of course not. But it can be a useful tool if you hate clothes shopping, like I do. To just find the colours that work best for you. Especially if you need to buy clothes online. And don't want to buy clothes you never wear.

Something interesting I came across when researching for this blog post, was in a YouTube video by fashion historian, Nicole Rudolph. She unearthed a historical newspaper clip which said:
'New York artists are meeting this new demand in the most cordial spirit and are willing to work out individual schemes of dress for their patrons. The result of such labors is in a "color card," on which every varying tint or tone is painted...' Detroit Free Press, 2 Feb 1896.

Over a century later, I think that can be good advice. Artists may have their preferences and biases but many have trained eyes for colour. It's one of the areas of expertise I have with painting, hence my main credential for offering a custom, spectrum-based (not 'seasonal') colour analysis service.

More:

Natural light for accurate colours

Custom virtual colour analysis (not a rigid seasonal model)