See how lucky you are
Thousands of years ago, when I first started as a colour analyst, we didn’t have any professionally-made drapes or wallets.
My first 4 drapes were procured by a visit to my local market where I bought 4 half-yards of different-coloured fabrics – one for Spring, one for Summer, one for Autumn and one for Winter.
The four fabrics were all different types and totally different textures, and I had to cut them all myself to approximately the same size.
Then we had to remember which drape belonged to which season because we didn’t have the luxury of labels. In fact, a whole year went by before I had the bright idea to add little coloured labels to my ever-growing collection of drapes.
I had to go to a stationers’ and buy a sheet of labels. The internet didn’t exist then so we couldn’t order anything online so I had to get on the bus and go there in person.
Then I had to type each one by hand on my trusty old Olympus typewriter.
You couldn’t have beautiful long fingernails in those days. It took someone with the strength of Arnold Schwarzenegger to press the typewriter keys down and, unhappily, nails broke on a daily basis.
You don’t realise how lucky you are
When you buy a set of fabric drapes these days, they’re already cut to the same size and some kind soul (like me) has already decided which season and / or tone they work best with, and they’ve attached a very handy label which is always there to remind you of this!
You whippersnappers just don’t know you’re born!
But even so…
I know from the many emails I get that when your drapes arrive it can still be quite overwhelming:
- You love the colours
- You pick out the ones you know you look good in
- You spend ages trying to find the best way to display them
- You play around putting them into the 4 seasons or the 6 tones or whatever system you’re using
And then a customer arrives to upset your happy mood.
Because then you have to start working with your drapes, actually using them to diagnose which seasonal or tonal direction your client is.
Eeek!
Although my Colour Analysis in a Box training shows you how to use a process of elimination in the back of your head without a drape in sight, at some point you’re still going to have to show your client what you’re seeing so that she can see for herself.
So you need to use actual drapes to show her why she’s Light or Deep, why she looks better in Bright or Soft / Muted shades, and most importantly, whether she’s got Warm or Cool skin tones.
You need a list of comparison drapes
to demonstrate to your client
which one she is.
So now you have to know exaclty which of your 60 or 90 drapes to use. You could sit down one morning and work through all the combinations, making a checklist as you go, but…
If that makes you feel quite faint at the thought, fear not…
Once again, Aunty Kim rides to the rescue. I’ve already done the hard work for you and I’ve put together a full list of comparison drapes for each of the major permutations.
Here’s an example of 5 sets of comparison drapes to determine Warm vs. Cool.
| WARM |
vs.
|
COOL | |
| 9 | Orange Red | 2 | Light Blue Red |
| 56 | Dark Yellow Green | 51 | Emerald Green |
| 30 | Dk. Periwinkle Blue | 26 | Grey Navy |
| 39 | Warm Purple | 37 | Royal Purple |
| 99 | Salmon | 88 | Clear Bright Pink |
You don’t have to do them in any particular order but choose the ones that ‘do it’ for you. So if reds don’t work for you, maybe the greens do? Compare drape # 56 Dark Yellow Green with drape # 51 Emerald Green. Then try # 99 vs. # 88, and go on until you have a winner.
And before you ask, I’ve already done them all for you and created…
A full list of comparison drapes to establish:
- Light vs. Deep
- Bright vs. Soft / Muted
- Warm vs. Cool
- Warm Bright vs. Warm Soft / Muted
- Cool Bright vs. Cool Soft / Muted
- Light Warm vs. Light Cool
- Deep Warm vs. Deep Cool
- Bright Warm vs. Bright Cool
- Soft/Muted Warm vs. Soft / Muted Cool
The full list is an added bonus which is included with my Advanced Colour Analysis for Image Professionals 6-DVD pack.
And you can still get this pack for free
but the offer ENDS on Sunday 2nd Oct
Related posts:
- Which neutral drapes do you work with?
- Will all the swatches in the Autumn wallet suit me?
- Using lipsticks vs. a full make-up kit
- Soft Muted Colours
- The rubbish that some image consultants spout!