The Little Black Dress. A staple of every woman’s wardrobe since time immemorial! All the old films always had the leading ladies in their little black dress, their little black suit etc. etc.

Sit on any commuter train on any weekday and look around the carriage. What do we see? The predominant colour of Black.

Yes it works exceptionally well for some of us, not so well for others. So who can and who can’t do this successfully?

If you are a Winter, don’t bother to read any further! You know you can wear black very well, in what percentage and how close to your face will differ from Winter to Winter and will change as you get older of course, but basically Black is safe for you.

The rest of us? Well I used to wear Black a lot in my pre colour analysis days, a staple in my wardrobe because “it goes with everything doesn’t it?” Actually, no, it doesn’t! When I was told I was an Autumn I stamped my foot and had a tantrum, I wasn’t going to wear those “cow pat” colours!! I loved my Black, Fuschia, Scarlet, Deep Purple, Emerald Green, Blue Eyeshadow and Pink Lipstick and no-one was going to tell me otherwise!!

Mmm, well then, what to do as I had my colours done just before I trained to become an Image Consultant, so I had to get it right really. So I experimented with, horror of horrors, Dark Brown, Moss Green, Teal. These actually went well with my one Mustard blouse, which I used to wear with a Black skirt, blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick! Oh well, you live and learn!

Six months later, I went back to wearing my Black and more horror of horrors – I looked like Morticia from The Adams Family!! How could I have gone on for so many years thinking I looked ok as someone from a cartoon! Black completely drains all the colour from my face, it makes me look tired, older, drawn and generally rather unwell. I don’t have any black anywhere in my wardrobe now, not even a pair of knickers!

Everyone else? If you are not a Winter, wear it with caution. If you are a Dark Summer, it won’t be a complete disaster, but wear it away from the face, ie skirt, trousers or shoes. If you are a Light Summer, then it’s likely to be too heavy for you anywhere on the body. For all Summers, try Navy, Aubergine, Dove Grey, Cornflower Blue, Burgundy as your Black alternatives. These will be far more flattering to your skin tone and will coordinate better with your other seasonal colours.

Autumn or Spring? Well, Black is an incredibly difficult colour for us to carry anywhere on the body really. It doesn’t coordinate well with any of our other colours and will drain our blue skins horribly of all colour making us look rather pale and washed out.

What to do instead?

Springs: Chocolate Brown, Bright Navy, Cinnamon, Copper.

Autumns: Dark Brown, Olive and Moss Green, Teal and Kingfisher, Marine Navy, Purple, Chestnut

Still married to your Black? I know it’s hard to let go, I struggled big time, but decided to go cold turkey and “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway!” Once I’d weaned myself off Black and revisited 6 months later, I realised it didn’t make me look my best. And once you’ve looked fabulous for 6 months and felt really good about yourself, why would anyone want to go back to looking ‘ok’? I certainly didn’t want to.

So – Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway – you’ll be amazed at how much more energy and vitality experimenting with other colours will give you, the compliments you will receive and the new lease of life your will experience. Enjoy!!

And to all you Winters out there, we love you and hate you in about equal measure!

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