Color Me, Beautiful!

Remember the fashion trends of the 80s?

Big hair! Big shoulder pads! Neon colors! Leg warmers!

The divas were Princess Di, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Bonet, and Whitney Houston.

And the book Color Me Beautiful by Carole Jackson spent 3-4 years on the New York Times bestseller list. By 1983 it had sold two million copies.

I was a young college professor at Goshen College in those days. I was buying my professional wardrobe at thrift stores and on department store sales. But I also got a copy of this book and read enough of it to type myself a Winter in the four-season system of analyzing.

 

At the time Color Me Beautiful was all the rage, I was mother to two children, a son age 10, and a daughter age 3.  Both children had already chosen their favorite things. Our son loved computers, programming, and video games. Our daughter loved clothes and art.

The only thing I remembered from reading the book in the 80s was that I looked good in “jewel (bold blues and reds, especially) colors” and in black and white. Kate was too young to participate in the kind of color conversations that were taking place among the moms in our group, but she was drawn to color. In college, she majored in art.

Like many art majors, especially of the Millennial generation, Kate has used her skills and talents in many ways. She is an AirBnB super host and has renovated and decorated numerous houses. She managed an upscale thrift store. She started Creative Mornings in Pittsburgh, and most recently, was a reseller of vintage clothing and designer bags.

But the role of color analyst, undertaken after she had taken a course at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and had studied three different systems in depth, seems to fit her perfectly. She is still, after all, the grown-up version of the little girl who always selected her own clothes, insisted on a perm at age six, and wore dresses according to the beauty she saw in them, irrespective of season or size. There was a period in early elementary school when she crafted some very strange outfits, and I knew that letting her wear them ran the risk that both she (and I) would be disparaged, secretly, if not publicly. Yet it seemed more important that she follow her own inner light of beauty than that I make her follow the prevailing norms. Eventually, of course, she channeled her creativity into less bizarre tastes, but she never gave up on the thought that color should be fun, it should make you feel good, and that when it connects to your inner beauty, there is magic!

Last year Kate opened a studio she created in her own home. She uses all those formal and informal art classes on color theory, and she offers her services in creating an individualized color palette for clients based on skin tone and undertone. I was one of her first clients, and she confirmed what I learned long ago, that I am a “Winter.” The 12-season approach goes beyond the original four seasons by specifying three types within a type. I could be either a Dark Winter, or True Winter, or a Bright winter.  I am a True Winter. One of my cousins is also a True Winter. Another is Light Summer, like Kate herself. My three college friends are all different seasons. Finding that out together was like having a party in our college dorm again.

I love seeing my daughter explain how value, chroma, and hue come together to form colors and then watch her as she drapes two different colors next to a client’s face. She compares her role to the sound booth engineer in a recording studio when a musician is cutting a record. Her voice is warm. Her eyes dance. Her humor flows. She moves around the color wheel with intent, eliminating whole groups after comparing drapes. Eventually, both she and the client land on one spot on the wheel that is best. Then the client gets two items that will be useful for closet editing and for shopping: a pocket sized color collection for her wallet and a larger fan for her purse with individual swatches in the palette colors.

In a season of darkness, in a world full of strife, I am inspired by my daughter to live my best True Winter self. If you see me wearing red, my favorite color, or cobalt blue, my second favorite, just give a little nod. 🙂  I will smile at your bright orange or rich browns, two colors that do nothing for me, and rejoice at how they color YOU beautiful!

Do you remember reading Color Me Beautiful in the 1980s? How do you respond to color? Were you analyzed long ago or recently? I’d love to hear your story.