Complexion Combo: What colours to wear to suit your skin tone?
Matching your clothes to your skin tone can be tricky - you might want to follow a few styling tips.
Wonder why Naomi Campbell looks so good in white? Or why Anne Hathaway avoids pastel outfits and favours dark dresses? Some clothing colours seem to make you look overly pale, or make you appear too stark, or just flat out look horrible on you. Wonder why that is? Well, the colour of your skin can play a huge part in making your outfit work.
Skin tones can vary from warm (yellow or olive-based) to cool (pink or blue-based). Some lucky people have a neutral skin tone that works well with both warm and cool clothing colours. There are also a few colours that go with almost all skin tones such as bright red, pale pink, teal and aubergine.
General Tips: What works and what doesn't?
For fair/light skin - Pick hues that clearly contrast with your skin tone. This will bring some colour to your complexion. Darker colours such as brown, burgundy, grey and navy will work. Avoid an abundance of pastel shades or soft colours as they will only wash you out.
For olive/medium skin - If you’ve got medium skin that tans rather than turns red in the sun, you have a ‘warm’ complexion, which suits a wider spectrum of colours compared to those with fair skin or ‘cool’ complexions. To add some contrast, you will look best in shades that are either a little brighter or darker than the middle ground. Avoid wearing shades of green or yellow - these colours may be too close to your skin tone.
For dark skin - The safest colour to match with a darker skin tone is white, but if you want to try other colours, light shades of purple, pink, peach, orange, yellow and green will look great. Avoid brown - similar to how pastel shades can wash out lighter skin tones, brown won’t contrast nearly enough with dark skin and detract from your outfit.
Take a look at the examples in the gallery above to see how certain style icons pick their colours to suit their skin tone.
Angela Goh
Photos: Getty Images
