How not to wear black
Why do women love to wear black when it actually suits so few of us? Jules Standish, author of ‘How Not to Wear Black’ has some thoughts about this: we think it’s slimming, easy and functional, safe, protective, sexy, stylish and smart. For the majority of us, however, that’s just not true, and wearing black does us no favours. This book explains exactly who looks good in black, and gives advice to the rest of us on which colours we should and should not wear.
Jules believes there is a strong connection between genetically inherited colouring and basic temperament, and gives us 3 tools to help us identify what personality type/season we fall into.
I enjoyed taking the personality test (tool number 1) and scored fairly highly in one category.
The second tool is a set of drawings to help us determine our eye pattern. I found this quite difficult, as the illustrations – though detailed – were black and white, but chose the most similar pattern.
The 3rd tool is colour draping, which confirms whether or not you can wear black. This is not easy to do if you don’t have a trained eye.
If, like most of us, you fall into the category of people who don’t look good in black, Jules explains ways of introducing it subtly into your wardrobe without making you look tired and drawn (for example, if you must wear a black top, ensure that it’s low cut, so not near your face, or wear a coloured scarf with it in a shade to suit you) If you are lucky enough to be able to wear black, there is a separate chapter for you.
So far so good. Where the book fell down for me was the explanation of which colours suit which seasons. According to the personality and eye test, I fall into the Spring/sanguine category, but on reading the chapter about what Spring/sanguine types can wear, I was surprised to see a list of colours that, even though I like them, do not suit me. The analysis did not work for me at all.
I found this book a fun read, and it is a good introduction to colour analysis. However, I would encourage people who want to look good and wear the right colours to have a face-to-face consultation with Jules or another image consultant. I don’t think reading about it is a viable substitute.
