The seasonal sub-types - which are your best colours?

If you’ve had a seasonal colour analysis, you will have been given a seasonal designation; Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter. (If you have been analysed in a tonal system and want a quick translation to a seasonal sub-type, this blog post will help you translate your tonal directions into a seasonal palette).

Once upon a time, that seasonal designation was all you received, but these days there is a reasonable chance that alongside your season, your analyst also told you which sub-type within that season you belong to, whether that’s Pastel Summer, Soft Autumn, Golden Spring or one of a dozen or more other permutations. When you see the breadth of colour that a 4 season palette entails, it’s no wonder that drilling that down further, either by rating and assigning wow colours, or simply creating a narrower palette, is becoming a popular option.

In terms of helping you shop at Kettlewell, understanding your seasonal sub-type also helps relate your season to your Tonal Direction, which can help open up an entire new hidden part of your palette, helping you discover even more wow colours!

I’ve broken this explanation into the seasonal sub-types down into four sections – one for each of the seasonal palettes. Please do click through and have a read of the one that applies to you, but you may also find it useful to visit the other segments in order to further understand how the seasons relate to each other.

An important note: please remember that if you’ve been given a broader palette and then told your seasonal sub-type (and your ‘wow colours’), this doesn’t mean that the rest of your seasonal palette is closed to you. The purpose of learning your seasonal sub-type is simply to show you the very best colours within your palette, not to stop you wearing the remainder of your palette. Often our personal style means we are drawn to colours outside our seasonal sub-type, and I encourage you to keep your mind broad when it comes to your entire palette, and not let your sub-type become a set of restrictions.