Autumn is the warm, deep season of colour analysis: rich, earthy colours, like a forest in October. This guide covers how to recognise an autumn, the palette that suits it, the neutrals to build a wardrobe on, the colours that dull it — and how to use all this with the clothes you already own.
Three criteria define it: a warm undertone (the skin leans golden, olive or coppery), a medium to deep value and rather muted colouring, rich rather than bright.
You often see golden, warm beige, olive or coppery skin that rarely flushes; warm brown, red, copper, auburn or chocolate hair; hazel, amber, olive green or warm brown eyes, often flecked with gold.
The most telling test: gold and copper near the face warm it, silver dulls it. Optical white looks stark, cream looks healthy.
The key colours are rust, olive, mustard, terracotta, camel and forest green. These are the six Fring associates with autumn.
Around them: burnt orange, warm burgundy, brick, petrol blue, khaki, ochre, chocolate, copper. What they share: a warm, earthy colour with yellow or brown in it, deep rather than bright.
To judge a colour, ask two questions: is it rather warm (an olive green rather than a bluish fir green)? Is it rich and muted rather than pastel or neon? Two yeses make it an autumn colour.
For an autumn: camel and warm beige, chocolate and brown instead of black, khaki and dark olive, cream instead of optical white, and a warm navy or deep petrol blue for variety.
A camel coat, a cream jumper, chocolate trousers, raw denim and cognac boots make a base the whole palette extends. Natural leather, suede, tweed and corduroy are at home here.
What dulls an autumn is cool, light and pastel colour: candy pink and icy pastels; cool royal blue and fuchsia; silver grey and bluish greys; pure black, harsher than chocolate; optical white.
A difficult colour can be worn away from the face: black trousers or a light grey skirt are fine. Near the face, a mustard scarf or a cream collar rescues a cool top.
Soft autumn: softness dominates. Close to summer, it is the most powdery: taupe, warm sage, warm old rose, rosy beige, light khaki.
Warm (true) autumn: warmth dominates. The archetypal, most golden autumn: rust, mustard, terracotta, camel, copper.
Deep autumn: depth dominates. Close to winter, it is the darkest: chocolate, burgundy, forest green, petrol blue, warm aubergine — and it handles a near-black brown better than the others.
Start by sorting what you own into three piles: palette, neutral, outside the palette. Pieces outside the palette stay useful on the lower body or under a palette piece; an autumn with lots of grey can keep it away from the face and warm the outfit through accessories.
Then let purchases follow the palette: each new piece combines with most of the others, which is the principle of a capsule wardrobe.
In Fring, the selfie analysis in your profile estimates your season and undertone and saves six key colours. It recognises four seasons, not twelve: treat it as an estimate to compare with a test using real fabric. Dress me then favours outfits in your colours, and the shopping assistant flags an off-palette colour before you buy.
Create your wardrobe on Fring and run the colour analysis from your profile: it gives your season, your undertone and six key colours, and Dress me takes them into account in its outfits. No credit card, and the photo is not kept.
