Stevie's colors (warning: girlish stuff)

[SisterNightroad]

Recently in North Italy spreaded a new aesthetic field called “armocromy” that applies color notions used in architecture and interior design to people’s aesthetic appearance. Nowadays it’s found on scientific knowledge such as the laws of optical color perception, but in the eighties was known simply as “color analysis” and linked the natural colors of a person’s features to a season, with the colors that represented that season being the colors that best suited that person.
Recently I started to inform myself because I was curious of being analyzed and I playfully tried to apply the basics to Stevie.

This “discipline” states that the parts of our natural coloring (skin, eyes and hair) are naturally in harmony with each other and complement each other, and the colors that suits us best are those that harmonize with them, that is they have to have equal warmth (warm/cool), chroma (brightness/dimness) and value (lightness/darkness) of our natural colors.

People with warm skin undertone can be Springs or Autumns, while people with cool skin undertone can be Summers or Winters.

Judging by this photo that shows Stevie’s natural beauty with little or no make-up, I say that Stevie’s skin emanates a warm light:
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i204/SortaSavageLike/Pre-Rumours/Live/sweaty.jpg

Among the people with warm coloring, those that look good with bright (and lighter) colors are Springs, while those that look good with soft/dim (and darker) colors are Autumns.
Same for those with cool coloring, a person that looks good with bright (and darker) colors is a Winter, while one that needs soft/dim (and lighter) colors is a Summer.

Since these four seasons change according to the permutations of the three main traits (warmth, chroma and value) there are three sub-season for each season, in which one of these three traits is strong and dominant and the others are moderated:

Spring:
Bright Spring (very bright but moderately warm and light)
True Spring (very warm but moderately bright and light)
Light Spring (very light but moderately warm and bright)

Summer:
Soft Summer (very soft/dim but moderately cool and light)
True Summer (very cool but moderately soft/dim and light)
Light Summer (very light but moderately cool and soft/dim)

Autumn:
Soft Autumn (very soft/dim but moderately warm and dark)
True Autumn (very warm but moderately soft/dim and dark)
Dark Autumn (very dark but moderately warm and soft/dim)

Winter:
Bright Winter (very bright but moderately cool and dark)
True Winter (very cool but moderately bright and dark)
Dark winter (very dark but moderately cool and bright)


To discover someone’s season you must analyze a person in a variety of colors and see what colors enhance her/him the most. The only way to achieve a perfect result is to turn to a professional color analyst but self analysis isn’t impossible and it can come very close to the right result. I followed the advice found on the blog of an expert and I observed high quality photos that portray Stevie in crucial colors:


1) Does this person look healthy and alive in true white (as opposed to ivory or oyster white)?

http://36.media.tumblr.com/4d45775f05dc233a8dce4070c6205027/tumblr_nc7mm4w6qM1qcaugio1_1280.jpg

It may be my personal opinion, but in this photo Stevie’s skin doesn’t look particularly radiant, it seems like this true white enhances more her orbits than her beautiful skin, especially compared to the picture above. I know she can be more beautiful.

Now, let’s try a less pure white:

http://41.media.tumblr.com/a091e5e3512df1be45317fc718d335c2/tumblr_nkuw9rjmHV1tziohao2_500.png

Her complexion now is more glowing.


2) Does this person look healthy and alive in grey-blue?

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1b/d7/e7/1bd7e72e73fd0b298059e0ed114a880e.jpg

I only found this picture called “Stevie Nicks wearing grey/blue grey”. It’s not so bad, for what can be seen, but it’s not her best look.


3) Is she/ he overwhelmed by pure black?

This we could respond without looking. “Not being overwhelmed” means that the person can sustain black without looking older, tired and with a washed out face. Optically, if a person cannot sustain black and has the color very close to the face, the eye makes a conscious effort to focus on the face and not on the black because the black appears more defined and focused than the person itself. We know Stevie can absolutely carry black.


4) Does she/he looks healthy and alive in pumpkin orange?

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2014/gallery/stevie-nicks-life-in-photos-20140526/0266537/132609/_original/1035x1576-85000989-10-1800-1400859235.jpg

To me Stevie looks good in orange.


5) Does she/he looks healthy and alive in burgundy?


http://41.media.tumblr.com/d5b6862fe44ce3c64254e0f9422a38db/tumblr_nkdviq5c8z1tziohao1_1280.png

It takes way more to outshine her beauty, but Stevie’s skin doesn’t look healthy nor alive.

According to the guidelines Stevie is very likely a Bright Spring.

This makes sense because:
We have that an extremely cool color like icy white doesn’t look good on Stevie, so she isn’t Winter nor Summer; this is a validation of her having a warm undertone. A warmer and light color like cream-white is definitely her thing.
Also the fact that Stevie looks good in a warm and bright orange, sustain the case.
Since Stevie can wear black she must have a very high contrast level; this means that seasons with low chroma like Soft Autumn and Light Spring aren’t hers.
Burgundy doesn’t look good on Stevie’s because is both dark and dim. So Autumn is to be counted off.

This is the definition:


BRIGHT SPRING

Bright Spring is the spring with a touch of winter. Winter’s effect increases the saturation of Spring’s already bright colors and also cools them a bit; warm fuchsias are introduced and golden browns are dropped. Colors are also darker, corresponding to the darkest tones in the Bright Spring person’s hair, which can mean black.
The brightness is the most evident trait of the colors range, and the beauty is most clearly revealed when the Bright Spring wears colors in high contrast combinations. This level of contrast mirrors the high chroma (high value or hue contrast) that already exists in her/his body.
It’s usually very difficult to find out this season because most Bright Spring hair is dark and their skin may be as well. They can wear black (though alone doesn’t bring out their true loveliness) so they can be confused for a Winter. It can also be mistaken for a True Summer since they share some of their best colors: aqua, hot pink and, to a lesser extent, grey.
It’s difficult to suppress their natural color, and often Bright Springs don’t look washed out in the wrong colors, rather you get the impression that they can wear much more. In fact Bright Springs can carry black, but to look extraordinary they need to combine it with bright and warm colors:

http://40.media.tumblr.com/372c8b9de6621c8789f358a4cb60b428/tumblr_n8ltebRvaO1swd40wo1_1280.jpg

http://40.media.tumblr.com/1b6a9dbfe55a31561f34f5330c5d1fcd/tumblr_n00vutxZ2s1qcaugio1_1280.jpg

http://41.media.tumblr.com/c3f9764c849022ca3c45a1eef0431f19/tumblr_nlje05XuWb1swd40wo4_r1_1280.jpg


Some of Bright Spring’s best colors:

http://bondbeautyful.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/bright-spring.jpg

[SisterNightroad]

??????????

[The Highwayman]

It may be girly, but it was some serious eye candy for this man. Good god that woman is beautiful.

[lovethemac1]

Since the early 80's, my mother, at least once a month, runs around her house, holding swatches of color up to me to figure out what are 'my colors.' I am now in my early 50's, and she still is at it. (I haven't lived with her since the mid-80's, this happens whenever I'm at her place). She's convinced that I am an anomaly and she can't figure out what I am. One month I'm a winter, then a spring, no wait, a summer.........honestly, it's pretty funny. But I do totally agree with this color thing, and I do think people have certain colors based on skin color and tone that work for them. I just honestly thought my mother was the only person in the world still dwelling on this. I'll have to let her know about this. She'll probably join the Ledge just so she can help to analyze Stevie. Then she'll start analyzing all the rest of you.

[SisterNightroad]

It may be girly, but it was some serious eye candy for this man. Good god that woman is beautiful.
I didn't expect to gain men approval!
These were some of my favourite pictures, I'm glad that someone liked them.

[SisterNightroad]

Since the early 80's, my mother, at least once a month, runs around her house, holding swatches of color up to me to figure out what are 'my colors.' I am now in my early 50's, and she still is at it. (I haven't lived with her since the mid-80's, this happens whenever I'm at her place). She's convinced that I am an anomaly and she can't figure out what I am. One month I'm a winter, then a spring, no wait, a summer.........honestly, it's pretty funny. But I do totally agree with this color thing, and I do think people have certain colors based on skin color and tone that work for them. I just honestly thought my mother was the only person in the world still dwelling on this. I'll have to let her know about this. She'll probably join the Ledge just so she can help to analyze Stevie. Then she'll start analyzing all the rest of you.
Yeah, your mother's description looks familiar, I think all mothers around the world are alike.
By the way, since the 80's this subject changed a lot and 4 new seasons have been added for those cases that are hard to define.
Try this, it's the only reliable american/english site that I know: http://www.truth-is-beauty.com/color-analysis.html

[lovethemac1]

Yeah, your mother's description looks familiar, I think all mothers around the world are alike.
By the way, since the 80's this subject changed a lot and 4 new seasons have been added for those cases that are hard to define.
Try this, it's the only reliable american/english site that I know: http://www.truth-is-beauty.com/color-analysis.html

Ha ha, that's funny. I checked out this site, and it's really good. I will have to spend some time analyzing myself. Then freak my mother out by telling her what I am. She'll still keep at it though, I'm sure. Great thread, I love how different and interesting it is.

[GypsySorcerer]

Wow, this is a lot more complicated than it was in 1985. My mom had that Color Me Beautiful book. I remember being a summer. I can see Stevie as a spring.

[SisterNightroad]

Wow, this is a lot more complicated than it was in 1985. My mom had that Color Me Beautiful book. I remember being a summer. I can see Stevie as a spring.
Yes, I knew that Color Me Beautiful was the book that started all, but now the seasons aren't even 12 anymore, they're 16!
I just learned that with age people grow fainter due to the decrease of the pigment cell (melanin) so now Stevie may have receded to a True Spring or a Light Spring; maybe one day I'll update if I can figure it out.

[Macfanforever]

No Its not to girlish to me.Hahaha.I'll actually learning something on color code and matching clothes here.

I love dresses and love Stevie in them.The pants thing sometimes looks boring on women to me.

I love those photos of her in those 1920's and 30's dresses and hats .The actresses of that time look so beautiful in them.

She said she likes black because it makes her look slimmer.
Johnny Cash always had black on and have the nick name "The Man In Black".

I guess we can call Stevie"The Woman In Black". or that was June Carter Cash's name.

I prefer the light colors of clothes but I love her red dress she wears on her album covers.

[SisterNightroad]

No Its not to girlish to me.Hahaha.I'll actually learning something on color code and matching clothes here.

I love dresses and love Stevie in them.The pants thing sometimes looks boring on women to me.

I love those photos of her in those 1920's and 30's dresses and hats .The actresses of that time look so beautiful in them.

She said she likes black because it makes her look slimmer.
Johnny Cash always had black on and have the nick name "The Man In Black".

I guess we can call Stevie"The Woman In Black". or that was June Carter Cash's name.

I prefer the light colors of clothes but I love her red dress she wears on her album covers.
What a surprise! Men are becoming more open to color-stuff than they used to be!

Stevie looks especially beautiful in red, I think she looks the best in the Hold Me video:

http://media.tumblr.com/5d2a9a32b256ac14cf474ebc58f67978/tumblr_inline_negsiiqIdP1qc8vk7.jpg

[SisterNightroad]

During the last months I’ve become more acquainted with the theory of colors and I also got to know some very knowledgeable people, so after asking their opinion I thought I’d update here for recreational purposes.

Stevie Nicks is a Deep (or Dark) Autumn, but with age she became a Deep Soft Autumn.

Now in Europe the system has added four seasons to the previous twelve I described before, taking into account a fourth color dimension to the other three mentioned, warmth, chroma and value, that is the gray scale. In practice, since there were people hard to fit between some of the seasons, a new sub-season has been created for each of the four existing seasons, adding some grey to one of two adjoining seasons. For example, between the warm seasons after the Light Spring, that is neutral-warm, is the lighter among the springs and has medium-high chroma, comes the Soft Autumn that also is neutral-warm and is the lighter among the autumns but its chroma is medium-low. So, adding a touch of grey to tame the Light Spring colors it has been created the Soft Light Spring; the grey had made the Light Spring colors a bit less light and a bit less bright but the chroma stays at medium level; that is to say that the Soft Light Spring is a tamed Light Spring but still has higher chroma, lighter and less dim colors compared to the Soft Autumn.

http://s2.postimg.org/69nbk8o2d/2301160397838b85c53d06ad2a3ad348.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/69nbk8o2d/)

These four new seasons are particularly useful when analyzing ageing people because with the consequential whitening and decrease of melanine both chroma and temperature tends to lower.
They are:

Light Soft Spring, created adding a tone of light grey to the Light Spring color range, it has been done for those people for which Light Spring is too bright but Soft Autumn is too dim and dark.
Soft Deep Summer, created adding a tone of dark grey to the Soft Summer color range, it has been done for those people for which Soft Summer is too dim but Deep Winter is both too dark and bright.
Deep Soft Autumn, created adding a tone of dark grey to the Deep Autumn color range, it has been done for those people for which Deep Autumn is too dark but normal Soft Autumn is too dim and light.
Deep Soft Winter, created adding a tone of dark grey to the Deep Winter palette, it has been done for those people for which Deep Winter is too bright but Soft Deep Summer is too dim and light.

Stevie is not a Bright Spring but a Deep Autumn which is uncommon, as it has been explained to me, because she’s blonde. I thought she was a Bright Spring because she’s blonde (springs are usually blonde and/or look good with lightened hair) and she looks good in black, and apart from the winters the only seasons that can carry black are the Bright Spring and the Dark Autumn.
Both Bright Spring and Dark Autumn can carry black and are neutral-warm but there is a stark difference in chroma as Deep Autumn has a medium-high chroma but Bright Spring has a very high chroma. The other and much bigger difference is the value, namely Bright Spring has a overall light value but Dark/Deep Autumn, as the name suggests, has a very dark value, it is the darkest warm season and it is for this reason that the black is permitted.
Blonde Deep Autumns are rare but not scarce (for example, the only other known blonde Deep Autumn is Katherine Heigl) considering first that a lot of people are blonde in their youth but their colors darkens after they come of age, and secondly that a lot of people call blonde what really is a light ash brown; so only those people that have hair that lies between the very dark blonde and the very light brown could have the chance to be Deep Autumns.
http://s8.postimg.org/of5cu3bxd/4614180.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/of5cu3bxd/)
The only reference I’ve seen in an interview about Stevie’s natural hair color is when she said to have had blondish-brownish hair, and also since Stevie started dying her hair at a very young age, her true hair color in the adulthood is hard to define.

Deep Autumns are Autumns that borders with winter: their level of natural contrast is very high, and their overall coloring can be very dark. While the autumn is a season of overall dimmer colors respect to Spring, the Deep Autumn is the less muted among them due to the depth of the colors that makes them darker and more saturated than the Soft or True Autumn’s. Dark Autumns are quite common in Mediterranean countries because their coloring is often dark, but they can be found everywhere. They can be particularly hard to recognize because their coloring is deep but deep doesn’t always mean dark!

If we look closely to Stevie’s skin in the most well-lit and higher quality pictures possible (obviously candids are better because they aren’t re-touched):
http://s24.postimg.org/4ahzy2xfp/Nuova_immagine_156.jpghttp://s9.postimg.org/5ahtchqm7/Nuova_immagine_147.jpg

We see that even being fair, her skin has a touch of some sort of deep color; in fact I think she has a beige skin overtone.
http://s8.postimg.org/dvl2hiw0l/Sottotoni_pelle.jpg

For comparison, this are some famous Bright Springs:
http://s3.postimg.org/nlk5aomeb/Immagine.jpg

From the results of the "analysys" we can see:

1) She doesn’t look bad in blonde because is still pretty close to her natural hair color; however, if we’re talking about color harmony, she generally wear better darker hair colors that recall the depth in her eyes.
Here you can see what is colloquially called the “floating eyes effect”. With lighter hair the only thing that pops out from her face at first are her dark eyes and then you notice the rest: the face apart from the eyes is a bit unfocused. This is because the value of this color is too low. With darker hair her contours are slightly more defined and the colors of her eyes and hair balance each other.
http://s16.postimg.org/cindkesw5/Immagine.png

2) The lipstick colors that better suit her are also dark. She’s usually fond of light nude-beige make-up but if you look closely it’s not the best, her lips are too close to the color of her skin and the general effect is that it seems something’s lacking. That’s because also the contrast is too low for her, she needs stronger colors.
http://s7.postimg.org/r5jqo99qz/tumblr_lkkwv0e_XPT1qcaugio1_1280.jpg
I couldn’t find a good picture of Stevie that is both well lit, natural, of good quality and with her good colors, so even if it’s not the best course of action I applied some maroon lipstick with an online make-up software. However you can see that this color looks so natural on her lips that could pass as the natural color of her lips, much more than the beige of the original photo (whose natural lip color is beige anyway?). She could wear even stronger colors than this.
http://s15.postimg.org/7x017o7dn/1d84d27acc9e7e4e7e1f6e4bfb749a01.jpghttp://s11.postimg.org/7jrjtqdpf/download_1.jpg

[SpyNote]

Black is my least favorite color on her. I know she loves wearing black for various reasons, but there's nothing like the lady in red! :woohoo:

[SisterNightroad]

I would have loved to see her wearing her shade of red, Deep Autumn's red is very beautiful and rich:
http://s22.postimg.org/747biqo35/Deep_Red_Calfskin.jpg

[StreetAngel86]

Black is my least favorite color on her. I know she loves wearing black for various reasons, but there's nothing like the lady in red! :woohoo:

Stevie in red is the most beautiful thing ever
even if it's just her red shawl :nod:

[SisterNightroad]

Stevie in red is the most beautiful thing ever
even if it's just her red shawl :nod:
That would have been a perfect shade for young Stevie!
Also this outfit and make-up (my favourite!) come close:
http://s17.postimg.org/67pxrrjgf/Nuova_immagine_14.jpg

For the now mature Stevie, the red shade of the Soft Deep Autumn is something like this:
http://s15.postimg.org/p3ae3lhrf/crispcolor.png

[lilyfee]

Wow, I just want to say I love these posts! I'm definitely going to return to this and try to figure out my colors!

When I read your first post, I was thinking I would have guessed her colors were Autumn, not Spring, based on what I've seen of her many looks over the years... Specifically I'm referring to her look around the time of the Tusk tour, which IMHO was her best, color wise. A lot of reds/oranges and warm pinks, as well as the dark lip colors you're talking about.
Example:
http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1wnw1gx481qcaugio1_540.jpg

And imagine with her natural, browner hair color... Mmm!:nod:

I thought your conclusion was a little skewed based on her blonde hair, which I do not think is the best color for her. Actually, for that matter, I don't think black clothing is either! It doesn't look awful, but... She never looks awful!

As for how she looks now... I wish we saw the entirety of the Italian Summer video... Her dress in the clips is just right, IMHO! Couldn't find a decent picture to make my point.

I like how in-depth you go with your analysis, especially with pointing out the floating eyes/lips issues with photos... Very helpful!

[SisterNightroad]

Thank you! I was thinking about doing another post about mature Stevie being Deep Soft Autumn.
Yeah, at first even if I understood well theory it was difficult to apply it, it takes a lot of experiments at looking at various photos and colors to effectively grasp the slight but strong differences different shades can have on people.
If you're talking about this dress yes, it could be very right especially because of the satin material:
http://s10.postimg.org/ffa30egs9/maxresdefault.jpg
My "masters" explained that satin thanks to its opaque light gives a soft impression to the eye.

[SisterNightroad]

Mature Stevie as a Deep Soft Autumn

http://s24.postimg.org/ozh2uhqf9/Season_Circle400x600.jpg
Usually in the new 16 seasons color system Soft Autumn is replaced by the two seasons “Light Soft Autumn” and “Deep Soft Autumn”, and instead of the Soft Summer now we find the “Light Soft Summer” and the “Deep Soft Summer”. These seasons seems to have been split in two, and the lighter and gentler tones has remained to the Light half while the darker and more velvety shades have gone to the Deep half. Now I understand that this is a misinterpretation because even if the Soft Light Autumn and Soft Deep Autumn just like all the confining seasons share many colors because they have similar value, chroma and contrast, in reality the Light Soft Autumn is none other than the classic Soft Autumn, while the Deep Soft Autumn is a newborn season produced by the softening of the Deep Autumn.

With the 12 seasons system, the fairest and with the lowest contrast among the autumns were the Soft Autumns, however some of them mysteriously could handle more depth and intensity than others. Both are neutral-warm, with low contrast between their natural colors and a visible softness that made them look like bathed in honey gold light, just like Gisele Bundchen and Angelina Jolie (click to enlarge):
http://s30.postimg.org/uft17z0rh/Immagine_2.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/uft17z0rh/)
But when you look at more images you see that Angelina can sustain looks that totally overcome Gisele. They may not be her best colors but she’s believable, when Gisele looks all red lips, clownish (click to enlarge):
http://s15.postimg.org/hfmntns7r/image.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/hfmntns7r/)
There are also autumn women that visibly are unmistakingly deep, but the Deep Autumn colors are actually too much for them, see Jenna Coleman at the center with a Deep Autumn make-up and on the right wearing softer but still deep colors:
http://s1.postimg.org/oyo98wv1r/Immagine.jpg
For all these women has been created the Deep Soft Autumn, that retains the depth of the Deep Autumn but loses the vividness of it; it’s soft but still rich and can go much deeper than the classic Soft Autumn (click to enlarge):
http://s17.postimg.org/rwzcm0fpn/Immagine.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/rwzcm0fpn/)

Stevie with age has become a Deep Soft Autumn. She’s lost the capacity to wear her darkest and most vivid shades, especially black, at least on her face. Black on her isn’t bad like on a regular Soft Autumn but as a Deep Soft Autumn her signature dark color would be a deep charcoal.
Now that she softened and lightened, blonde is less harsh on her but some the lighter tones are too bright or even cool. They totally disconnects with her face and are lighter than her skin making her contours less defined, taking centre place instead of her face and even making her skin lose color. Deep Soft Autumns’ best hair colors can go from dark honey blonde to brown-black, she not only could look good with darker hair but could actually look younger as an inappropriate color usually brings out the unhealthy shades and lines on a person’s skin:
http://s28.postimg.org/d5qsiqx8d/Immagine.jpg

If you look at her make-up nowadays you can see that she wears quite appropriate colors for her, even if just a bit too tamed; in fact I suspect that her makeup artist has some armocromatic knowledge but doesn’t use the new system with 16 seasons. The colors are all warmish brownish tones: mocha and taupe smoky eyes, brown caramel or peachy antique rose lips and warm pinks on her cheeks. They are all typical Soft Autumns colors and they all sit very well on her skin even if she could dare more with her lips. Even for Light Soft Autumns some of those are everyday lipsticks; however surely it’s because her personal taste leans more towards the neutral tones.
Here are some lipstick of her choice, including a more daring bronze and dusty deep red: those two, the first with the blending brown sunglasses and the second with a slightly softer and darker blonde are the closest she gets to her seasonal colors:
http://s29.postimg.org/5ne5yom0n/Immagine.jpg

Here I made a scheme in which I extracted the colors of her lipsticks she wears on each photo I used for this post. The last color down on the right is a very Deep Soft Autumn red:
http://s29.postimg.org/3zp61sx9z/lip.jpg