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The Soft Woman’s Wardrobes, Make-up and Colour

Written on July 11, 2008 – 1:08 am | by dodo

General Wardrobe Guidelines

These women aren’t obviously dark or light but somewhere in between. Bright colours are harsh on them but that doesn’t mean they are limited in looking wonderful.

If you fit this description, your colours need to be rich and blended. Monochromatic dressing when you use the same hue, but in lighter and darker values, is your most wonderful look. For example, you could try ivory, taupe, pewter and bronze mixed together. Something as stark as black and white would overwhelm your soft, subtle colouring.

Your pinks can either be the rose or raspberry tones, if your skin is cool (that is, pinky) or muted salmons if your skin is better complemented by warm colours (that is, more golden or creamy).

Complementary Make-up

You need make-up to look alive but often despair at looking ‘too made- up’ when you experiment with strong colours. Your make-up must be soft and blended. Nothing too dark or too light for your lipsticks or eye-shadows. For every day, terracottas (if warm-toned skin) or plum rose (if cool-toned skin) will be your most attractive in lipsticks and blushers.

Reject colourful eyeshadows in favour of neutrals, to make the natural colours in your eyes ‘come forward’. Try soft cocoa, grey or slate blue with a soft non-coloured highlighter, such as a pale melon.

Using Colour For Effect

Once you know which colours make you look best, naturally you’ll want to learn how to use your palette strategically; different shades on different days to create different effects. What’s needed for a tough presentation to the board will be wrong for a staff meeting at which you might want to find out what’s troubling your people. So here’s some advice on using colour to your best advantage.

Projecting Authority

Would you have much confidence in a judge who wore orange robes or a policewoman who wore a pink uniform?

No, we’ve been conditioned to accept that certain colours and images project authority whilst others can achieve the exact opposite. When in doubt, think ’sober and classic’ when it comes to colour to project authority, particularly in male-dominated industries such as finance and law. Every woman’s palette has neutrals such as navy, olive, grey and pewter. Offset a neutral suit with a colourful blouse. Your white will project the most authority but can look too boring when teamed with safe neutrals. You might opt instead for one of your pastels or primaries making sure its effect is elegant, not insipid or too electric.

In situations when you particularly need to project power try a solid jacket or suit in rich red, deep blue or royal purple. These three colours have been used so extensively by women in recent years that they are almost categorised as new neutrals and convey confidence in who you are. Other colours like pinks, yellows, greens, browns, oranges, no matter how flattering they may be on you, won’t project the image you want, when you need to say: ‘I’m in charge, just in case any of you are in doubt!’

Colour Cues

Colour response research shows that mid-tone colours, particularly warmed greys and browns such as stone, pewter and camel are the most user-friendly colours. That is, they are perceived as the least threatening and are therefore the most effective in getting people to open up and speak their minds.

So for that meeting when you want people to share ideas or problems, don’t wear your brightest colours or very bold contrast. Your choice that day should^. be an insignificant colour that, if asked, people might not even remember that you wore. Pewter, medium grey, bronze, camel, stone and taupe are good colours in which you can look approachable, not threatening.

Feminine yet Professional

Businesswomen — like businessmen — come in many shapes, sizes and personalities. Some women are more ‘feminine‘, more romantic by nature and are depressed if restricted to wearing very masculine, neutral colours, even though these are bearable to many other working women.

However, some very ‘feminine‘ women jeopardise their career prospects because they take their natural preferences too far and wear colours and styles that are simply inappropriate in a business setting. Different industries and different countries all set limits as to what is acceptable for women to wear. In professions and industries still predominately run and staffed by men, women are cautioned not to give free reign to their feminine urges and buy suits or dresses in colours that stand out too much, that is, that are too light or too insipid — some pastels, for instance. Summertime is when many women fall victim to the tempting array of fashion suits in luscious pastel ’sorbet’ shades. Resist them and choose instead medium-toned colours in lightweight fabrics, to look both elegant and appropriate.

If in doubt about a colour’s appropriateness, ask yourself what the likelihood would be of one of your male colleagues being accepted in something very out of the ordinary, such as a light-coloured suit when the rest of his colleagues are more soberly attired. Certainly, men have more limitations on colour when considering what is acceptable and professional. But if you are seriously ambitious you cannot afford to disregard those limitations yourself.

If you need consolation, remind yourself that pale or bright-coloured suits would make your dry-cleaning bills soar, and such treatments would soon cause the fabric to deteriorate. And because such a suit is more distinctive, people are more likely to notice if you wear it regularly, whereas a more neutral one can be accessorised in many different ways. It really is a question of moderation paying greater dividends on every score.

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