The secret to finding the perfect colour to wear can be found in your eyes and not your skin tone, according to a new study.
Cool blue hues in fabric tend to look better on grey or blue-eyed people while warmer tones like orange and red fabrics tend to match darker brown eyes, according to research from the University of Saint Andrew’s.
Led by Professor David Perrett and published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, the team looked at 200 participants and asked them to provide their opinions on what clothing colours suited different faces.
‘We were very surprised at how much agreement there was; participants chose similar clothing colours favouring reds and blues, however the colours chosen depended on who was wearing the garment,’ Prof. Perrett said.
‘Everyone wants to look their best, but what should guide the choice and colour of our clothing? Previously, our work indicated the importance of a person’s complexion for clothing colour choice, but we did not define the critical aspect of complexion.
‘Those with a darker complexion tend to have darker pigmentation in their hair, their eyes, and their skin. Any one of these features could be the basis of clothing colour choice. We thought that skin tone would be the critical feature as this is stressed in virtually all stylist advice. Surprisingly skin colour turned out to be unimportant.’
But does it work in practice? Femail asked real women to try it out….
BLUE EYES
Blue eyed people should, according to the study, opt for cooler blue tones to show off their eyes.
Journalist Carina Stathis tested the science, with her eyes looking much light when wearing blue…
Journalist Carina Stathis put the looked to the test, with eyes looking much lighter in blue tones
CARINA’S VERDICT : My blue eyes tend to be quite dark but shine when I wear blue, green or light colours.
I avoid colours like orange and yellow at all costs because they don’t suit me and make me look washed out.
I also like wearing a lot of black or white too because they compliment any eye colour and are easy to style.
Polly Jean Harrison says she ‘pops in turquoise’
Polly said she prefers wearing turquoise because it doesn’t wash her out
POLLY’S VERDICT: I really prefer the turquoise!
Not sure whether it’s just my love of colour but I think my whole face pops in the turquoise as well as my eyes.
It goes great with my hair too which is a bonus, and black just washes me out so much- I love how I look in colour!’
Julie Linstead thinks her eyes look better when she’s wearing black…
Julie thinks the black makes her standout more
JULIE’S VERDICT: I think the black makes my eyes stand out more, although they look blue with the blue top its more of a contrast with black
HAZEL EYES
While hazel eyes weren’t an official part of the study, Prof Perrett said they would likely suit light-orange hues.
Speaking to the Telegraph, he pointed to Rihanna’s penchant for the colour and how it made her eyes pop.
Hazelled-eyed Faye White, a presenter and producer, said she preferred herself in black
Faye, pictured, said that her features are better suited to wearing black
FAYE’S VERDICT: Although the orange-y red is a nice pop of colour, I feel it takes any warmth out of my complexion.
The black allows my features to stand out a bit more on their own.
Natalie Blenford, says that colour shouldn’t work on her, but does…
Natalie said that her eyes pop more in orange than in black
NATALIE’S VERDICT: Colour shouldn’t work on me – with my red-hair and hazel eyes, it would be easy to play it safe and stick to black and greys.
But I feel my most confident when I’m wearing colour, in fact, I only own one black top and it’s this one which I wear for work when covering a serious story.
I think the orange top makes my eyes pop and I also wear a lot of pink, purple and even, recently, red.
Black is so dreary, I can’t imagine it ever making anyone feel good or helping to boost confidence. Colour all the way for me, it helps my eyes pop and my mood boost.
Gabrielle Williams thinks that she looks for vibrant in warmer colours…
Gabrielle thought her eyes are more vibrant in autumnal colours
GABRIELLE’S VERDICT: ‘I definitely think my eyes appear more vibrant in warmer colours compared to black.
‘The warm tones brighten up my skin and eye colour and gives everything a nice glow. ‘
BROWN EYES
The results showed that a dominant role of eye colour with warmer, more saturated, and darker clothing colours being chosen for faces with darker eyes.
Kat Foo says she’s going to try more warm colours after trying the trend
Kat says that she loved the purple and will try colours out more
KAT’S VERDICT: ‘I’ve been trying to wear more colour recently and I think the purple really complements my darker features.
‘ Black is more versatile and will always be a fallback but seeing it side by side, I’m really encouraged to push the boat and wear warmer colours, particularly now we’re in the colder months.
Samanta D’Cruz thinks warmer clothes makes her skin look brighter
Sam thought the warmer colours made her skin eyes look brighter
SAMANTHA’S VERDICT: The warmer colour top does seem to make my eyes and skin look brighter, though maybe it just photographs better.
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