Color Your Style: How to Wear Your True Colors

by David Zyla

Move over Color Me Beautiful, an Emmy Award-winning costume designer shows women how to find their authentic style archetype. David Zyla has made women look sensational on the runway, television, and Broadway for twenty years. In Color Your Style ,David shows how every woman can unlock her authentic style based on a combination of her personality, her eight true colors, and one of twenty-four color-palette archetypes-from the Wholesome Flirt to the Romantic Poetess to The Maverick. Through quizzes, charts, and stories, women can discover the colors, clothes, and accessories that will attract love, power, energy, and attention. Color Your Style is like getting an astrological reading-only color-inspired-allowing you to learn more about yourself while you make over your wardrobe. We are at our best when we feel comfortable, confident, and know we look fantastic. Zyla and Color Your Style shows women how to be their best-without being slaves to designer labels or the latest trends.

Genres: Nonfiction, Fashion, Self Help, Reference

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book. Read through it quickly in a few days.

The only issues I had with this book were that:

1- this book wasn't in color, as illustrations could really help when talking about colors and styles

2- there wasn't given color charts to help properly identify a color, as for example marine blue and navy can be easily mixed up. Sooo not really certain the colors you end up withh are the right ones.

3- The influences on these colors if you dye your hair or wear certain colors in your makeup

4- although I really appreciated the language of the book and such, I think it could have been a bit more organized instead of repeating a lot of things.


With these changes made, it could have easily been a five star book.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I love the idea of harmonizing the colors I wear with my skin, hair, and eye colors, this approach to picking your best colors fell flat for me. David Zyla seems to believe that colors are clearly defined and specific, while in reality, they are highly subjective. Just look up one of the very specific color names he mentions. Go ahead, try doing an image search for "fire engine red". How many different reds show up? Try aubergine color (without the world color, you'll just get eggplants). See what I mean? Beyond his mistaken idea that there are clearly defined and universal names for each specific hue, shade, and tent, Zyla also believes that the set of colors that look good on you are tied to your personality, and that every person should dress for their specific "archetype" or stereotype more like it. While some people may fit into one of his boxes, I simply do not. If you have hazel eyes, as I do, you may find that the darkest and/or lightest color in them don't look good on you, while the color they add up to does. If you watch a video where Zyla does someones colors, he will never show you how to find your essence color (which, by the way means no one should wear pure white in his book), but he will show how to find your romantic color. And guess what? It isn't the color of the tip of your finger when pinched, but rather a color that harmonizes with that color. My conclusion? When I go shopping, I will just keep holding up colors to my skin to see if they look good on me before I try them on or consider buying them. It's not a simple system you can sell, but it works for me.

[Karen Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were several issues with this book but I just couldn't stand the fact that there are no colour illustrations or guides. How are we supposed to even know what shades suit us then?
The concept of the 24 archetypes made finding our styles even more complicated than it should be.
And the archetypes were such overexaggerated stereotypical and heteronormative views of women. Seriously, some of the names for the personality archetypes were "sexy librarian", "mystical mermaid" and "sensuous backpacker". I just couldn't help rolling my eyes at how silly they sound.
The concept of choosing your base colours based on your eye colour doesn't make sense to me as well. This means that all Asians like me with brown or black eyes would have to wear brown or dark brown as our base? I don't like brown.

In conclusion, women should just wear whatever they like at this point.

[Jennilyn (Thiboult) Nevins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the idea of this book but there is a lot of information with very little examples. For a concept that hinges entirely on the visual, to have no visual examples is a huge miss. Even if the book had an accompanying website or something to look at examples of what the author offers.

[Yuki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember the book Color Me Beautiful that came out in the 80's? This takes that concept and extrapolates it to the nth degree. Apparently one is not "just" Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter anymore.

First, he wants you to figure out your 5 basic colors (ie. your Essence, Romantic, Dramatic, Energy and Tranquil colors)and trust me, this isn't as easy as you think it would be because his process is so individualized!

Then you have to figure out your First, Second and Third Base colors (your version of black, brown and khaki) then he talks about your Authentic Style, your Season and your Archetype (each Season has 6 Archtypes).

It's not that you won't walk away from this book without SOME nugget of knowledge - you will. It's just that the process is completely headache inducing and it was too much "work" trying to figure stuff out.

The worst part? I STILL can't figure out what season I am! (thought I was Winter all these years but now I'm not so sure.....)

[Matriarchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides guidelines for choosing colors that work for you, based on the colors in your skin, hair, and eyes. Not a bad system for choosing a set of colors that will almost always work well for you.

Cons: It's not so easy to pick "a color that brings together all the tones in the palm of your hand." I consulted an artist friend, and I am still not sure we nailed it. A lot of the tasks are like that - there are many colors in one's eyes and hair strands, and it's hard to match them with paint chips, let alone give them a name. The instructions are a bit vague about what to do if you color your hair, or have gone gray or white. I think it goes too far when it tries to predict personality and personal style based on your colors, organized into seasons. And it doesn't tell you how to work with wardrobe staples like black and denim. No one is going to ditch all their basic black investment pieces just because a new book says charcoal is "your" black. Many retailers repeat the same black-navy-brown-tan-red colors and it can be very hard to find "your" colors. If you are already searching for fit and price, limiting yourself to special colors can make your choice *very* limited. If you have dark skin and eyes, I think it is going to present you with a very limited color palette.

Pros: It did get me thinking about colors differently, and I do see why I have always felt good in certain colors. I have started using some colors closer to my face, or as accents with the existing neutrals in my wardrobe. Scarves, bags, and t-shirts are inexpensive ways to add the "right" colors. I do now look first for certain colors when I am shopping, or choosing between items. As I add new foundation pieces, like coats and suits, I will work harder to find my neutrals.

This book is worth checking out of the library, and maybe having a fun outing with friends to work on your colors in a paint or fabric store. I would not buy it new. Apparently the author tours, and it might be fun to go to an appearance and see him do people's colors from the audience.

[Melinda Hickel (Smith) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It can be a challenge to get your colors right the first time you try the exercises. It is good to get your essence correct. This will be needed to best calibrate your other colors when testing against your palm and near your face. Once you feel confident in your essence, nail the romantic. This will guide you later with clues to your archetype and again in calibrating. Your tranquil, energy and bases will take the most time and trial to perfect. Your dramatic can be guided by your veins, but also your romantic. I would hold off on archetype until last. I don't look to the archetype as a personality meter, but rather a loose framework for the quality of color, the application of fabric, texture, ornamentation, or shapes to consider.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you liked learning what colours to wear back in the 80s, this is the next step. It might be a little affected, but generalmente, I think he was spot on, at least for the colours I should wear. Maybe not how much they affect other people or what my archetype should be.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is inspiring me to add some new colors to my wardrobe. That's not bad for a book with only black-and-white text! Color illustrations would've been helpful, as I don't know how to choose among my various vein colors to come up with my "dramatic" color, for instance....

[Therese Gilardi · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really like the concept behind this book - dressing based upon your innate coloring - but the chapter on the women who embodied "types" left me cold.

[Sami · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy to follow way of determining complementary colors and figuring out one's "season" without undue expense. Good resource for those of us working on a capsule wardrobe.

[Doro · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. And I have thoughts. A lot of them
Pros: The idea of choosing colors based on one's features (eyes, hair, skin, flushing, veins) was an interesting selling point. Wardrobe planning and taking personalities into account is also a pro (although wardrobe planning and personal circumstances were not a priority). He's also realistic about the fact that most people can't just start over completely. He gives concrete advice on how to slowly change your wardrobe.
Cons: The book alone doesn't give you all the info you need. Color names listed but there's no sample so you have to look them up (in Uni textbooks at least gave us a comparison to everyday objects for color outcomes of chemical reactions). Also, putting all people into 24 types (6 per color season) might not be the best idea since I personally feel in between several ones. The Pinterest boards help illustrate his ideas but again, they're not in the book. Some other issues: He gives advice like "you should wear your first base color instead of black at funerals instead of black because it makes you look better and you're not going to stand out too much" and "avoid pure white unless it's the exact color of the white part of your eyes". In some scenarios I'd rather stick to social norms. And another weak point for me was that to do if you have to wear certain clothes or colors for work. Most advice works for freelancers and people in corporate jobs but that shall I do as a pharmacist who has to wear a white lab coat at work?

[Charity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I shouldn't rate this prematurely because I haven't followed all his advice yet. It may be the most amazing thing ever, and I will look like a million bucks, and win all the awards, just because I changed my wardrobe. ;)

First, easy to read book. A lot of it is redundant, could have been edited to be shorter.

Second, good advice. Find your colors, stick with them, go with specific shades that compliment your skin tone and eyes. Ever wonder why Nicole Kidman keeps wearing colors that wash her out? Her stylist doesn't know her color tone. =P

Third, I'm not sure I'm competent enough to identify my own colors, even after reading this book. How do you know what shade your veins are, exactly, when they're mostly covered with a layer of skin? (Mine are a bluish greenish purple ... and I already know I look good in bluish purple, so he may have a point there.)

Lastly, where are the pictures? For a book about color to have no color pictures to help you out (and no pictures at all) is weird. Guess I'll drive 40 miles to the nearest pain store and pick up some paint chips then. ;)

[Tryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the premise of this book—that each person has an individual color palette as well as archetype and that different occasions call for different color choices. Zyla explains how to identify your dramatic color, your romantic color, your energy color, your tranquil color, your essence color, and your best neutrals. I think he’s onto something here, but I don’t have the eye he has, and I really wish the book had some color palettes instead of just descriptive words to describe colors. What exactly is bayberry red? This book takes color and style systems like Color Me Beautiful and Dressing Your Truth (both of which I really like) to a whole new level. A more personalized level.

The second part of the book helps you identify your archetype from among such such images as “The Prom Queen,” “The Ballerina,” or “The Stylish Beatnik” and gives style advice for each. I am fascinated by archetypes from a literary perspective, so this part was a lot of fun for me. I like reading all the descriptions of the 24 suggested archetypes and thinking about them. The trick to reading and enjoying a book like this is not to get too hung up on exact details (I’m giving this advice to myself—can you tell?). Just take in the whole philosophy, appreciate what Zyla has to offer, and let his ideas inform your color and style choices.

[Kristen Muldoon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I admit that I only read about 60% of this, skipping around to what I thought would be relevant. But his way of talking about style/color was confusing to me. I'm a HOC Autumn, but then he breaks that down into 6 subtypes based on personality and not a one felt like me. My favorite part was his suggestions for weeding your closet, especially the too-small clothing. Get rid of it! "Keeping a too-small item in your closet is just a way to make yourself feel bad about how you ook now. Worse, it suggests your real life is going to start later, after weight loss instead of reminding you of the truth: You get to look and feel fabulous, right this very minute, no matter what you weigh."

[Apryl Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concepts here; quite logical to identify one's natural coloring and dress to highlight that. (FYI, there are some good "color picker" apps to help find your true colors.) I'll need to test drive these theories to see what sort of mileage I can get... Still withholding judgement about my Archetype....

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I summarize this way:
1.) Pay close attention to the unique coloring of your skin, eyes, and hair.
2.) Once you know your personal palette, learn how to use it in different types of clothing for the settings you anticipate.
3.) Evaluate your wardrobe and plan your purchases accordingly.

[vyoletkyss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. The information in here makes sense but ultimately, as a visual person I really need to see something like this rather than have it explained in text to me. Will be looking into this a bit more though since it seems to go well with the 12 Blue Prints theory.

[Kathryn McClatchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast easy read with practical ideas for finding and using your personal best colors. My only disappointment was that he didn't address how, or if, one's "true colors" change according to aging, graying, or coloring hair.

[Bunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute time killer, sort of like those horoscopes on the back of magazines; a good time waster.

[Biljana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the color-emotions connection.

[Andrea Baron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this book. Quite intriguing. Like every other review...wish there were color examples.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure about this. I will spend a little more time on the colors but according to David, I'd wear a lot of brown, which actually looks terrible on me. So we'll see and I'll update.

[Raven Gracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept is really interesting, but I didn't like the way the book was written. There is an almost lyrical style to the book that would be better suited to a fiction novel. I didn't feel points in the book where I really felt like I should stop and do something. It was so easy to just keep reading past until a later chapter where you are finding your archetype and realize that you should've been finding all the other things before getting there. This is very much a book you need to read with great intention and do the things as it talks about them. No reading and taking notes and then going back and doing things. Usually with self help books, I want to treat them like instruction books, or recipes. You read the whole thing through so you know what to expect and there aren't any surprises, then you go back and follow the instructions one by one until you finish. You can't do that with this book. You have to follow the instructions as you go or you end up with the need to skip like 30 pages because you don't have the information you need to understand them. It's like the beginning chapters are teaching you German but not telling you that you're learning German and then you reach a chapter in German and are completely lost. Really, I don't love how this was written. It was too soft and flowery to feel like a self help book. The ideas of the various colors and how to find them was really nice though. I don't know how much I love them, they take your hair into consideration for two of the colors and for me, that means bringing browns into a palette that doesn't work for me. It's one thing to dress 100% in the colors that are meant for you, it's another thing to wear colors you don't like, and I don't like browns. I like blacks and grays and I have no problem wearing colors that are 90% for me if it means avoiding those browns. There is a reason I spent 70% of my life dying my hair. I don't like brown, but especially not in clothes. It's just not me. I had the biggest problem with the archetypes, because nothing seemed to fit me. I didn't recognize myself in any of them, even the ones that weren't my season type. This was a library book, so I took photos of key pages, including all the archetype pages, so that I have them for later, maybe I need to look at the colors again a few times to get a better handle on them. I think this book is much easier for people who have a great grasp of the names of colors, since you need to know loads of colors to find your colors. When you are a HEX code sort of girl, that is difficult. I wish that Pantone color swatch packs weren't so expensive, because I would grab one of those and really look into it.

Overall, I feel like this book is a great idea, but hard to do yourself. By the end of it, I felt less confident in my colors, my ability to find my colors, and my choices in general and just firmer in my belief that I needed to find a really great stylist who could tell me my colors instead, because finding them out yourself is really hard, and book or not, I'm not confident that I am even a bit right in any of this. I honestly want to just step back and retreat into the Cool Winter palette that I was told was mine and stick with that, because at least there are colors I know I love, even if they aren't 100% mine or not.

[Selene · Rating 2 out of 5]

The system is interesting but unnecessarily complicated. It could have been fun if he gave detailed explanations. How to narrow down the various colors in the palm of your hand to get your essence color? What’s the difference between turquoise blue, clear turquoise, and turquoise green? Depending on which shade you find in your veins determines your color season. To make a book about a complicated color system with no color illustrations (no illustrations at all really) left me scratching my head. Plus you can’t get a robust color palette if you have dark brown features without looking deep for color undertones no one would see the connection if you wore them. It would have been insanely helpful if he showed a few of his celebrity examples with the colors he determined made their palette. How is Beyonce a Classic Summer or Queen Latifah a Buoyant Spring? I suspect he wrote this book to legitimize his services. Not so anyone could figure it out on their own. To make a system that doesn’t address the most prominent color features in the world (people with “flat” brown eyes and brown to black hair) feels so unserious. Plus, I found the archetypes dumb. All vital (bright) springs are flirty prom queens???? It’s giving all Scorpios are sexy pin up dolls that like to wear red lace. Wish I did the 11 week wait on Libby instead of buying it.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some key questions not addressed in this book: Should I wear my essence color or energy color while I clean the bathroom? What if I work at Whataburger some day and the orange isn't one of my True Colors? We covered what to wear on the beach and in an important executive meeting, but the classic question still stands-- what SHOULD I be wearing to Walmart??
I'm making some fun here, obviously. This book is clearly for a specific class of women (that I, admittedly, fall into) who have the time, finances, and energy to dedicate to their wardrobes. I think the archetypes are fairly silly and the outfit suggestions are too funny if you live in any part of the U.S. where the standard attire is jeans and either a tee or a "church shirt."
However, I did appreciate the explanation of finding the tones in your skin and hair. I had never looked that closely and have purchased a couple of clothing items that more closely match my natural tones and, honestly, they are very pretty. So, I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater on this one. But this book is really for a much smaller audience than Zyla, perhaps, thinks it is.

[Alexandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted this to be the system that assuaged by uncertainty about personal color analysis and finally got me from having a season to having a palette or a system.

Instead, lots of stories about people dressing incorrectly.

After I read the book (on a train so doing the exercises was less doable) I started to think about how I would do this and I looked at some videos of other people's palettes done by David Zyla himself. And I started to get confused. There were multiple colors in each category that the book seems to decree will only be one color. And I just got dissuaded.

For the types, I felt split among many of them. So I tried to take what I could from each that I identified with (the same thing I do with Kibbe types. like oh I feel like I relate to this type in some way and so I can look over the recommendations for that type and apply them to me to see what sticks).

"You are not a thrift shop and your closet is not a museum." (ala WW's 'you are not a garbage can')

[Bridget Jeffries · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a love-hate relationship with the Zyla color system.

Love: having colors for essence, drama, energy, tranquility, romance, first base, second base, and third base.

Love: the idea that your ideal color palette is at least partially about personality and how colors make you feel.

Love: Zyla's anecdotes of helping clients

Hate: taking these colors from your natural coloring scheme. The color of my veins is definitely *not* my "dramatic" color. And if your second and third base come from your hair, I don't see how it wouldn't matter whether your hair is dyed.

Hate: all 24 of his stupid "archetypes." None of them sounds like an actual real woman. They're all hypersexualized and cringe; are there really women out there who are like, "Yup, Mystical Mermaid, that's me!"?

If you're willing to wander off the reservation and modify his system a bit, or if you just really love every part of your natural coloring, then this book can be useful. If you skip the archetypes chapter, then it's at least never boring.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll be really honest here, I hate shopping. I would have never picked this book up if it weren't for a work friend who said she had a meeting with Zyla and raved about him. In fact, I am absolutely sure he's fantastic in person. The problem, in my opinion, is that his unique and very personal talent is hard to translate into a book. Finding these very unique colors that will suit you perfectly is something that requires a really keen eye for subtle differences. It's hard for an ordinary person to do it, in my opinion. I loved much of the advice here and found myself wishing that I had already had a personal appointment and knew my colors so I could read this book and figure out how to start turning over my closet. It does have good tips for people who don't like shopping and how to build it out slowly. As with most things, there's no easy magic bullet here, you can't replace a personal experience with a book. It was still enjoyable to read.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve learnt about Zyla through a girl on YouTube and I thought the idea was amazing. I spoke to my cousin and even she had been experimenting with this. We have both read the book and I still love the idea but it’s definitely not your regular color analysis. Forget what you know about color seasons. Zyla has a completely different approach. He takes into consideration so much that other don’t: your features, your personality, your vibe, and of course your saturation. I’m also in the Fb group and it’s interesting to see palettes and archetypes assigned to other people.
Having said that, I don’t think it’s easy to find your colora or archetype. Even with the guide. He sees so much more. You may absolutely be able to; in fact, many women in the group did indeed nail both palette and archetype before a consultation with Zyla. However, I would say that if you have the classic system in mind, it’s not going to be easy. It’s actually a bit confusing.
I do love the book though.