STUDY COLOR “FAMILIES”
It is well to consider that gray eyes reflect blue or green, and sometimes brown tints, and that the right shade of blue—usually old blue—will emphasize the color and brilliancy of blue eyes. It is said that a girl with hazel eyes and chestnut hair can wear any color becomingly. Yet one must realize that some colors would naturally be much more emphatic or subduing than others; therefore, more becoming or less complimentary. The best rule is to keep to one family of color shades, as brown, blue, gray, or black. You will find this scheme more becoming and more economical. Of course, if you wish, you may choose to use one or two shades lighter of the same color shade, as dark brown and tan, or perhaps the pleasing combination of midnight blue and gray. Gray or tan is good with black; white with black only in the very smallest quantity and then discreetly placed.
But gray, used for an entire costume, is good only for the very young or the old. Once the hair is white, gray is much better than black for it will not emphasize face lines; but a woman of forty, big or little, unless she has white hair and clear skin should choose navy blue or black in preference to gray. However, we need not wear either monotonously.
Many designers insist that “color tone” evidenced somewhere is essential for every well-dressed woman, maintaining that if the individual does not have it herself it must be provided by means of her dress or complexion, assuming, of course, that it will always be discreetly and smartly done. If the hair or eyes are colorless, avoid brown and wear blue, and use definite color—a bit of braid, an ornamental buckle, a strap on a purse, a hat trimming—something that has a smart color note.
We look smallest in dull black, but we can look almost as slender in black that has brightness either in the fabric or the dye, and at the same time not look so old as with the dull black. For example, observe the next dear elderly lady you see in dull black. See how it makes every wrinkle show and gives her a shriveled, meek appearance that is in every way depressing. We must look young, as well as slender, and, of course, fashionable too, so we must keep away from any colors that will hamper us.