There’s only one character who can describe my relationship with color: Wednesday Addams. In Netflix’s rendition of the iconic character, Wednesday (played by Jenna Ortega) is revealed to be allergic to color. “She breaks out in hives,” her mother explains about what happens when Wednesday wears anything other than black or white.
It may sound like an exaggeration but it’s not far off from the full-body reaction I have when I wear colors that are not dark or neutrals. Last year, I wore a pair of cherry-colored Mary Janes to New York Fashion Week. Throughout the day, I constantly second-guessed my outfit in the mirror, trying to convince myself that red was a good choice, all while ignoring the compulsion to go home and change into darker-colored shoes just to regain my sanity. When I donned my usual monochrome the next day, my mind felt instantly calmer, clearer, and like I’d returned to myself.
That was my relationship with color—at least until I tried color analysis.
If you’ve scrolled through Fashion TikTok in the past year, you’ve probably seen the wildly popular color analysis filter, which has fueled an online fashion movement that encourages dressing according to your season and finding what colors suit you best. The filter, called “Armocromia,” has been used over 600,000 times on the app and mimics the process of color analysis, a tool used by image consultants, stylists, and other fashion and beauty experts to guide people to the shades, textures, and prints that best suit their complexion and features.
Of course, this concept is nothing new. Color analysis has existed in one form or another for centuries, but its modern-day iteration (the one touted most on TikTok) boomed during the 1970s and 1980s. The goal is to give people a set color palette to play with based on their season, ranging from “True Spring” and “Deep Autumn” to “Cool Summer” and “Dark Winter.”
As a chronically online fashion editor, I’ll admit it: I was intrigued from the start. Do you mean to tell me there’s a filter that can help me look better off and on screen? Sign me up.
Yet, the color factor almost prevented me from trying it. For years, I’ve hidden behind the comfort of wearing all-black outfits (save for the occasional cream, navy, brown, or cherry red), drawing on the color’s many connotations—power, professionalism, and mystery, among them—to inspire my own sartorial confidence. Dipping my toes into another chromatic universe seemed to require a dramatic lifestyle change and a big investment, and parting ways with my moody, Wednesday Addams persona was not in my 2024 bingo card.
But alas, the trend kept calling my name like a voice from behind my phone screen, begging me to ask myself, “Am I really happy wearing all black?” The pull was strong enough to make me book an appointment with an actual expert (because I trust humans more than filters) and finally give it a chance.
I walked into Seklab, a midtown Manhattan color analysis studio, apprehensive about what I might learn in the next hour. The team had asked me to come in wearing a white or cream top to serve as a canvas for the fabric swatches they’d try on me. I sat down for a brief introduction to the system that led to a short survey of the colors I usually wear (you can imagine I only circled a maximum of five, and they were all shades of black and white) and what season I consider myself to be.
Knowing my penchant for dark colors, I listed “True Winter” as my choice. The consultant later placed a skin digitizer—a small tool used to analyze skin tone—on my cheeks to measure my undertone, which quickly revealed that as a warm-toned person, my first guess of a “True Winter” palette was dead wrong.
With “warm” as my guide, I moved to a chair facing a full-length mirror—much like in a hair salon—and was asked to remove my jewelry and put my hair up in a bun. Lizzie Heo, Director of Consultants at Seklab, then draped a group of fabric swatches on my chest, flipping through them to compare how each color paired with my complexion. Dusty pinks revealed a drier and paler complexion, while rich greens smoothed my face lines and transformed my sweat grease into a natural dewiness. Bold oranges clashed with my skin tone, while rusty reds accentuated my bushy eyebrows and brunette hair. Black looked fine, but warm-toned white looked even better. For accessories, silver—a color I had grown to love over the past year—iced out my complexion, while gold and copper helped me shine more.
Heo’s conclusion was definitive—I am a “Deep Autumn.” The season, as she explained, features “rich and deep colors like brick red, forest green, burnt orange, and dark mustard,” which she said are bold and sophisticated. “Individuals in the ‘Deep Autumn’ category often embody an elegant and classy image,” Heo explained. “The warmth and depth of these colors enhance an individual’s natural beauty, creating a harmonious and refined look.”
I could see that while I may have incorrectly associated myself with winter, my instincts were not far off. My go-to pops of color include navy and chocolate brown, and my jewelry box is full of gold-hued accessories. Some of my favorite fashion brands of all time use these shades: Yves Saint Laurent’s black-and-gold pairing has become a house symbol, and Phoebe Philo’s Celine era palette of warm-toned color contrasts remains a staple of the brand.
After wrapping up my session, Heo sent me home with a task—and a small paper guide of the Deep Autumn palette—to give it all a try. And it’s changed the way I approach fashion.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love my head-to-toe black, but now I try to break it up with other colors, like burnt red or deep navy. I’ve embraced the power of a bold monochrome suit and have invested in accessories that suit my Dark Autumn palette (a pair of warm-toned burgundy Mary Jane shoes with gold hardware, for example, and a black, navy, and cream tote bag) to allow myself to experiment with colors that don’t make me break out in a stress rash.
When I first asked Heo why I should even try color analysis, she said it would be a “transformative experience” for my personal style. “Instead of chasing trends that may not suit you, color analysis provides a helpful guide, simplifying shopping and reducing decision fatigue,” she explained. Turns out, my guided color palette lifestyle was not far from what I needed—there is freedom of play in having a set of rules for yourself. But we all need one turn of the color wheel from time to time.
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