Yin and Yang in Your Color and Style
One of the ways to determine if an article of clothing or an accessory will work for us is to gauge the amount of yin or yang it expresses in its color and style. Then, we compare that with the amount of yin and yang in our own features and coloring. If there’s a match, the item works well for us. That’s an experiment we can even do if we know the general “seasonal” colors we express in our coloring and before we know the full color palette.
If you’re not familiar with the terms yin and yang, you can think about them as complementary extremes in a continuum: light and dark, feminine and masculine, active and passive. In my book, Shopping for the Real You, I talk about how these elements show up in color and style archetypes. We’ll look at color first.
Yang
Striking Contrast Palette
Earthy Rich Palette
Julia Roberts
Earthy Rich
Amal Clooney
Striking Contrast
People with a lot of the so-called winter color palette can wear highly saturated and intense colors. We call that archetype “Striking Contrast.” Autumn color types look best in deep, warm, complex colors that are found in the palette we call “Earthy Rich.” Both of these are yang color archetypes. If you just think about the words we use to describe these color harmonies you will get a clue about why that is. “Striking” and “Earthy” suggest dynamism and intensity, respectively, not quietness or passivity.
Yin
Spring Palette
Summer Palette
Marilyn Monroe
Lively Bright
Tilda Swinton
Subtle Blended
On the yin end, spring colors, which we call “Lively Bright” are lightened by adding some white or yellow to clear pigments. So, instead of appearing intense they appear playful and light. Summer colors, or “Subtle Blended” colors, are softened and toned down with gray. So, instead of having a grounded, dynamic quality they seem soft and gentle.
Now, counterintuitively, Chinese philosophy considers yin, the feminine principle, as a dark energy and yang, the masculine principle, as a bright energy. But visually, we experience the seasonal color harmonies very differently. Yes, an individual who has a lot of the winter color archetype may appear calm and reserved in their demeanor. But their coloring certainly is not. It has intensity.
So when you look at the color of an article of clothing, just consider how much dynamism or intensity, playfulness or subtlety it conveys. And then see how much that matches the amount of those qualities in your own coloring.
Also, remember that almost every one of us is a combination of archetypes, although one will likely dominate. Style essences, however, can be more balanced. Most of us embody multiple style archetypes, both yin and yang. All these wonderful combinations are what makes us interesting!
Next week we’ll go over yin and yang in these style archetypes and describe some of the silhouettes, textiles, and accessories that work for each.
Andrea’s books and new video series:
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