Colors are not just a matter of taste.
Since the end of the 19th century, they have been the subject of theoretical studies called colorimetry.
Although ancient, this science of color matching is making a comeback on TikTok, where the hashtag #colorimetry peaks at 16.8 million views.
Influencers presenting themselves as color analysts, like Magnifisenses (129,000 subscribers), accumulate thousands or even hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
They thus reconnect with a phenomenon born in the 1930s at the famous Bauhaus school of art and design with the painter Johannes Itten.
A pioneer in the discipline, this art teacher structures the tones in a chromatic circle.
It opens the way to many thinkers of colorimetry who quickly go beyond the field of
hot and cold
Indeed, a decade later, the American artist Robert Dorr established with his "Key Color" system that there are skin tones with warm undertones (containing yellow, gold) and other cold ones (containing blue , and more pink).
He thus deduces that colors can agree or disagree with certain physics.
In its wake, the American Suzanne Caygill, an image consultant, in turn developed these color correspondences in the form of the theory of the four seasons, published in 1980 in her manifesto on color harmony
The Essence of You.
And it is this nomenclature that has the wind in its sails.
Makeover and image consulting
By focusing on skin tone, hair and eyes, Suzanne Caygill establishes four major groups of tones.
The "spring" people to whom correspond fresh colors, the "summer" with soft tones, the "autumn" with a more flamboyant palette and, finally, the "winter" type with pale and contrasting tones.
At the end of the 20th century, with the rise of makeovers and image consulting, the four seasons method reached its limits.
It is expanded by Patrick and Judith Halpin, to whom we owe the directional method.
The latter refines the seasonal profiles according to new criteria.
Added to the color temperature is its clarity and brilliance.
The result is twelve more specific seasons to identify with.
How do I calculate my colorimetry?
Venetian red hair, coffee complexion, hazel eyes... The colorimetry is accompanied by a particularly flowery colorful vocabulary that is sometimes difficult to relate to one's own physical characteristics.
Fortunately, there is a battery of tests to know which category to refer to.
First of all that of the white sheet.
The latter consists of bringing an immaculate leaf closer to his face, to judge whether, in comparison, his skin seems luminous (this is the case with cold complexions called "winter" or "summer"), yellowish (for warm complexions, namely “spring” and “autumn”) or neutral.
Using the same principle, but with different colored scarves, the
draping
allows you to see which tones highlight the complexion or the eyes.
Ditto with metal, gold or silver.
Filters, like
Armocromia
on TikTok, offer a similar experience, digitalized this time.
Colorimetric analysis is also a paid service offered by many
relookers
and image consultants who extol this methodology.
Some do not hesitate to present colorimetry as a master standard, an infallible way of knowing how to highlight yourself through your clothes or your hair color.
Among image professionals, others contest it, accusing it of being too dogmatic, even false.
Empirical experience or exact science?
It's all about shades... To your palettes.