WHAT COLOUR CLOTHES FOR SOMEONE WITH LIGHT BROWN SKIN

5 June 2024

So the general question might be, "what are the best colours for clothes for me - I have a light brown skin?".

In particular, you ask about the effect of purple on you.

First, you have to recognise that your skin has a warm undertone to it. "Warm" means the skin is golden, peachy, yellow.

Compare with a caucasian, their skin has a cool undertone to it. "Cool" is pink or bluish or even red.

So skin can be warm or cool or even neutral. 

Now we want to consider what effect different coloured clothes might have set on top of a warm ie light-brown, skin.

This is about the effect of the clothes that you choose, and so what effect do you want to create? How can we think about "effects"?

The colour of your clothes could be complimentary to your skin colour or it could contrast with your skin colour. 

So if it's complimentary, it's going to bring out the warmth in your natural skin undertone and perhaps speak of a healthy glow, even a certain sophistication. 

Whereas if it contrasts with your skin, then it will give a cooler look, meaning fresh appearance, you'll look bright, alert and vibrant.

For a warm skin undertone like yours, warm colours might be "earthy", enhancing your warmth; "olive or khaki", to give a slightly more sophisticated look; or you could even try "coral or peach", to bring out your natural glow. 

There aren't any right answers here! But it is good to kniw what effect you want to create. You would have to think about this. The effect you want to create will depend on the day. It will depend on the occasion, the weather even, how you feel, who you're meeting what you're doing! But as a general rule, we want to highlight our natural glow and create a harmonious look. ... Harmony would also mean avoiding a clash of different patterns. You don't want to unnecessarily confuse people and you don't want to alarm them, nor make them laugh !"

So what about purple?

Purple is warm and you could wear silver accessories like a silver clip or earrings with it. Purple will give you a healthy glow. A darker shade of purple will bring out more of your warmth. Lighter will give a more striking, standout effect.

Purple is certainly a colour that will look good on you. But there are some colours that will not look good on a light brown skin.

You definitely don't want very bright primary colours because they might give you a tired or washed-out look... they might do.... they'd look good on black skin.

And you don't want to wear the kind of pastel colours that look good on a caucasian because while they bring out a caucasian's pinkish hue and the blue in their eyes and bring newness and definition; for you, they would look dull and by consequence make you seem dull, like the clothes, if not yourself, had been through the wringer too many times.