Dear Friends,
Spring is here! Time to put away winter clothes and refresh your wardrobe with a new palette. Take a peek in your closet — what hues do you typically choose?
According to Mary Brooks Picken, you should wear a shade that enhances your eyes, hair, and skin. Mary was, of course, a top authority in sewing in the first half of the 20th century, but what many people don’t realize is that a lady’s sewing book also served as a fashion manual. Mary wrote many books on dressmaking and sewing, but chapters that included beauty tips, fashion, and manners were not out of the ordinary. Mary outlined in her book, Dressmaking Made Easy, some rules for determining your own personal set of colors:
*Hazel eyes take on the color of the dress — be it brown, green, or blue
*Black eyes need deep, warm colors to reflect their depth and brilliance
*A woman with true blue eyes should glory in a blue that makes her eyes more blue
In addition to Mary’s words, I’ve also come across a number of useful “color charts” in various vintage sewing books and pamphlets. See if the suggestions below match your own style!
To learn a little more about the art of color, I talked to my friend Vicki Fischer— the Beauty and Lifestyle Editor of ItsAGlamThing.com, and makeup artist for Nancy Zieman— whom I met while filming an Indygo Junction feature on PBS’s Sewing With Nancy. Vicki was impressed by the professional quality of the vintage color wheels, and was reminded of one of her favorite beauty manuals of all time called, Color Me Beautiful
“When you’d have your colors done, you could get a little folder (a bit bigger than a check book) with color swatches for your “Season” (Summer, Fall , Winter, Spring) to take with you when you went shopping. I thought it was the best!”
She suggested checking out the Color Me Beautiful website, where you can find out what “Season” you are. But what’s Vicki’s most important piece of advice for choosing a look?
“I always tell people to find a look that fits their personality. Trends come and go but a person should stay true to themselves and adapt whatever is “in” to fit individual needs. You’d be surprised how just adding a very current and “in” color to a nice neutral eye will update a look, still keep a person in their comfort zone, and keep them on edge with the current trend.”
Sincerely, Amy B.
