Gamine Autumn: 2014

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Desperate for Peach! My Gamine Autumn Essence Color ...

Sheesh, I was frustrated! I had a catalog that seemed to have several items in one of my peachy Essence colors. I was planning to buy both the blouse and the shoes. And was pretty excited about it.

But when I pulled them up online, they were too pink. Not close enough to my palette to go for it, either!

Quite the discrepancy between what I saw in the catalog and the way it looked online. In the past, when I have called to check on things like that, I have been encouraged to believe what I see online more than I believe the catalog pic.

So I didn't buy them!

And I did a Google search for peach tops online and bought this instead...

Now that is not a perfect match, either! But it is pretty close. A bit more saturated, but hopefully not too much. I won't know for sure until I get it, but fingers crossed!!

Seems to match the Light Autumn color palette, but it may be even more saturated than that is. If so, I suppose I'll send it back.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Gamine Autumn Birthday Celebration

I spent the weekend hanging out with my mom and my son, and I also went to a Steeped Tea/Pampered Chef party. It was a great weekend for trying out Gamine Autumn outfits!

I think they all worked fairly well. At least one of the shirts I chose is more B-plus than A-plus (possibly two of them) as a match to my Zyla color palette, but I still felt good in them. One of the things I am noticing is that it feels like I see myself more than I see the outfit now.

I'm linking up with Bon Bon Rose Girls today for Monday Mingle!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Metallic Wood Nymph Autumn

Saw this palette in a group on Facebook and was struck by its name and the similarity of its colors to my own Gamine Autumn color palette. And I asked one of the women who owns Divine Color & Style, the custom color analysis service, to describe the personality and really resonated with it as well...

"tenacity, truth-telling, aligned with forest, bark, moss and nature spirits, tender-hearted, service to womankind."

Yep! Sounds like me.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

The Lightness of Gamine Autumn

One of the things I have mentioned here is that I believe that my Gamine Autumn color palette is a Light Autumn palette, and I theorized that Gamine Autumn might be a light autumn, in general.

Well, apparently, I am having some difficulty understanding just how light it is. Every time I go through my closet again, to make sure that what I have grouped together is really the very best combination of colors from the clothes I currently own, I realize that at least one or two things I have thrown into the mix is too dark!

I just did that again today.

In his book, Color Your Style, David says that when we look in our closets, the colors we see should tell a story about who we are. Finally, today, in the grouping I arrived at after yet another culling, I felt like I might be seeing myself in the clothes that were left.

(linking up this week with Monday Mingle)

Sunday, February 16, 2014

David Zyla on Building a Wardrobe

There was a David Zyla chat in one of the Zyla groups I belong to and I want to share some of my takeaways from his time with us...

The first thing I did after my appointment with him was to go through everything in my closet & find all the matches I could to my Gamine Autumn color palette. Once I did that, I grouped those clothes together on the longest side of my closet.

In addition to that, he suggests trying on the clothes in different color combinations to see how they look on us and to determine what the level of contrast is between them. I hadn't done that but I have been wearing them since then and have noticed the difference when I wear something that is a perfect match. I think the contrast level is low-medium, depending on which colors I combine.

I think his message is that that needs to become the standard. Our best colors "clear the skin and light us up", he said, and I think by implication, once we have experienced that by trying them on or wearing them, it will become easier to know what impact any potential addition to our closets needs to have on us.

But what about the near-misses? The clothes in our closets that we think are close enough? I had a whole section full of them, too!

He suggests evaluating them by that same standard. Even if they are not a perfect match to our color palettes, they should have just as positive an impact on the way we look. If they don't, they're not good enough.

So after the chat, I went back through my closet and re-examined everything I had collected in my Zyla section. I re-matched them and I held them under my face in front of the mirror in my room.

I have to admit that I had chosen some pieces that really were not even second-best in light of this new standard! So they got moved to the back of the closet with my other rejects.

And then I decided to rearrange my Gamine Autumn section.

I put the "wow" colors in front, my Energy and Romantic and Pastel colors. Then I grouped the Bases behind them. What that means, practically, is orange and green in one section followed by mostly browns and grays in the next.

Eventually, I will have more variety but I am taking this wardrobe overhaul slowly to match my budget. :)

The most important takeaway for me was not to rush in trying to create this new wardrobe. He says to expect it to take time. So it's important not to settle for anything that is a less-than-perfect match to your palette. It's better to wait.

I'm not good at waiting, but I would rather do that than have a closet full of clothes that don't light me up! Right?

For a more complete write-up of the chat, join the Zyla Insanity group on Facebook.