Makeover Your Wardrobe: The Enlightenment of Color Theory

When I arrive at my Wednesday morning, 1.5-hour color consultation with House of Colour-Lake Minnetonka , I am wearing a faded, ash grey T-shirt —a summer tone, which I would soon find out is all wrong for me, a natural spring. Of course, these season-color affiliations meant little to me before stepping through the door of my consultation. But my eyes would soon be fitted with the enlightening lens of color theory — a lens through which my ash grey Blondie T-shirt won’t make much sense to wear again.

When I enter color consultant Katie Tenney’s home studio near Lake Minnewashta, I am instantly struck by her confident, blithesome, and welcoming demeanor. In her high-neck, nautical blue tank (Tenney is a natural winter) she radiates as vibrantly as the gold-framed color wheel that graces the far wall of her studio. This is a woman who knows her colors.

“I lived most of my life as an autumn,” admits Tenney, as she flashes me a split-screen, before-and-after photo collage of herself. The Tenney on the left was of course, still beautiful, but the yellowish hues of her makeup, hair, and clothing overpowered her natural features. The Tenney on the right, however, glowed. Cool, icy tones melded flawlessly with her natural complexion, sharpening her standout features as if they were made new again. “It’s amazing what can happen once you start living life in your colors,” she laughs.

As Tenney launches into the step-by-step process of our consultation, I am mesmerized by the complexity of it all. House of Colour’s system is an exacting science—objective, unchanging, and rooted in logic.

photo by emma enebak

“There’s a layer underneath your first layer of skin—that fatty tissue—and it either has a yellow base to it or a blue base to it,” explains Tenney. “If you have a yellow undertone, you are either a spring or an autumn, and if you have a blue, cooler undertone, you are a summer or a winter.”

To determine this, Tenney uses a series of neighboring colors from the color wheel (think cherry red vs. poppy red) to see which ones complement the client’s natural complexion best. When compared directly, the varying effects of these blue- versus yellow-based colors on one’s skin tone are dramatically obvious.

As Tenney begins draping swaths of fabric over my chest, we chat about House of Colour and its unique history. The U.K.-founded institution is getting ready to celebrate its 40th birthday, founded by London-based image consultant Carolyn Miller in 1985. Its practice is rooted in the four-season framework, coined by artist Robert C. Dorr in the late ‘20s, which places individual colors into the tonal groupings of autumn, winter, spring, and summer. In the 1980s, Miller revised this decidedly restrictive framework, introducing a more flexible system that would allow colorists to honor each individual skin tone.

Miller’s foundational system is the one still used by House of Colour today, and the system which Tenney was (and still is) diligently trained on at House of Colour’s U.S. training center in Des Moines.

Above the mirror of Tenney’s studio, a decorative sign proclaims, “House of Colour, est. 2016,” commemorating the year she started her Minnesota franchise (previously known as House of Colour-Minneapolis). She now has three additional colorists on her team, who operate from home studios in the area. The core of their mission is to empower clients, which Tenney certainly has a knack for —when asked what her favorite part of color consultation is, she replies, sweetly yet genuinely, “meeting people like you.”

Provided by House of Colour

In a seat facing the full-length mirror, Tenney began deconstructing the meticulous layers of color strewn across my chest to compare their effects. It was easy to agree with her when she determined that I was a yellow-based skin tone, complemented best by bright, clear colors with a warmth to them. (As opposed to blue-based colors, which are cooler, darker, and higher in contrast.)

Discovering that I am yellow-based immediately told me two things —cream is a better neutral for me than white, and gold is a better accent accessory than silver. For blue-based skin tones, the reverse is true.

“If you’re an autumn, then spring colors are going to look a little too bright and silly on you, and if you’re a spring, autumn colors are going to look pretty dirty,” Tenney explains.

These effects were easy to see as Tenney compared swaths of similar colors from autumn and spring groupings. The deep, earthy tones of autumn were clearly not my match —I had to physically look away when a mustard yellow sample was draped across my chest. When it was switched out for the banana yellow however, immediate harmony was created.

Upon this discovery, Tenney kindly helped me reckon with the death of my Blondie T-shirt. “Dove grey is going to be your best match. Any cooler of a grey is going to turn you a little ashy, like your shirt, which is more of a summer grey.”

With the knowledge of my season in mind, we move on to makeup. Tenney provides me with a step-by-step tutorial, using House of Colour’s exclusive makeup line, available to purchase through consultants or online . I nearly protest when she pulls out a teal eyeliner, but once I see the brightening effects it has on my eyes, I silently promise not to doubt Tenney again. (And yes, I did buy it.)

photo by emma enebak

As Tenney continues on my makeup, I’m curious —“how did you get into all of this?”

“Back when I was working at Target, I carpooled to work with a friend of mine. Every day she would come out of her building and she would just be glowing,” Tenney says. “You know that J. Crew token jacket with the pop collar? She had a bright-orange version of it, and I just thought ‘how do you even know that looks good?’”

It turns out this friend had gotten her colors done by her mom, who was a House of Colour consultant in Nebraska. The next time her mom came to town, Tenney had her own colors done. “It was immediately like the Lord was calling me to do this,” recalls Tenney.

After trying on three different shades to determine my best lip color (a coral gloss, which Tenney kindly gifted me with) our final step is to establish my “wow” colors, which Tenney marks down on a helpful “Spring Spectrum” pamphlet that includes a full chart of the 36 spring colors.

We go through each color one-by-one, as Tenney jots down notes in my chart. Certain colors received the “BB” or “better than black” distinction, to signal that they are a more flattering option for me than a harsh, darker black.

Tenney sends me away prepared to incorporate my newfound knowledge into my day-to-day style—stocked with the spring booklet including her full notes, a portable spring color fan with a coordinating House of Colour pouch, a complimentary lip gloss, and of course, my teal eyeliner. As I’m typing this, I have already used my tools to do a full reassess of my wardrobe, and am today clothed in a midi cotton tank dress in one of my “wow” colors.

photo by emma enebak

For those seeking a wardrobe reinvention, House of Colour also does personal styling sessions, during which they determine the best shapes, textures, and patterns for clients based on their body type and personality.

But for Tenney, each session goes far beyond the wardrobe. “It can sound trivial to worry about wearing a coral shirt versus a magenta shirt,” she shares. “But it just impacts so much of who you are; whether people trust you and believe in you. I just want to help people feel confident each time they show up in a new room.”

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