what's the deal with seasonal color analysis?

my philosophy on what colors look best on me—and which ones I avoid

A woman looks straight ahead into the camera.

You can only see her face and hair, brightly lit with the glow of a ring light. A colored cloth drapes over her neck and shoulders like a shawl. It’s a strange shade of bright violet. The kind of color I don’t think anyone actually makes clothes with. Another woman stands behind her, swapping out the cloth with every color in the rainbow—deep ceruleans, lukewarm taupes, herby greens, TV anchor reds—while stating confidently that the woman before us today is a true winter.

This is a typical “seasonal color analysis” (SCA) video you might come across on TikTok or Reels. SCA has been around for ages, but I first started noticing this content creeping into my algorithm about a year ago. I never have the interest or attention span to watch the whole thing. But I get the gist: SCA is a way to find out which colors are “best” or “most flattering” for you based on your skin/hair/facial coloring. It’s probably the most scientific way to answer an inherently subjective question.

Casey Lewis

discussed the personal color analysis trend in her Substack this week, specifically how it’s fueling a Gen Z tourism boom in Seoul and beyond (a color analysis session in New York runs you $500+).

I don’t really understand the inner workings of SCA. Just that they drape a lot of colored cloths around you and it’s supposed to tell you what “season” you are and what colors you should wear. And a lot of people value that enough to pay a lot of money for it. For a certain internet niche, knowing your season is like knowing your astrological sign: I’m a cool summer, I’m a Sag. I’m a Soft Autumn, I’m a Gemini.

While I’m passionate about wearing color and playing with color in my outfits, I’ve never personally subscribed to the idea that I should stick with certain colors based on a quasi-scientific framework.

My philosophy is to be completely subjective. Wear colors you think look good on you. I truly believe in the power of colors and how they connect to our moods and auras. I’m always fascinated by people who have a single color that is their color, it’s been their favorite color since they were a kid and has become the default for everything they wear. It’s useful to reflect on what colors make you feel the most powerful, most relaxed, most soothed.

Here are the colors I wear the most, and which ones I avoid.