Value is the technical colour word for how light or dark a colour is. Your best value contrast might be low, medium or high value contrast.

Harmonising your clothing with your natural features is most flattering. Look for colours that are in a similar value to your hair, eyes and skin for the most pleasing appearance, where you are the focus, not your clothing.

A dark colour will always appear darker when placed near a light one. The dark colour makes the light colour look lighter, creating more of a contrast, as does a bright colour with a dark colour appears higher in value contrast.

You don't need to add contrast in equal parts - adding an accessory or a small proportion of a light or bright colour to an overall darker coloured outfit will create the right contrast.

Ideal Value - the overall darkness of your outfit

Your Ideal Value is the value (similar depth of colour) to your hair colour and should make up 60% of your outfit.

When putting a jacket or cardigan over a top or blouse, make the outer layer (jacket/cardigan) in your ideal value and use the shirt to create your ideal value contrast.

When wearing just one top layer, ideally choose a colour in your ideal value. Then create your value contrast using an accessory such as a necklace or scarf. In the summer, skin can be used to create your ideal value contrast as you may have arms and decolletage showing.

When wearing a patterned garment - choose one with a background or dominant overall value that is in line with your ideal value. So a dark background if you have dark hair, medium background with medium hair and light background if you have light hair.

COLOUR CONTRAST

Colour contrast is the difference between the colours of your hair, eyes, skin/lips. Replicating your natural colour contrast will provide harmony and balance in your outfits. Is your hair a colour (red, golden blond) or a neutral (brown, grey)? Skin is usually neutral but if you have obvious redness in your skin, then this can be considered a colour. Are your eyes a colour (blue, green) or a neutral (brown, hazel)? Wearing an eye enhancing colour will bring out the colour in your eyes.

You should again replicate this in your clothing. If you have one colour in your colouring, wear one colour plus neutrals. If you have two colours, you can wear more colour - and if you have three colours (e.g. red hair, blue eyes and redness in your skin), you are lucky enough to be able to wear three colours! If you have brown hair, brown eyes and skin with no redness, then one colour plus neutrals or all neutrals is best.

CONTRAST DOMINANCE

You should work out what is more important to you - value contrast (usually important if you are high or low value contrast) or colour contrast (again, important if you are highly coloured).

Personality and Contrast

The final piece of the puzzle is how your personality affects your contrast levels.

Your personality can be a ‘rule breaker’ or ‘rule stickler’ one - if you are dramatic, rebellious or high energy, no matter what your outward appearance, you may enjoy breaking the rules and wear higher contrasts (either value contrast or colour contrast or both).

If you are quieter, you may prefer to wear more subtle combinations of colour and value contrasts as you don’t want to stand out from the crowd, even if you have high contrast colouring.

How to Play Outside of Your Ideal Colour Contrast Levels

If you want to wear a more colourful outfit than is ideal for your colour contrast - do it in one of these ways:

Wear a multicoloured item on your lower half then take a colour and wear it in your top to create balance.
Wear an analogous colour scheme (that is, colours next to each other on the colour wheel - blue with green, or orange with yellow etc.)
Add the extra colours in smaller proportions - such as in accessories - shoes, bags, necklaces, scarves, belts etc.