Janice will get in touch with you in the next business day or two.

As we age, our hair greys, the skin cools and the eyes become paler. Therefore, especially after the hormone changes of menopause, it is important to have your colouring re-examined; the drapes always tell the story!

We are all individuals made up of eye colour, skin colour and the colour of our hair: are you covering up the grey with the correct colour for your skin and hair? Or are you letting the grey grow in naturally? A close friend of mine – formerly a Soft Autumn – turned grey in her late 30′s.

It is a beautiful, uniform warm grey but her colours are now Soft Summer. Having worn the warmer colours before, she now found with the cooler hair colour playing such a dominant role to her face, the softer cool colours now flatter her best. Fortunately, she likes to shop…so a new wardrobe is being created.

This is why having your colours professionally coded is important: there is no guessing, the drapes always tell the story!

Another client, formerly a grey-haired Cool Winter who looked fabulous in the blacks, clear reds, fuchsia pinks and royal blues gradually became a much softer coloured woman.

Still beautiful but the formerly strong, clear colours of Winter were too strong for her. The summer flower colours now look beautiful on her: sky blue, lavender, soft pink, light grey. Still cool, but more in harmony with the natural shades of time.

Rich Autumn colouring may soften to a Soft Autumn: still warm colours but softer versions. The Warm seasons do not generally grey as flatteringly as the Cool seasons; it’s very much an individual situation. Depending on how your hair greys, you may wish to maintain your more youthful hair colour, within 2-3 shades of when you were in your 20′s.

As summer winds down, you still need to keep some light clothing in your wardrobe but it’s a great time to evaluate those Summer clothes you didn’t wear and understand why. If they no longer fit, or the style/fabric don’t reflect your personal style or lifestyle as it is today, move them out to someone who will appreciate them.

To successfully transition your wardrobe from Summer to Autumn/Winter keep the following in mind:

Segment Your Wardrobe. Keep a few outfits on hand for the warm days but start to create outfits for the in-between Autumn weather. In Victoria, we can have cool nights but quite warm, sunny days right through until April/May.

Medium to dark colours in light fabrics work well as transitional items and can be used in layering during Winter.

Remove those summer items such as the white linens (apart from the white shirt), sandals, creating space for some of your heavier cotton jeans, slacks and skirts.

Colour Trends: camel comes in many shades which can be worn by many colour seasons but there are more warm colours appearing this season such as khaki, green and soft browns – a pleasant change after all the blacks, cool blues and pinks for those of us on the other side of the palette. Camel looks great paired with navy, black, brown and elegant with grey. Navy is starting to reappear after several years out of the stores: good for those with lighter or more mature colouring; again a great neutral with greys, olive green, red, pinks – but remember to maintain the level of contrast which harmonises with your natural contrast level.

Style trends: emphasis on arms with sleeve detailing and fullness. Longer skirts but watch the proportion in relation to your vertical and horizontal proportions. The right length will end at a flattering part of your leg. If you are short, a tubular knit skirt and matching knit top with shoes or boots with a heel would give you the vertical line you desire. Lace is another trend: perhaps add a lace knit sleeve to a simple knit top or dress.

Let’s define Mornington Peninsula style for women!  Does a beach lifestyle mean completely dropping any sense of style?

Gold Coast women have their own style: high heeled sandals, metallic accessories, soft flowing gem-encrusted caftans, big wraparound sunglasses; Noosa women, a more restrained version of this which may also work well down south on the Mornington Peninsula.  Wedge sandals, colourful maxi’s (and little bolero cardigans if you want to conceal those upper arms), knee length ‘city shorts’ with wedges in neutral colours if you are bottom-heavy, white if you are not.

Let’s just raise the standard slightly: comfort but still pride in who we are and where we live.  Don’t go to the supermarket looking like you just stepped out of bed as you will probably meet someone you know.  I love my comfort clothes as much as anyone and the combination of the sand and the sea can bliss you out somewhat but by presenting ourselves just a little more attractively, your holiday will be even more enjoyable.

I have recently had the privilege of assessing a number of mature women on the best colours to wear. It appears that when our natural colouring starts to fade (i.e. hair, skin and eyes), in an attempt to become visible again we have our hair coloured a very bright colour or often our loyal hairdresser turns us into a pale blonde to give us the ‘glamour’ look.

Unfortunately, the right blonde needs to be used which is in harmony with your skin tone as it is now and whilst there are some stunning blonde and red colours available, the intensity needs to be in harmony with your skin tone so that it doesn’t over or underwhelm you.

If a person has generally neutral colouring – blonde hair, light skin and light eyes – this too can make you look invisible.

When we see a stunning redhead, do we notice the hair before we notice the person’s face?

When I do a colour assessment on a client, I suggest the degree of darkness or lightness of hair colour in relation to the person’s skin and eye colour.

Harmony is the keyword here.

Were you colour analysed in the past when there were just four seasons? i.e. Summer, Winter, Autumn & Spring?

Were you satisfied with the final diagnosis?

Many of us were not which discouraged us from following colour analysis per se, or encouraged us to study further. Then, along came the 12-season flow system which finely tuned the process and finally returned colour confidence to those who were ‘colour aware’.

Two seasons which were most commonly misdiagnosed in the past were the Soft Summers (often said to be Summer or Winter) or Soft Autumn (usually thought to be Summers).

Soft Summers have more intensity, richness, than the Cool Summer (previously named Summer) and therefore require richer (not darker) colours to look good on their fairly neutral colouring.

Soft Autumns are their sister season and they, too, require richer colours but on the warm side (but not too warm like the true Autumn.

Added to the equation, if you were a true Autumn in your younger days, your skin and hair may have faded, cooled down and you may now be a Soft Autumn. If you were a Winter and you feel those colours are now draining you, you may have become a Soft Summer.

Colouring in Women after menopause fades; we go from vibrant brunettes, stunning blondes, fiery redheads, bright-eyed females to grey-haired, cooler complexions, varying shades of grey hair, less vibrant eye colours – a more monotone look overall. Our bodies thicken around the middle, our flesh sags and this can lead us to give up on ourselves, feeling like our time to look and feel great has passed.

In a group of 60-something aged women you can see the ones who have given up: they stop colouring their hair, cut it even shorter to be practical, stop applying make-up and wear shapeless clothing.

It’s quite sad really, and how do you really think they feel about themselves?

Come on ladies! You’re not dead yet. You deserve to continue to shine as brightly as ever by just making some small adjustments to your previous colouring and style options. No matter how much our bodies change, we are still that bright, young person inside but we need to redefine the new person we have become outside.

Rediscover yourself with those special, ‘wow’, colours that really show up your eyes, enhance that natural hair colour just 2-3 shades lighter than it used to be, and apply just a little make-up to brighten your face to bring back some life.

Do these things for yourself and watch how it brings back that spring into your step. When you are out shopping and catch your reflection in a window or mirror, you will smile again!

What are your wardrobe challenges right now?

Are you short of funds and bored with what’s hanging in your winter wardrobe?

By taking each item out, trying it on, and those items which fit, flatter and feel good can be tried with other items you may never have matched before, creating a new look.

Break up matched tops and bottoms.

Play with your clothing; refer to fashion magazines for styles you may never have considered.

I group colour clusters such as beige-dusty pink-mushroom, or teal green-royal blue-charcoal so that I can gravitate to those colours which speak to me on the morning I’m looking for an outfit.

Some summer blouses can be used in winter as an under layer eg a pale lemon tie neck silk blouse works under a deep v knit sweater under a greyed green suit jacket. Make each piece you’ve spent good money on work hard for you.

Of course, if you know your best colours and styles (I can help you there) your wardrobe works even more efficiently.



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