- "Every person should know what colors are becoming to it; these will always be its subjective colors and their complements"..., Johannes Itten
Last fall I posted an article named, "peeping inside the eyes", that was the first of a series of four articles where I write about how people's tones, specifically looking through their eyes, are related to the four seasons of the year. But today I want to invite you, to peep into the winter's eyes, for you to discover if you, like me, belong to this group.
Magic is the right word to describe this winter season of the year; I love to see the snow fall, and walk under it, the sensation at this moment, to me, it's like I am getting blessings from heaven. I also love seeing the color hues on the sky and over the snow, produced by the sunlight and reflections of the moon, and then after several days of snow and melting, seeing the light effects on the crystallized ice, feeling that the temperature of the colors is deep, clear, and cool, and I feel that I am part of them.
Everyone is born with an inclination toward certain colors. In my particular case, I have always been attracted to cool colors, all tones ranging from pure white, through all shades of gray to black, but at the same time I have had a weakness for 'tints', I mean whites with a drop of color, as well as to strong tones, with a blue undertone.
So if you feel attracted to winter colors, exactly for those clear, vivid, and icy tones from the winter season, like in the picture above, with blue undertones, it is much more likely that you, like me, belong to the group of persons who are classified as winters.
- Nature is the most brilliant designer of all, and the secret is on the season. Each season presents a distinct array of color, and your coloring is in harmony with one of this palletes.
The genes that determine your skin tone, hair, and eye color
also determine what colors look best on you. The winter person's eyes are often a deep color. They may be red-brown, black-brown, Hazel, gray-blue,
gray-green, or dark blue. Observe the photos below to see if, like me, your
eyes are part of this select group.
Dark blue eyes.
Blue eyes with white flecks in iris (may have gray rim).
Photo by Teter Unterweger
Gray-blue eyes with hazy appearance in the iris
Gray - blue eyes.
Grey - green eyes.
Green with white flecks in the iris (may have gray rim).
Hazel eyes (gray-brown plus green or blue).
Black - brown eyes.
Dark red - brown eyes
This seasonal color theory was inspired by the studies of Swiss-born artist, art educator and colorist, Johannes Itten (1888-1967) of the famous Bauhaus school in Germany. He discovered the power of physical coloring in directing a student’s choice of color in his paintings. He noted that a student’s personal colors were consistently those complementary to his skin tone, hair and eyes, in both tone and intensity.
After years of observation and documentation, he emphatically states in his book, The elements of color, that: "Every person should know what colors are becoming to it; these will always be its subjective colors and their complements".
Itten proposed a natural correspondence between the four seasons of the year. He stated, "I have never yet found anyone who failed to identify each or any season correctly. This demonstrates that above individual taste, there is a higher judgment in man, which, once appealed to, sustains what has general validity and overrules mere sentimental prejudice."
So Itten concluded that our personal palette, the one to which we are drawn naturally, consists of the very colors that look best on us.
- You can wear almost any color; it's the shade and intensity that count. Winter's colors are clear, vivid, or icy with blue undertones.
