Our guide to wearing colours in the workplace
Use these tips from Rosie Huckle of Style Confidence to add some colour into your life!
Just because fall is around the corner, that doesn’t mean it’s time to pack up all your colourful ensembles and resort to a wardrobe of blacks, browns, and grays. It’s easy to get into a routine of throwing on a different little black dress every day, but you should never be afraid of adding a little colour into your life —especially when it comes to dressing for the office.
We caught up with Rosie Huckle, a Colour Me Beautiful Image Consultant for Style Confidence, to find out everything you need to know about wearing colour with confidence. As a Colour Me Beautiful Consultant, Huckle’s job is to help people understand what colours work best for them and how to convey the best possible image of themselves in the workplace.
“My aim is to show my clients how to dress in a way that really flatters them, conveys the image that they want to portray whilst making their wardrobe work harder by ensuring that it is flexible and fits their lifestyle,” Huckle says.
Huckle specialises in colour analysis consultations, personal style consultations, make-up master classes, wardrobe reviews, and personal shopping. And she gave Your Coffee Break all the best tips and tricks on how to build a colourful wardrobe that will make you feel fantastic.
For Huckle, the sea of black dresses in the office isn’t just boring—it’s unflattering. “(Black) can make some people look drained and dull,” she says. By wearing colours that look good on us, Huckle says, we can instantly feel more confident.
But how can you figure out which colours are right for you? One trick is to focus on the colour that’s closest to your face. Whatever colour is next to your face will either cast flattering or dark tones onto your skin. Next time you go to put on a blouse or a dress, check if the colour makes your face look healthy and radiant. Maybe your eye colour is enhanced or your smile is a little brighter—these are all signs that a specific colour is working for you.
One of Huckle’s helpful hints for finding colours that look fantastic on you lies in your physical characteristics. For example, Huckle says that for women with light hair, light eyes, and light skins, light or medium colours usually work best. For women with dark hair, eyes and skin colour anything from porcelain right through to dark browns and black; for them, dark and strong colours are most flattering.
Once you have an idea of what colours work best for you, you can start focusing on which colours are best for certain occasions. Huckle says that for leading a meeting, combinations of dark and bright can help you look for authoritative (think: navy and white or charcoal and fuchsia). If you’re simply participating in a meeting, try wearing blended tones, like chocolate or stone, so that you look approachable and appropriate. Other good colours to wear are blue, which can signify trust and peace, and green, which can signify calm and reassurance. Knowing how colours can affect people’s perceptions of you can give you another great edge in your workplace, whether in your board meeting or a brainstorming session.
When it comes to wearing make up in the workplace, keep the lipstick more discreet and use the impact of colour in clothing. Wearing red at work means power and can signify energy and confidence (great for when doing a presentation) while pink is more feminine and can convey gentleness, however Huckle says that too much can appear too “girly”.
“When we wear colours that we know look good on us, we feel good about ourselves and that in turn can increase our confidence,” Huckle says. “When we feel more confident, I believe that we engage in our lives more. And in work, that confidence boost can help when we have that tricky client meeting or when doing a presentation.”
As Huckle suggests, when you put your best foot forward and believe in yourself, there’s nothing that can stop you. So consider pushing your simple black dress to the back of your closet this season and opting for something that truly makes you stand out in all the best ways!
