BY DONNA FUJII  

The psychology and symbolism of color come into play in our wardrobe color decisions more than we realize. It is commonly believed that reds evoke emotions of romance, pinks bring out femininity, grays show a conservative nature, and yellows are friendly. So even if such beliefs do not consciously enter into our wardrobe color decisions, they do play some role in which colors we buy, and which ones we end up wearing for any given occasion.

After we make a decision to buy or wear a certain basic color, the next step is choosing the best shade of that color for us. As Asians, regardless of our skin and hair coloring, we can wear almost any color well, whether it be red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, or green. The key is to wear the shade of any color we select that is best for our skin and hair coloring. Without considering individual variations within the range of skin and hair colorings for Asians, we can give you some guidelines that will help you to make the correct wardrobe color decisions, and avoid costly mistakes.

Everyone has a mixture of the three skin tone pigments – red (hemoglobin), yellow (carotene) and brown (melanin). Asians tend to have more yellow and brown pigment, Caucasians tend to have more red, Blacks generally have more brown, and Hispanics, more red and brown.

Asian skin tones come in a very wide range from the lightest porcelain to the deepest golden bronze, and are nicely complemented by a wide range of hues. However, certain shades of color have a tendency to bring out an unhealthy sallow (grayish greenish yellow) tone, which is best avoided, in certain Asian skin tones, particularly those with an olive tint. The best strategy for avoiding this sallow tone is to wear colors near the face that tend to bring out a different color.

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