1. Black is great on those who are cool, deep and clear in their colouring. Courtney Cox and Angelina Jolie are perfect examples of this and are able to wear black successfully as it supports and matches their natural colouring.
2. Wearing black away from your face works well with lower open necklines. Choose necklines with added details or embellishments to match your natural colouring, such as gold or bronze if you’re warm. Go for silver or pewter if you’re cool colouring, as black can be very harsh, heavy and severe on some cool people!
3. Mix up the fabric textures in your clothing items so you appear to be wearing less black than you really are. Mix and match garments in denim and cotton, leather and lace, open knits and sheer fabrics to reveal some skin.
4. If your hair is black, wear black shoes to match as this creates colour harmony bringing attention to your face.
5. If you have to wear black for work, and you’re warm colouring, put cream or a soft off white near your face in a shirt or scarf rather than white, as this is better on cool people.
6. If you love and have to wear dark colours such as black, then consider deep greys, dark blues and charcoals. These are the next best thing, but offer a softer and less intimidating appearance, whilst maintaining that business, professional and authoritative edge.
7. Black is a receding colour/shade on a cool deep person only, allowing the wearer to appear smaller. Therefore a warm coloured person is overall more flattering in warm alternatives, such as; olive, brown, burgundy, dark rust, dark warm greys and blues. These warm hues will always promote an eyes up effect.
8. As black is bright keep in mind that it will generally be darker than most backgrounds – particularly during the day. Therefore, when you wear black your silhouette becomes very noticeable due to the high contrast with the background. Wear black at night only if it’s not a good colour on you, show some skin at your chest or wear an accessory in between the black and your face. And apply tip number three!
