Colour consultant and personal stylist Lisa Wood from Lisa Loves Style, has a career built on inspiring others to embrace the rainbow, and find empowerment and inner strength from the clothes they wear. Fashion Editor Addie Kenogbon caught up with Lisa at her West Bridgford studio to find out more about how a decades-old styling method is helping others feel more confident in the skin they’re in.
The practice of colour analysis has been taking the TikTok world by storm in recent years. You know the videos? A seated client draped in fabric swatches, before being told what ‘season’ they are? This practice, which pairs complementary colours with a person’s hair colour, eye colour and skin tone to see what shades suit them best, has roots which date right back to the 80s.
My personal wardrobe is a goth kid’s worst nightmare, featuring a technicolour explosion of colour, patterns and textures. I’ve always been fascinated by the power of colour, so when I was invited by Lisa to try out a colour analysis session, I was all in.
Boasting credentials which include training at London College of Style, Lisa launched Lisa Loves Style to help people with their confidence and style transformation. Her services include colour analysis, wardrobe edits, and personal shopping, while helping people find their inner style, so they can make better informed choices about what they wear each day.
“I work out where people feel stuck, where they feel like they're just wearing the same outfits on repeat. Or, when they just don't know how to wear colour, what colour suits them or how to dress for their body shape,” says Lisa.
Despite helping clients of all genders, Lisa says it’s often women who turn to her services more, stating that women generally wear 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time.
Once you know your few key colours, it’s a game changer. When you put your best colour on, that's where the magic happens
“I'm on a real mission to change that.” Lisa explains, “For a lot of ladies, their body shape has changed significantly through having children, going through the menopause, or different life changes, and so it's really about getting back to finding their confidence again.”
But how does it all work? Ahead of the session, I was asked to fill out an online questionnaire, with questions including describing my style, my favourite outfit and preferred colours, to equip Lisa with a little more info before she meets me. Lisa believes that by understanding which colours work well with your features, it will enhance any outfit and in turn, make you feel more confident every time you step outside.
And, even though she’s armed with claims that only 10% of people actually suit the colour black, Lisa does stress that it’s not about what colours you should wear, but rather her work is all about advising people on what colours might flatter them best, and making more considered choices about the clothes we wear.
“When people say, ‘Oh, no, I can't wear red’, there will be a tint that you can wear but it's just knowing which one,” Lisa says. “I always say to my clients, rules are there to be broken, and I'm giving you style tips and tools. It's not that you can't wear a colour, it's just that there are other more flattering colours for you.”
Lisa kicked off my session by asking me to describe my wardrobe in three words. I chose, ‘colourful’ ‘bold’ and ‘vibrant’ before moving on to the next stage which involved me choosing which style personality best described me, based on six different options - romantic, chic, classic, natural, creative and dramatic.
I went with ‘creative’ and ‘dramatic’ before taking my seat for the draping to commence. Lisa always prefers to carry out her sessions in natural light so she can better see the effects the various shades have. Her technicolour arsenal of fabric drapes feature a multitude of hues, grouped into similar shades which she then drapes along each client’s shoulders, keeping the colours close to the chin and face.
“We're looking at your hair, your eyes, and your skin tone. We're looking to see that it has a really healthy glow, rather than if [a colour] makes you look tired or any lines or dark shadows appear,” explains Lisa. “You want to be in harmony with your whole skin tone rather than [a colour] bringing out any imperfections. You'll see, there'll be certain colours that make you shine, look radiant, and your eyes pop, but then there are others that will have the opposite effect as well.”
But it’s not just about the aesthetic benefits of wearing certain colours, Lisa also believes working with colours that better flatter you can also allow for healthier relationships with shopping too.
“I often find that people just keep filling their wardrobe up with more and more, and not spending time looking at what's actually in their wardrobe,” explains Lisa. “But I think if you can be a bit more considerate about what will suit you, and what you actually will wear, then you're less likely to just go out and buy something and then chuck it because you're not going to wear it.”
“You'll end up wearing more of your wardrobe, enjoying what you wear and feeling better while you're wearing it,” she continues. “I always say there's three rules when you go shopping. A, think, can I style it three different ways? B, can I wear it with my existing wardrobe? That is, I don't need to buy new footwear or jewellery or a bag or a coat. And C, will I still love it in a year or two year’s time? If you’re not sure, leave it on the hanger.”
And the science goes further still, as once you’ve found what colours suit you best, Lisa says the next step involves getting creative with the colour wheel to see which tones compliment your base tones well.
“If you want to put an outfit together or when you see something in a magazine, and you see a photo and you think, ‘Oh, gosh, she looks good,’ it’s often because it involves complementary colours which are often opposite in the colour wheel to each other,” Lisa explains. “These could be yellow and blue for example, which work well because they’re at opposite ends of the colour wheel. It's quite a good style tip to use.”
Lisa says it’s often women who turn to her services more, stating that women generally wear 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time.
A believer in the psychological effects of colour too, Lisa states that colours hold the power to affect people’s mental state. It's a view that has gained traction in recent years too. You need only look at the #dopaminedressing hashtag on Instagram to see how others are using colour to enhance their moods and foster confidence and empowerment. However, Lisa says it’s not just influencers on social media who are harnessing the power of colour, celebrities are also turning to psychological colour theory too.
“When Kate Middleton made her first appearance at Wimbledon following her cancer announcement earlier this year, she wore purple, which I thought was a really clever colour, because it's very royal, it's very regal,” says Lisa. “It's really good spiritually too, and it's also the colour for mental health. It's a great colour to feel calm, which I thought was a great nod to her own mental health. So she's almost like, ‘Look, I'm back, but be kind and leave me alone’.”
The result of my session? According to Lisa, my season is winter, and while I can’t say I’ll be changing my rainbow ways entirely, the session certainly got me thinking. I’ll most likely still be sporting a technicolour explosion of colours if you cross me on the street, but when next I reach for a new outfit, I’ll spare a thought for the impact those tones may have on my mind, mood and energy.
“I always say to people after they've had a colour analysis, please don't go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. My mission in life is to make women feel fabulous every single day,” says Lisa. “Once you know your few key colours, it’s a game changer. When you put your best colour on, that's where the magic happens. If you know what suits you, you can step outside and feel like yourself rather than feeling like the clothes are wearing you, or you're having to shrink behind something that's not you.”
For anybody who feels like they might have lost their way when it comes to their personal style, Lisa has some closing advice: “I would say colour is great, because it doesn't really matter what you wear, colour can really boost your mood.”
For more information about how colour could help transform your wardrobe, visit lisalovesstyle.com to read about her range of services.
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