I was on the American Airlines website a couple of weeks ago booking a flight to Phoenix. After entering the departure day and the arrival time and all of that, three pages of options popped up. I was like, “Are you kidding me right now? This is your idea of easy?” Plus, it was at the end of the day, and honestly, making any decision at that point felt super hard.

The same thing can happen when you have a color analysis because color analysis gives us way too many options. Most have in the neighborhood of 25 to 35 perfect shades, which is why most of us take a look at it, like some of the shades, don’t like some of the others, and then set it aside and ignore it. So instead of it becoming a tool that makes our lives easier, it doesn’t have much impact on our closet at all. And that $500 or whatever you spent on it was, at worst, a waste of money or, best case, just not that helpful.

But what if we could change that? We can. And in this episode, we will by covering the simple steps one-on-one clients and I go through to create their very own custom wardrobe palette based on their color analysis.

Now, if you happen to have your color analysis handy and aren’t in the car driving, pull it up and you and I will walk through the steps together. Because by the time we’re done, you’ll have a very specific strategy for transitioning your existing wardrobe to reflect your most flattering colors and ensuring your closet offers oodles of mixing and matching opportunities. A plan for filling in any wardrobe gaps. All so that you have a lot more options with fewer pieces. Talk about making your mornings easier.
Welcome to Inside Petite StyleWelcome to Inside Petite Style, the only podcast created exclusively for women 5’3″ and under. If you’re tired of pants that drag on the ground, sleeves that swallow up your hands, and want a wardrobe that actually fits your height, flatters your body shape, and works for your real life, you are in the perfect place. I’m your host, Angela Foster, Petite style coach and creator of the Spark Style Method. When you’re ready, let’s get this style party started.

Before we jump in, it might be helpful to know that a couple of months ago, I posted a YouTube video with some of the same points that you and I are going to talk about. So, if you’re more of a visual learner or simply would find it more helpful to watch the process play out, you can hop on over there and watch it. Now, I’ll also be sure to put the link in the episode notes so that you don’t have to search for it. Otherwise, keep listening.

Step 1: Eliminate Colors You Won’t Wear

Step number one is to look at your color palette—all 35 colors—and mark off any that you would absolutely not wear. I’m sure there are some, because there always are, and cross off as many as you want. There is no limit to this step.

Step 2: Choose Your Neutrals

Part two is when we pick out our neutrals. Now, how many neutrals to pick? A sweet spot is typically around three. And there are a few things to keep in mind when making your choices.

Why Neutrals Matter

Number one is that these will likely be the biggest chunk of your wardrobe, especially at the beginning of your style journey. So, you need to make sure that you like them. They also will be the colors that we hope to see on repeat in stores season after season. So, for example, navy, black, charcoal gray, chocolate brown, cream, or khaki.

The Light and Dark Balance

Here’s another tip. When choosing your neutrals, it’s best to choose one light and two darker shades, or vice versa. This will avoid your closet looking too light and springy and not transitioning well into fall and winter, or too dark and wintry and making it much tougher to move your wardrobe into spring.

Step 3: Select Your Accent Colors

Now, it’s time to choose your accent colors, and how many are you going to choose? Typically, 3 to 5 is a great place to start. Too few and your closet can feel boring or monotonous. Too many and suddenly it feels like you don’t have a cohesive wardrobe at all. Plus, it increases how difficult mixing and matching is.

Consider Your Style Journey Stage

The number also depends on where you’re at in your style journey. If this is your very first season that you’re doing this, then the fewer accent colors, the better. If you’ve been shopping with your color analysis for numerous seasons, then you’ll likely be fine to choose five.

Check What’s Available in Stores

Something to consider before you choose your accent colors is: what are you seeing in stores right now? Say you choose eggplant as one of your accent colors, but haven’t seen it anywhere in any of your favorite stores or any of your favorite brands or designers. Then it’s a smart move to keep eggplant on your radar because it will be back and choose a different accent color for this season.

If You Prefer a Neutral Closet

Something I often hear from clients is, “You know what, my closet is pretty neutral the way it is, and I know I should add color, but…” So the first thing is: who told you you should? If you’re happy with your neutral closet, that is amazing. Leave it alone.

On the flip side, if it’s because “I don’t feel comfortable in it” or “I don’t know where to start”—both are also frequent comments—then let’s get a strategy together so that you can be excited to get dressed again.

Easy Ways to Add Color

The easiest way to add color to your existing closet is to go back and think about the Petite body shape quiz.Remember when you picked your favorite feature and how you’re going to emphasize it? There is the starting point. Let’s talk through a couple of examples.

So, say you chose your legs as your favorite feature and tights and patterned hose sounded like a super fun way to accentuate them. Well, what about featuring one of your accent colors there instead of standard black?

Or say you chose your bust as your favorite feature and layered necklaces were your accessory of choice. How about looking for necklaces that add a bit of color?

Or say you picked French girl scarves—that’s a brilliant way of adding a pop of color without feeling overwhelmed or intimidated like the color is wearing you.

Step 4: Check Color Harmony (Extra Credit)

Are you ready for some extra credit? Take a look at the neutrals and the accent colors you’ve picked and make sure that you like how they all work together.

Say, for example, you’re a true autumn and you selected chocolate brown, taupe, and cream as your neutrals, and your accent colors were olive green, teal, and gold. Once you look at them all together, you realize that the only thing that you like with taupe is teal, and that you would never ever wear it with gold or olive green. Then taupe is a problem and it’s best to pick a different neutral.

Step 5: Transition Your Current Wardrobe

Now, it’s time to put this plan into action and figure out how we’re going to transition our current wardrobe into one that looks best with our skin tone. So, it’s time to head to our closet.

A Stress-Free Approach

If you and I have spoken about closet organization or closet purging before, then you know I’m not a fan at all of taking everything out of the closet, piling it on the bed, and going through it piece by piece. It’s just too stressful. It’s too big of a job. And to be honest, it sucks the fun out of the whole process.

This Is Not a Purge

Now, something else to keep in mind. This is not a purge/donate project. Instead, look at the custom color palette that you just created as a move-forward plan. Because while we’re transitioning your closet, we need to have something to wear, and we don’t want to get rid of so much that we fall into a panic shopping headspace because, again, that just leads to bad decisions.

Start with Items Closest to Your Face

Instead, we’re going to go section by section starting with pieces that are closest to your face. So, blouses, blazers, sweaters, tees, dresses—that type of thing. And you want to look at each piece in the category that you selected and ask yourself: Does it fit? Does it flatter your shape? And then third, is the color right for you?

Now, that’s not to say it has to be one of the six or eight colors that you just selected, but is it close enough to your color analysis that it will still flatter your skin tone?

Why We Don’t Start with Color

Now, are you surprised we didn’t start with color as our first question? Here’s the reason why. If it doesn’t fit or it doesn’t flatter your body shape, honestly, who cares if the color looks good on you?

When You Have a Winner

Now, if you look at the item—say it’s a dress—and the answer to all three of those is yes, then do the happy dance because you have a winner.

Making Non-Palette Colors Work

Now, what happens if you look at the piece and it fits and it flatters, but it is nowhere near one of your color analysis colors? Is there a way that we can make it work because we wear it often or it’s a nice staple piece? Of course there is.

So, say for example, you have a black blouse and unfortunately black is not part of your palette. You can pop a blazer on or maybe a cardigan, or could you diffuse the color a little bit with an accessory like a scarf? So, there’s always workarounds. What we don’t want to do is put you into such a limited amount of pieces left in your wardrobe that you can’t get dressed tomorrow.

Moving to Bottoms

Now, after you do everything that’s going to be close to your face, then you’ll move on to the bottoms. And what’s nice about skirts and pants and that type of thing is that you have a lot more flexibility with them because they’re further away from your face. So, they don’t affect whether an outfit is flattering or not.

We’ll talk about specific tips on how each body shape can use colors and prints to look longer and leaner. I was going to put that episode with this one, but honestly, it was just way too long.

Consider the Season

One last thing to consider, and that is the season. So, this is being recorded at the end of July. And unless you live in the south and only have one season in your closet, it’s best to do this exercise and focus on fall and winter. Whatever summer clothes are still out there are leftovers, and there’s a reason they’re 60% off.

Bonus Challenge: Identify Your Wardrobe Gaps

Are you up for a style challenge? As you’re going through each section, make a note of wardrobe gaps and pieces that you would like to replace because they don’t fit or flatter or they’re not in your custom wardrobe palette.

So, for example, you would really love a pale pink button-down or a burgundy sweater to wear under that camel blazer. The more specific you are, the easier it’s going to make your shopping moving forward. And then write everything down.

Prioritize Your Shopping List

Once you’re completed with your list, then you can look at the items and prioritize them. Which of those items are going to have the biggest impact on your closet? Meaning, they can be worn with the most other pieces, because those are the items that you want to get first because they’re going to make getting dressed in the morning so much easier.

Wrap Up

And that, my friends, is a wrap. Thank you so much for hanging out and I will see you next week.

Thanks for tuning in to Inside Petite Style. If you’re ready to create a wardrobe that fits your height, flatters your body shape, and makes getting dressed fun and easy, head over to insidePetitestyle.com and take my free Petite style quiz. You’ll get personalized tips and strategies made just for your proportion and your height.

And hey, you know that girlfriend who’s always rolling up her sleeves and hemming her pants? Share this episode with her. She needs to know she’s not alone and that there are real solutions. See you next week. Until then, have fun and stay stylish.