In August 2022, the fashion designer in her 30s switched to personal colour analysis full-time to cope with the rising demand. She is fully booked for the service for the next three months.
A consultation that lasts for an hour and a half can range from HK$500 (US$64) to HK$1,000, depending on the location of the studio and how much detail the consultant goes into during the session and in the final report.
The Japan Personal Colour Association, where Kwok got her certification in 2020, is one of the few institutions around the world that trains personal colour analysts.
While assigning clothing colours to one of the four seasons is a long-standing practice, personal colour analysis sorts people into 12 categories, each of which has its “best” palette and hues.
The 12 groups are: bright winter, true winter, dark winter, dark autumn, true autumn, soft autumn, soft summer, true summer, light summer, light spring, true spring and bright spring.
Winter and summer are considered cool tones, while spring and autumn are warm tones. Warm tones have a yellow base, while cool tones have a blue base.
Analysts hold up a piece of fabric next to their client’s face to determine whether the colour darkens the area under their eyes, makes their skin look sallow, brings out any redness, washes out their complexion, helps define their jawline, and other things.
Kwok’s clients range from students to professionals to couples who are about to get married, but she says the service generally appeals to those who are embarking on a new chapter in their lives and want to look their best.
“Knowing your colours can help save money on unnecessary expenditure on unsuitable clothes and help you understand yourself better. It also helps you make decisions when decluttering. You can look twice as good, using half the effort,” she says.While a personal colour test can help someone determine what shades they look best in, Kwok says the results should be seen as guidelines, not hard rules or restrictions.
“In your personal time, you can still wear what you like, or colours that are not best for you,” she says. “For example, many people like wearing black but it might not suit everyone. But when you have a special occasion, say an interview, a presentation or a meeting with clients, you know what to wear so you can look sharper.”
Kwok has worked with many different clients and says colour theory is the same no matter a person’s ethnicity or background. One of her clients is Hong Kong-Nigerian YouTuber Gordon Lau, who recently documented his own consultation on his channel.
We headed to Kwok’s studio in Kwai Hing, in the New Territories, to see for ourselves what this trend is all about.
I have always thought of myself as a “warm autumn”, as my wardrobe is full of earthy tones like olive, forest green, dark brown, burnt orange and beige – but I was wrong.
To focus solely on how the colours looked against my skin, Carrie pulled back my brightly coloured hair and draped a white cloth over my shoulders.
First, we started off by deducing whether silver or gold jewellery works best on me. Silver made me look brighter, while gold brought out the yellow in my skin.‘Couldn’t just pick one’: bridal designer, chef and tart maker Rania Hatoum
Kwok then held up warm-toned shades and cool-toned shades to get a general idea of which one suited me more.
After she determined that cool tones looked better on me, she brought out even more colour swatches of different saturations, brightness and lightness from the same colour family to determine which “season” I belonged to.
Sitting in the chair as Carrie draped swatches on me while nodding to herself made me feel like I was in the Sorting Hat ceremony at Hogwarts in Harry Potter – she seemed to be seeing things I was not, making notes and observations as she flipped through different shades of green.
The verdict: I am a “true winter”. Saturated light and medium shades look the best on me – think white, lavender, mint, cool-toned pinks and reds – while I should avoid yellow-toned or muted colours like mauve, beige, mustard and olive green, which can make me look even more sallow.
To learn that colours I would never wear – such as lavender and baby blue – looked good on me, while my favourite caramel-coloured tank top was making me look dull, made me momentarily feel that my life was a lie.
That was not all – Kwok then went through what make-up products I should be using. Purple-y pinks and darker berry lipsticks were said to work best on me, a declaration that seemed to render my coral, brick-red and brown lipsticks useless.My consultation was fruitful and refreshing – I learned more about what suits me best, and being able to see the immediate difference when various colours were held up against my face was fascinating.
Though I do not plan to overhaul my entire wardrobe now that I know my personal colours, I have a better idea of what looks good on me and will be more conscious of that when I go shopping in the future.
Being told to opt for colours I do not typically wear has made me more open-minded and experimental. With Kwok’s advice in mind, I am excited to head to the shops and pick out a few pieces in my best colours to brighten up my wardrobe.
