Like all good (just about) millennials, my Instagram algorithm knows me better than anyone else.
Who and what do I spend my scroll time with? Dogs, mainly. Celebs in the ’90s, holiday cabins that are all floor-to-ceiling glass and breathtaking views and eyewatering prices. More dogs.
But over the past few months, something else has crept in: bare faces with swatches of different coloured fabric draped across their chests like rainbow napkins, their features brightening or dulling as the bibs are changed with a flourish by a stylist.
Pictures of celebrities with rainbow borders framing their faces fill my feed, sometimes with before and digitally altered “after” images side-by-side, showing how different our favourite stars might look with, say, a slightly warmer blonde tone to their hair, or in a silver dress rather than gold.
Welcome to the world of colour analysis – the science, the stylists say, behind the clothes that make you look good.
Like Avon parties, shoulder pads and blancmange, knowing your colour season was de rigueur in the 1980s, before the 1990s ushered in a more laidback approach, followed by instructions on What Not To Wear and How To Look Good Naked, focusing on body shape, in the noughties.
But colour styling is back.
In the past year or so, the trend has exploded on social media thanks to demand from millennials and Gen Zs who have discovered the power of knowing your season – search for #colouranalysis or #coloranalysis and you’ll find around 300,000 posts on Instagram alone, with similar numbers on TikTok.
Colour stylists say that not only is it a fun way to look at fashion, it’s also sustainable and a cost-saver – the idea being that if you know your colours, you’re not going to waste money on items that don’t optimise your looks.
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What is colour styling?
The idea is that every single person’s features can be classified into a set of shades associated with spring, summer, autumn or winter – broken down further into 12 sub-seasons such as “true spring” or “bright winter” – and from this palette you can take guidance on the colours that suit you best, not just for clothing but also for make-up and hair.
Winters look great in jewel tones such as emerald green, or neon brights, while autumns suit the colours you associate with the season – mustard, cinnamon, dark moss green. Springs are warm, bright and clear, summers more soft and subtle. But your season is not just about how you look on the outside, and some might surprise you.
Watching the switching of colour drapes, or scrolling through the digital equivalent, can feel like a magic trick; a glow-up without a hint of highlighter or hair dye. Stylists assure this is #nofilter and there is no digital trickery going on here; the wrong colours will wash you out, but the right colour on the right person could well make your eye bags and wrinkles all but melt away.
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Having watched this content from various colour stylists over the past few months, I have learned a lot about seasons, palettes and contrast, and undertone v overtone, warm v cool, clear v muted. I have learned that you might share the same eye, skin and natural hair colour as someone else and still be in a different season. That your colour season is not about skin colour or even tone.
And that, apparently, despite black being a go-to or a comfort blanket for many, it’s only – brace yourselves – those in the winter palette who truly suit it.
So now, in the interest of journalism, I’m finding out for myself.
Anyone who knows me will know my wardrobe is on the brighter side. I think I’m a spring. I hope I’m a spring. Am I a spring?
Have I been wearing the ‘wrong’ colours all my life?
I have my colours done by Francesca Cairns, a UK stylist of 10 years who says she has seen her Instagram following grow from about 10,000 to 500,000 across two accounts in the past 12 months or so, all thanks to colour analysis.
“It’s boomed, especially in the last year,” she says. “Gen Z want to learn about what works for them so they can create wardrobes that are sustainable. People are obsessed with it, it’s everywhere.”
Francesca works online, with clients internationally as well as in the UK, so needs photos. No make-up, natural lighting, standing in front of a window. I take about a million selfies before I find a couple that are vaguely passable and send them over, along with older pictures of myself over the years and some information: natural hair colour, (dark blonde/ mousey), eye colour (grey-green, a bit non-descript), how easily I tan (not bad) and my jewellery preference (silver; but, if I’m honest, this could well be a legacy from my frugal youth).
Rather than draping with material in person, she surrounds your face with colour digitally, the style equivalent of Tinder, swiping yes on the shades that work, relegating the ones that don’t, to see a pattern.
It’s mainly about undertone – not skin colour (overtone), she says. The tricky thing? You can’t necessarily see it.
“When I look at someone, I’m putting silver and gold next to them, or very warm versus cool colours,” Francesca says. “I’m seeing which looks best next to their features, which one’s not overpowering them.”
The aim of wearing your best colours is to see your face first, before everything else, she says. The right colour will enhance your features, bring out your eyes. “You don’t want a dress to wear you,” Francesca says. “When you walk into a room, you want people to see your face and your features before your outfit. You want it to all be in harmony rather than overpowering you.”
Her process usually takes 48 hours, but Francesca has my results over to me the next day.
I am, it seems, not a spring.
According to Francesca’s workings, I am a soft summer, just like Rihanna, Sarah Jessica Parker and Rachel McAdams. I have a neutral undertone which leans cool, she tells me, with muted and soft colouring, subtle rather than high contrast. Baby blue, pine green, lavender, sage and taupe are on the list of recommended clothing colours, while ash brown and cool blonde are suggested for my hair (not too far off, but my highlights are probably on the warmer side).
I do own a fair bit of light blue denim, which is good, but I’m looking at all the bright greens, oranges and pinks in my wardrobe. This isn’t about my favourites, though, it’s about the ones that harmonise with my features best.
“It’s colour science,” Francesca says. “If someone’s got a warm undertone, nine out of 10 times they’re probably going to be in the spring or autumn seasons because they look better with a lot of warm tones most of the time. But if you’re neutral, you can border both the seasons.” As I’m neutral, she says some of the spring colours would work – but winter is too high contrast and cool-toned.
Someone with a high contrast – pale skin, dark hair, bright eyes, for example – can pull off high contrast colours such as cobalt blue and fuchsia pink. “But they might overpower someone who’s got softer features,” she says.
Celebs in – and out – of season
It’s important to note that colour analysts don’t always agree. Some put Margot Robbie as a summer, for example, while others, including Francesca, say she’s a spring. Some say you have to do the analysis in person to be certain, while others say photos taken in the right conditions are enough.
I take an online colour quiz for a second opinion and it puts me as a spring, but this is without photographic evidence; I can’t help but think the result is probably something to do with the questions being mainly about the colours I’m drawn to and how I see myself.
Francesca is confident in my summer analysis, but says I can lean into the spring palette. And this isn’t about throwing away an entire wardrobe, but potentially making tweaks.
“Colour analysis isn’t about restriction,” she says. “I’m an autumn. People ask me all the time if I still wear black? Yes, because 90% of my wardrobe before I did this was black. I’ll always wear black, but I’ll make it work for me better by wearing my make-up in my colours, or accessories round my face, wear black lower down or with a lower neckline.
“If you love a colour that’s not in your season it doesn’t mean you can’t wear it, it just means that you wear your colours with it or make it work for you in a different way. And when I post celebrities against different [background] colours, it can be quite subjective.”
Because being groomed and beautiful means stars often look good against all sorts of different shades.
“People might prefer them in a different [colour to their season] and that’s their opinion. But when it comes down to the trained eye and you know what you’re looking for, you see straight away why one palette works better than another.”
But wearing colours out of your season can pack a punch – think Taylor Swift‘s platinum white hair and dark lipstick look during the height of the Kim and Kanye feud in 2016, or Beyonce‘s current platinum look for the release of Cowboy Carter. Swift is a spring, apparently, while Beyonce is autumn.
“But I’m always training my eye, even now after years,” says Francesca. “You’ll always find that someone’s colours will always surprise you. And there’s no rule book – it’s all about having fun.”
Sabrina Carpenter has set a new UK chart record by becoming the youngest female artist to take the top two singles spots in the same week.
The US singer reached number one on the Official Charts Company rundown with Please Please Please, pushing Espresso, which had been at the top for five weeks, down to number two.
Please Please Please totalled 9.8 million combined streams, while Espresso came in second with 8.1 million streams.
At the age of 25 years, one month and 10 days, Carpenter overtakes Ariana Grande, the previous youngest holder of the record, by around six months.
Grande achieved the same two-spot hold in the same week when she was 25 years, seven months and 20 days old in February 2019 with 7 Rings at number one and Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored at number two.
Eminem is at number three this week with Houdini, while Billie Eilish’s Birds Of A Feather is at number four, followed by Shaboozey’s A Bar Song (Tipsy).
Taylor Swift doesn’t make the top five, but sets a new personal best in the albums chart with a seventh week at the top.
The Tortured Poets Department earns a seventh non-consecutive week at number one, surpassing 2022’s Midnights which spent five weeks at the summit.
Swift is in the UK for her Eras Tour, and will take to the stage in London’s Wembley Stadium on Friday evening.
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At number two is US singer-songwriter Eilish’s latest record Hit Me Hard And Soft, while British singer Charli XCX’s Brat came in at number three.
In fourth spot is Canadian musician The Weeknd’s greatest hits collection The Highlights.
British rock group Sea Girls also celebrate a hat-trick of top five albums as their third studio collection Midnight Butterflies makes its debut at number five.
The group previously saw success with 2020’s Open Up Your Head and 2022 LP Homesick, which both reached number three.
London’s iconic Tube map has been redrawn to celebrate the arrival of Taylor Swift’s tour in the capital.
As the US megastar’s Eras Tour descends on the city, fans, or Swifties, will be able to navigate their way around using a redesigned London Underground layout, with each line named after a different album and drawn in sequin colours to match – with stations denoted by her songs.
Under the changes, the Central Line has been renamed Red after the singer’s fourth album while the Victoria Line becomes 1989, the Bakerloo Line Evermore and the Northern Line her latest release, The Tortured Poets Department.
The map also highlights a host of places across the capital that are referenced in her music.
Notable locations on the Taylor trail – some of which feature in her song London Boy, include the West End, Soho, Bond Street, Camden Market, Highgate, Hampstead Heath, Vauxhall, Shoreditch, Hackney, Brixton and Kentish Town.
Swift-fever even spread to Buckingham Palace earlier on Friday where Shake It Off was played at the traditional Changing of the Guard ceremony.
The pop star has already played sell-out shows in Edinburgh, Liverpool and Cardiff and it is now the turn of fans at Wembley Stadium to get a sprinkling of stardust.
They have waited more than a year for the tour to arrive, after Swift kicked off her marathon string of dates in Glendale, Arizona, in March 2023.
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Since then, she has crossed the US, Asia and South America and made stops across Europe, sometimes accompanied by her boyfriend, the American football star Travis Kelce.
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She will play three nights at Wembley Stadium on Friday, Saturday and Sunday before taking the tour to Dublin next week.
Swift will return to London for five more shows in August.
Her fans are expected to boost the London economy by £300m as the capital hosts more Eras Tour shows than any other city in the world, with nearly 640,000 people expected to attend across the eight dates.
Specially-designed murals have also been created to mark her arrival.
Wembley Park is hosting two new public artworks including one on the Spanish Steps, which are being temporarily renamed the Swiftie Steps.
The blockbuster tour takes fans on a journey through the different musical stages of her career.
Thousands of concert-goers have already arrived at Wembley eager to soak up the atmosphere of what promises to be a memorable performance.
Among those at the stadium were Lauren Robinson, 20, who had travelled from Cheshire, and her friend Grace Arnold, 24, who had travelled from the Wirral.
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0:59
Taylor Swift kicks off UK leg of Eras tour
Ms Robinson said: “Coming to the capital has got to be the best place to see the tour.”
She added: “It’s like going to a party with all your best friends.”
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Ms Arnold said she was most looking forward to the Folklore set (Swift’s eighth studio album), but said the potential surprise songs “actually make me feel sick to think about”.
Tributes have poured in for actor Donald Sutherland after he died following a long illness.
The 88-year-old was best known for his roles in Ordinary People, The Hunger Games franchise and M*A*S*H.
His son, Kiefer Sutherland, confirmed the news “with a heavy heart” as Oscar-winner Jane Fonda and other stars of the big screen led tributes to the Canadian actor.
“With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away.
“I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film.
“Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived,” the son said of his father.
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Among Sutherland’s best-known roles was the detective John Klute, who attempted to protect Fonda’s character Bree Daniels from a killer stalking her.
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US actress Fonda shared a black-and-white image of Sutherland from their 1971 hit where she won her Oscar for best actress, and said: “I am heartbroken,”.
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The pair dated for a period in 1971 and staged a travelling anti-war roadshow for US soldiers.
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Leading politicians like US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also paid tribute after the actor’s passing.
Mr Trudeau called him a “truly great Canadian artist”, after he learned of his death during a news conference relating to a national school food programme.
Mr Biden described Sutherland as a “one-of-a-kind actor who inspired and entertained the world for decades” in a post on X.
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Flowers placed on Sutherland’s star
Dame Helen Mirren was among the British actors and actresses paying tribute.
She appeared alongside Sutherland in 2017’s The Leisure Seeker, following their 1990 drama Bethune: The Making Of A Hero.
“Donald Sutherland was one of the smartest actors I ever worked with,” Dame Helen said in a statement.
“He had a wonderful enquiring brain and a great knowledge on a wide variety of subjects.
“He combined this great intelligence with a deep sensitivity and with a seriousness about his profession as an actor.
“This all made him into the legend of film that he became.”
Most recently, many will know Sutherland from his role in The Hunger Games franchise where he played dictator President Coriolanus Snow.
The official account for The Hunger Games film called him “the kindest man in the world” who portrayed “the most corrupt, ruthless dictator we’ve ever seen”.
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Throughout his career, Sutherland is perhaps best known as the womanising Captain Benjamin Franklin ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce Junior, from the 1970 film version M*A*S*H.
His co-star Elliott Gould, who played the Captain ‘Trapper’ John Francis Xavier McIntyre, called Sutherland a “giant” who was “enormously kind and generous”.
Gould recalled they were both “young fathers” when they worked together and said his death “really profoundly hurts because Donald was like my brother, and a big part of my own career”.
Rob Lowe, known for his role in The West Wing and a number of other movies, said Sutherland was “one of our greatest actors” and that it had been an “honour” to star alongside him on the miniseries Salem’s Lot, in 2004.
“I will never forget his charisma and ability,” Lowe said.
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