True black belongs to three seasons: Deep Winter, True Winter and Bright Winter. Pure optical white belongs to those three and to Bright Spring. Everyone else has a softer dark and a softer white that do the same job: navy, chocolate or slate instead of black; ivory, cream or soft white instead of optical white. The chart below gives the pair for each of the twelve seasons.
If you do not know your season yet, the Color Season Quiz includes a question on how black looks under your face and another on pure white versus cream.
Which seasons can wear black: the chart
All values come from the palettes and “avoid” lists on this site. Seasonal color analysis is a styling framework, so read “avoid” as “usually looks worse near the face”, not as a rule.
| Season | Black near the face | Dark to wear instead | White |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light Spring | Avoid | Light camel | Ivory |
| True Spring | Avoid | Golden brown | Cream |
| Bright Spring | Not in palette; small doses away from face | Espresso, royal blue | Pure white |
| Light Summer | Avoid | Soft navy | Soft white |
| True Summer | Not in palette | Navy | Soft white |
| Soft Summer | Avoid stark black | Soft navy, slate | Ivory |
| Soft Autumn | Avoid | Warm taupe | Oatmeal, warm off-white |
| True Autumn | Not in palette | Chocolate | Cream (avoid pure white) |
| Deep Autumn | Not in palette; soft black at most | Chocolate | Cream |
| Deep Winter | Yes | Black, charcoal | Pure white |
| True Winter | Yes | Black | Pure white |
| Bright Winter | Yes | Black | Pure white |
Can Summers, Springs and Autumns wear black?
Summers. Not near the face. Black is darker and harder-edged than any Summer coloring. Navy is the Summer black: soft navy for Light and Soft Summer, a deeper navy for True Summer. Slate and charcoal-blue work for Soft Summer.
Springs. Light and True Spring avoid black; golden brown and camel give definition without weight. Bright Spring is the exception worth a test: its coloring is clear and contrasting, so black in small amounts, away from the face, is easier for it than for most seasons outside Winter. Espresso and royal blue are still its better darks.
Autumns. Chocolate is the Autumn black. Soft Autumn avoids black entirely. Deep Autumn has the depth to carry a soft black, one with brown in it, but true jet black tends to look cold against warm skin.
If black is not in your palette, your darkest neutral is your black. Use it wherever you would have used black.
Pure white, soft white, ivory or cream
White reflects the most light of any color, so it sits right under the face like a reflector and makes any mismatch obvious. Optical white suits clear, contrasting coloring. On warm skin it can make the face look yellow by comparison; on soft coloring it looks stark and makes the skin look gray.
Hold pure white, cream and a soft off-white under your chin in daylight. Pure white winning points to a Winter or Bright Spring. Cream winning points to warm coloring, Spring or Autumn. If the soft off-white wins, you are probably one of the Soft seasons, or a Light Summer.
Black and white together
Black with white is the strongest contrast in clothing. It suits faces that have a similar gap between hair and skin, which is most Winters. Everyone else can keep the idea and lower the gap: navy with soft white for Summers, chocolate with cream for Autumns, golden brown with ivory for Light and True Springs. Contrast level shows how to measure how much contrast your face can carry.
When your season says no
Black and white that are not yours still work below the waist, in shoes and bags, or with one of your colors between them and your face. Why black makes some people look tired explains the mechanism and the test, and best neutrals by season gives the full set of neutrals for each palette.