A capsule wardrobe built on your color season needs eight colors: three neutrals, four accents and one signature color. Spread them across about twenty pieces, with the neutrals in the structural pieces and the accents near your face, and nearly everything combines with everything else. The colors match each other for the same reason they match you: they share one temperature, one depth range and one level of clarity.
You need your season first; the Color Season Quiz gives it to you. Then take your three neutrals from the 12-season neutral chart, which lists a light, a mid and a dark neutral and the right denim for each season. This page adds the accents and the template.
The formula: 3 + 4 + 1
- Three neutrals. The dark one for coats, trousers, shoes and bags. The mid one for knitwear, jackets and layers. The light one for shirts and T-shirts that sit right under your face.
- Four accents. Colors from your palette that you like and that work with all three neutrals. Four different hues, say a pink or red, a blue, a green and one more, give enough range.
- One signature color. The color that looks best on you and that you are happy to wear often. It appears in more pieces than any single accent. How to find your signature color has a method for choosing it.
The twenty-piece template
| Piece | Color role |
|---|---|
| Coat | Dark neutral |
| Jacket or blazer | Mid neutral |
| Trousers | Dark neutral |
| Jeans | Your season’s denim |
| Skirt | Dark or mid neutral |
| Dress | Signature or dark neutral |
| Knit sweater | Mid neutral |
| Knit sweater | Accent 1 |
| Cardigan | Light or mid neutral |
| Shirt | Light neutral |
| T-shirt | Light neutral |
| T-shirt | Accent 2 |
| Top | Accent 3 |
| Top | Signature |
| Scarf | Signature, or a print that mixes your accents |
| Light layer or shell | Accent 4 |
| Shoes | Dark neutral |
| Shoes | Mid neutral |
| Bag | Dark or mid neutral |
| Jewelry | Your metal |
About two thirds of the pieces are neutral, and almost every colored piece sits at or near the face. That is where your palette does the most work, and it keeps the expensive, long-lived pieces in colors that go with everything else.
Accents and signature for all twelve seasons
All colors below come from the season palettes on this site. The signature column is a starting suggestion; your own may be another color from the same palette.
| Season | Four accents | Signature to start with |
|---|---|---|
| Light Spring | Peach, butter, aqua, clear sky | Light coral |
| True Spring | Golden yellow, warm turquoise, kelly green, clear blue | Coral |
| Bright Spring | Sunflower, bright aqua, emerald teal, royal blue | Hot coral |
| Light Summer | Powder pink, lavender, powder blue, light aqua | Light rose |
| True Summer | Rose, soft violet, cornflower, soft teal | Raspberry |
| Soft Summer | Rose, periwinkle, dusty blue, seafoam | Mauve |
| Soft Autumn | Salmon, sage, olive, terracotta | Muted teal |
| True Autumn | Mustard, olive, forest, deep teal | Rust |
| Deep Autumn | Dark mustard, aubergine, forest, dark teal | Brick |
| Deep Winter | Icy pink, deep plum, sapphire, emerald | Burgundy |
| True Winter | Icy lavender, fuchsia, royal blue, emerald | True red |
| Bright Winter | Icy lemon, vivid purple, electric blue, bright emerald | Hot pink |
Five outfit formulas
- Light neutral top, dark neutral bottom, accent scarf. The easiest everyday outfit, and the scarf can carry any accent.
- Accent knit, mid neutral trousers, dark neutral shoes. Color near the face, calm everywhere else.
- All neutrals, signature at the neck. A neutral column from coat to shoes with the signature top or scarf as the only color.
- Signature dress, dark neutral coat and shoes. The dress does all the work.
- Two accents together. Pair accents that sit at a similar depth, such as sage and terracotta for Soft Autumn or sapphire and emerald for Deep Winter. Matching depth keeps the combination calm.
Building it from what you own
Sort what you already have into three piles: in your palette, close to it, and far from it. The first pile is your starting capsule. Pieces from the second pile can stay if they work below the waist or under a scarf in your colors; how to wear a color that isn’t in your palette covers the tricks. Fill gaps in the template one piece at a time, neutrals first.
A capsule is a styling tool built on a styling framework, so adjust it to your life. If you never wear skirts, swap the skirt for a second pair of trousers. If you wear black for work and you are not a Winter, keep it to the lower half and let the neutral chart suggest a dark color to replace it near your face.