Color Your Style: How to Wear Your True Colors

I have owned this book on digital for years since about the first month I had my kindle (1st gen). However, I recently was very lucky to go get to see David Zyla for a Color Consult and Ultimate Style Session so I picked it up with the hopes of getting it autographed. Mission accomplished! I had a friend along for the trip to the consult in Seattle that had never heard of Zyla and she devoured the book on the car ride and during the hotel stay. It was fascinating. Zyla has such a following that our big facebook group which tons of members in Seattle met at The Renaissance Hotel and had a meetup to discuss their appointments and the results of their consults. Now what does this have to do with his book? Everything. In this book David Zyla breaks down his color system and helps you discover your color palette and then helps you find your season and archetype. He then breaks down your palette into various categories that help you with day to day themed wardrobes. This book is fantastic and of all the color seasonal systems out there, Zyla is by far the best. I highly recommend this book. What I recommend more is going to see Zyla in person.

I love this book. It changed my entire outlook on what I wear, and what I feel best in. In the past, I've read a lot of books about personal style and color, but this one is by far the best to understand WHICH colors are best for you, and in WHAT situations. That is, the colors & styles you'll wear for a romantic night out aren't the same colors & styles you'll wear to a job interview or important meeting. Okay, that may not sound like "new" news... but Zyla takes these concepts to a level that never crossed my mind. And using his guidelines & suggestions, I feel SO much happier and more comfortable in my clothes. (I also weeded-out about half my closet... and that was AFTER I'd already applied the Konmari decluttering rules.) I do wish he had color swatches inside the book, or as part of the back cover. But, since he didn't, I went through magazines and cut out areas of color that seemed to match what I should be wearing. And then, I glued them to a 3x5 index card, so I can carry it in my purse when I'm shopping for clothes. Or household accessories (since the colors apply there, too). I've been a long-time fan of David Kibbe's book, "Metamorphosis" (and wish it was back in print), but Zyla's book is just as important... and perhaps more so. If you want to feel VASTLY better about yourself, your clothes, and the colors you surround yourself with... get this book and read it, right now.

Interesting idea but with the lack of photo representation and zero color examples this book is quite challenging to figure out. I originally didn't like this book but re-read it and really changed my mind. If only he included photos and had diagrams depicting examples this book would be five stars. I'm glad I kept it. The information is quite useful but the lack of photos makes it challenging to visualize colors being described.

...but it's still a pretty fun read. I feel like rule breakers and envelope pushers aren't going to get a whole lot out of this. It feels stifling to someone who has always been pretty adventurous with style. I did enjoy analyzing my vein and eye colors and the archetypes section, though and it's been a cool exercise to really start becoming conscious of what kind of effect certain colors have on me and why, instead of just relying on my instinct (which has always been pretty good, but lacking a certain dimension, as instinct does). This book did encourage me to streamline my chaotic closet and destash some stuff that wasn't serving me. Kind of amazing what that sirt of act does for your psyche. The suggestion to trade with friends and donate is great, but I wish there was more of an emphasis on thrifting as a great option for experimentation on yourself, as well. Anyway, all in all, an entertaining summer read.

Love the ideas in this book! Zyla is a bit repetitive but I have read it a couple of times and learned a lot about color theory and clothing. The section on how to use color to dress for different occasions was super helpful! The only thing I didn't like is that the book is the SAME as Color of Style--which is a different title. When I first saw this book I was super excited to think I was going to learn even more. Since it was too much trouble to return, I just passed it along to a friend who seemed to like it. David Zyla, don't change the title if it isn't a new book!

You can tell a color analyst is good at their job if they themselves look good. Many times I have seen color analysts who look a hot mess, making me wonder: just how skillful are they at what they do? David Zyla is very fetching in his promotion photos, wearing a combination of tangerine and blue which I doubt anyone else in the world could wear but which look amazing on him. And his color analysis technique is amazing, too. Being somewhat obsessed with this topic, I seem to have taken dozens of personal color analysis (PCA) tests, always coming away feeling like it wasn't working. I believed in the process enough to know that I was not a warm season, but winter was too strong, and summer seemed too wishy-washy. As I consider myself a bold personality, I went with winter, but I never really felt satisfied with it. I actually came across David's book via Pinterest, when I was once again comparing winter and summer palettes to see which one really worked for me. In the process I read about something called "Zyla sunset summer/elegant bohemian," and I liked those terms so much, I decided to look up what this meant. A Google search soon brought me to this book. Well for the first time I feel happy and confident in my summer season! It is far better to know one is an "elegant bohemian" summer than some generic plain Jane summer (which is how summers are so often described by color analysts, many of whom are winters--could that be the reason?). It makes soooo much sense to me, since even back when I was a kid I would dress up in flowy scarves and flowy skirts. Even now I tend toward hippy skirts and iridescent scarves. But it makes it so much easier to know my "archetype." Even more importantly though is David's technique in identifying one's best colors. Since he has you use your actual skin tones, it makes perfect sense, and my best colors truly are the ones I have always tended to gravitate toward without really knowing why. Now I do. Seriously this may sound dumb but I am so happy about my analysis I could cry. I feel as though I have found my true self at last. David thank you so so so much! You truly have a gift.

David Zyla has written a beautiful little book about how to determine some of your best colors to wear -- by matching up your pigmentation colors in skin, hair and eyes with paint chips. He also provides style profiles that people find compelling and useful. Zyla has adapted Suzanne Caygill's pioneering work on personal color and style (she started in 1942) to open this work to a larger audience, and as one of Suzanne's Academy of Color Graduates, I'm grateful to him. Unlike the other "systems" of determining a person's colors -- where the analyst drapes a person to determine what "set of colors" (one of 4, or one of 12) that are assigned to the person, Zyla demonstrates that each person has a unique array of colors (as determined by their own coloration) and he provides good information on how to use those colors, and others that harmonize correctly, for best effect.

The book is useless, especially if you're a Woman of Colour, like me. The DIY method involves picking colors from the darkest and lightest tones of your hair and eyes, plus pinching your skin to identify your "blush" tone. If you have dark hair, dark eyes and dark skin, you'd be hard pressed to get anything useful out of this method. Making it worse, there are very few non-white celebrity examples in the book, and the ones that are present are the usual "mainstream" white standard of beauty suspects (Beyonce, Tyra Banks, Rihanna, etc). A WoC reader will be totally at a loss for references if she wants to figure out her color and style type on her own. Furthermore, the style types themselves have off-putting monikers such as the "Prom Queen," "Sensual Backpacker," and the "Playful Princess" complete with gag-inducing personality profiles. The real women I know would be hard-pressed to identify with any of these caricatures. It's offensive fluff written in lieu of useful style advice. WoC, and Black women in particular, spend more on beauty and fashion than any other ethnic group, and to have their needs be so grossly overlooked in a color & style manual presumably intended for all women is inexcusable. The book was clearly written for a white audience, and frankly, reads as a thinly veiled marketing pamphlet for David's services more than anything else. The DIY method is SO frustrating and confusing that you'd have no resort but to see the man himself. Save your money, don't buy the book, not even the $5 Kindle version.