The Psychology of Colour & How It Influences First Impressions
Imagine you’re preparing for an important interview or a date you’ve been looking forward to. Naturally, you want to make a lasting first impression and turn heads as soon as you walk into the room, you turn to your wardrobe and fish out the best outfit you can find.
As you’re creating your outfit combos, what’s the one thing you pay most attention to? If you guessed colours, you’re absolutely right! But have you ever asked yourself why that is?
The short answer the psychology of colour! Colours have the power to influence our mood, emotions and perceptions as soon as we see them. Not only do they provide the ultimate pick-me-up for ourselves, but they also play an important role in how others perceive us. For instance, wearing black and gold at formal events paints a picture of elegance, while red shows that you’re passionate, confident and know exactly what you want.
The psychology of colour has a strong influence in the fashion world and it goes beyond pairing colours that fit together. Colour has the power to make us feel a certain way and influence how others perceive us.
What Is The Psychology of Colour?
The psychology of colour is the study of how different colours can affect our moods, emotional responses and behaviour. Scientists have researched the meanings of various colours and how they impact our psychological responses, as well as our emotional reactions to them.
There is a very simple way to understand how the psychology of colour works. For example, let’s look into warm vs. cool colours.
Warm hues; such as reds, oranges and yellows, usually inspire feelings of warmth, comfort, and cosiness. That’s why whenever we see someone wearing clothes in these colours, we’re likely to perceive them as passionate, kind, and joyful.
While cool colours, such as blue, purple and green, are often related to serenity, luxury and freshness.
With that said, the findings of the psychology of colour aren’t set in stone since we all perceive colours differently. In other words, the meaning of colours and how we perceive them is deeply rooted in our personal experiences and culture.
Still, even though the findings are anecdotal, one thing’s for sure colours and emotions are deeply connected and what you wear directly impacts other people’s first impression and opinions of you. For that reason, it’s quite important to take a good look at your wardrobe to see whether it ultimately works for you!
Seasonal Considerations
Now, I know what you might be thinking…. Dark colours and layers for winter, light and breathable fabric for summer. Well, not exactly! When we talk about seasonal considerations, we don’t mean the weather, we mean seasonal colour analysis which is the colour palettes that naturally complement your features.
Sure, winter is usually dark, gloomy and cold, and people naturally gravitate toward deep and dark tones such as navy, black and burgundy but it doesn’t mean ‘you’ should dress in them. Everyone has a particular palette of colours that works best for them and these colours might not be for you.
In colour analysis, we divide the colours into four main seasonal types- Winter, Summer, Autumn and Spring. But the twist? The seasons don’t follow the same rules as the weather seasons, summer for example is considered cool, confusing right?
As a certified colour analyst, I assess your natural features – skin undertone and overtone, hair and eye colour and your contrast to determine what colour season brings out your best features and minimises the appearance of the ones you may not want to draw attention to.
Here is a quick snapshot of the four home colour season.
Winter colour season- Cool, clear colours with high chroma; think black, red, cobalt and forest green.
Summer colour season- Cool and muted colours that are lighter in value; baby blue, lilac and baby shower pink.
Autumn colour season- Warm and muted colours with depth; sage green, browns and other earthy colours.
Spring colour season – Warm, clear colours with high chroma; orange, golden yellows, teals.
You can learn more about colour analysis here.
Already know your season? Get a 50+ page seasonal colour analysis guide here.
Key Colours And Their Emotional Impact
Now that you understand the basics of the psychology of colour and a little about colour analysis considerations let’s learn more about the impact of colours.
As previously mentioned, the meaning of colours varies from person to person, but they still have universal qualities. With that in mind, the clothes you wear don’t serve you just for aesthetic purposes. Instead, they can be used as a communication tool with which you send out a message without saying a single word. However, in order for the message (and its context) to be clear, you need to understand the psychological effects of colours and find the ones that best suit you.
For that reason, we’ll go through some of the most common colours and explain their meaning.
Red
Most people associate red with passion, romance and power. It’s no wonder that when preparing for a romantic date, red is usually the first colour people go for! Red is also believed to boost your energy levels and physical performance (As they say red cars go fast). So, if you’re feeling a bit sluggish and don’t want to work out, put on something red, look at yourself in the mirror for a few minutes and you’ll notice the difference almost immediately.
Blue
Blue is often associated with calmness and tranquillity, especially pastel tones. With that said, when you need to focus and ease your mind, rocking something blue will do just the trick.
Of course, we can’t forget about navy blue, a commonly seen colour in a professional workplace. This hue is closely linked to professionalism and seriousness, so if you want your first impression to be assertive and trustworthy, navy is the way to go and in colour analysis it is often seen as a universal colour that ‘most’ seasons can get away with.
Green
If you research colour psychology in branding, you’ll see that green is one of the most used colours. The reason for that is quite simple green is associated with nature, growth and freshness, and it’s known to instil peace and calmness.
This colour is usually the first one that pops up whenever spring trends start rolling out, but you don’t have to wait for the season to wear it. Instead, if you don’t want green to be the main colour of your outfit, turn to accessories. Wearing jade earrings or green sunglasses will perfectly nail the growth you’re aiming for.
Yellow
If there’s one colour that can put you in a good mood as soon as you see it, it’s yellow! Feelings of joy and happiness are usually the first feelings that come to mind when seeing yellow, so it’s a perfect hue to wear on a dreary day! On top of that, if you want to come off as highly creative and “out-of-the-box”, don’t hesitate to wear yellow! It will uplift you and those around you! Personally, this is my favourite colour to wear plus its often one of the hardest colours to pull off, however springs and summers can pull it off with great ease.
Black
When we think of elegance, our minds instantly go to black. After all, it’s called black tie for a reason. Wearing black is associated with sophistication and authority, making it yet another popular colour in a professional workplace however it also represents mourning in some cultures. Many people are shocked by this information but black isn’t the most versatile neutral it can only be worn with ease by people in the winter seasons; deep winter, dark winter and bright winter. If you don’t belong to these seasons it can often considerably age you.
Discover The Colours That Work For You
Understanding the psychology of colour is a great way to make a lasting impression, no matter what the occasion might be. So, if you want to look good all year round despite the weather season and find the best colours that suit your natural features, it might be time to book a personalised colour analysis. I’ll help you find the hues that work best for you and transform your wardrobe so you’ll always look put together even on days you are feeling lazy.