Ohio State fashion connoisseurs discuss color analysis, body types and the effects of “categorizing” one’s physical appearance

Hayley Zugaro
Wed, 24 Apr 2024 03:13:39 +0000
Arts & Life, Features, Instagram Page, News, Pop culture, aesthetics, Alex Tremblay, Ann Paulins, arts & life, autumn color palette, autumn color season, body shapes, body types, Buckeyes, color analysis, color seasons, Columbus, eclectic grandpa aesthetic, fashion, fashion production association, fashion trends, fashion trends 2024, mob wife, mob wife aesthetic, niche aesthetics, ohio state, osu, osu fashion production association, spring color palette, spring color season, summer, summer color palette [and 11 more]

Credit: Abby Fricke | Managing Editor for Design

These days, the labels people associate with fashion extend far beyond price tags and brand names.

Styling trends popularized on social media can foster a restrictive mindset when it comes to self-expression, Ann Paulins, a professor of fashion and retail studies at Ohio State, said. Along with Alex Tremblay, co-director of design for Ohio State’s Fashion Production Association, Paulins analyzed the potential psychological consequences surrounding color analysis, body type classification and increasingly niche aesthetics.

“Color analysis” refers to determining which hues best suit a person’s skin, hair and eyes, according to a November 2023 Vogue article. Furthermore, people can be assigned a color “season” — summer, autumn, winter or spring — based on the shades that flatter them most, the article states.

“When it comes to skin coloration, it’s kind of categorized by whether you have dark skin, light skin, pale skin, for example,” Tremblay, also a second-year in psychology, said. “And then under that, we have undertones, and we kind of tend to categorize people to warm, cool and neutral undertones. And all of that can influence the way that certain colors appear on your skin.”

Personally, Tremblay said they do not assign much value to the so-called “color seasons,” as they don’t leave much room for creativity.

“It’s just another way to categorize people and put them into a box,” Tremblay said.

As of late, color analysis has experienced a resurgence of online popularity; on TikTok alone, there are over 277,000 videos attached to the #coloranalysis hashtag. Even so, Paulins said the style practice actually dates back to the 1980s.

“The ’80s were a big time for home parties, so like ‘We’ll have a party, and we’ll have your colors done,’” Paulins said. “And then when you go shopping, you take these color samples and only buy clothes in those colors because that’s what looks good on you.”

One piece of fashion advice frequently shared by social media users is the recommendation to dress according to one’s “body shape,” which may be classified using terms like “pear,” “inverted triangle,” “round,” “hourglass” or “rectangle,” Tremblay said.

“It can be as simple as wearing an all-black dress to make yourself look taller or more slim, but then it can also get as complicated as looking at the exact proportions of every part of your body and looking at the angles,” Tremblay said.

This capacity for both simplicity and complexity makes Tremblay think body type classification is a slippery slope.

“I think color analysis and dressing for your body type can all be great openers into learning how to present yourself and to express yourself better,” Tremblay said. “At the same time, I think that we place a lot of restrictions on what people can wear depending on how they look, their proportions, skin coloration.”

Aesthetics also play a role in “restrictive” fashion. Tremblay said the swiftness with which people adhere to aesthetic labels — like “mob wife,” defined by faux fur jackets and statement jewelry, or “eclectic grandpa,” comprising loafers and sweater vests — may be a reflection of certain psychological desires.

“Humans have various different social motivations, but one of the main ones that we all have is belonging or the desire to belong to a certain group,” Tremblay said. “I think that using these very hyper-specific labels to describe aesthetics helps us feel like we belong to some kind of group or subculture that we feel personally attached to.”

Though embracing certain labels can help provide a framework for exploring one’s personal style and self-expression, Paulins said it can also lead many people to develop a negative thought process surrounding body image.

“The elements of design principles and color theory, those are rooted in science,” Paulins said. “There’s a scientific method. We understand that the eyes look at things a certain way and that there’s a pleasing proportion. I caution being too prescriptive with that because we’re not saying that there’s a better color to be or a better size to be.”

Additionally, Tremblay said societal pressure may be causing people to engage in these trends for the wrong reasons.

“Things go in and out of style really quickly, so I think there’s a desire to not be left behind, especially as fashion is becoming more accessible and people are able to dress in a lot of new ways and really try things out,” Tremblay said.

Paulins simply urges social media users, as well as fashion enthusiasts, to opt in or out of trending designations based on what feels authentic to them.

“We all as human people have some responsibility as we’re giving advice: to be honest, but to be constructive and to also recognize that ultimately each person has to make decisions about their own appearance and the way they are most comfortable presenting themselves,” Paulins said.