colormatch

The autumn color palette

Warm and earthy — the palette of turning leaves, spice and old gold, where richness matters more than brightness.

Autumn is the warm, deep end of color analysis. The shades are golden but muted, and they carry weight rather than sparkle: rust, terracotta, olive green, mustard, forest green, deep teal. Held against an autumn coloring, these earthy shades match the warmth already in the skin, and the face looks solid rather than washed out.

The season most often confused with autumn is spring, not one of the cool pair. Both are warm, so both suit gold and both struggle beside pure white — the avoid list here exists because cold, icy colors clash with golden skin and leave the face looking drained. What separates them is brightness. Spring keeps its warmth clear and light; autumn keeps its warmth muted and deep. The same orange appears as a spring coral and as an autumn rust, and only one of the two will look like it belongs to you.

Undertone: Warm (golden)

Autumn colors to wear

The shades that earn their place next to your face — tops, scarves, collars and frames. Every code is the exact color, so it can be pasted into a shop filter.

  • Terracotta#A9552C
  • Rust#8F3D1E
  • Mustard#C8971F
  • Olive Green#6B6B2F
  • Forest Green#3B5C3B
  • Deep Teal#255F60
  • Pumpkin#C2662A
  • Moss#7C8A43
  • Brick Red#93342C
  • Warm Aubergine#5A3540

Autumn neutrals

The quiet shades to build around: coats, trousers, bags and anything you buy once.

  • Cream#F0E4CC
  • Chocolate Brown#4E3424
  • Khaki#A08E63
  • Bronze#8A6A3A

Shades autumn finds difficult

Cold, icy colors can clash with golden warmth in the skin and often make the face look washed out.

  • Icy Pink#F0CDD8
  • Fuchsia#C2247D
  • Pure White#FFFFFF
  • Cool Gray#9AA0A6
  • Black#000000

Is autumn your season?

Autumn is likely to be your season if several of these are true at once. One on its own proves nothing.

  • Your veins look green rather than blue in daylight.
  • Gold, copper or bronze jewellery suits you better than silver.
  • Cream and oatmeal look better on you than pure white.
  • Your hair has depth and warmth — chestnut, auburn, bronze or dark golden brown.
  • Icy pink or fuchsia near your face looks like fancy dress rather than clothing.

Get your free color report

Wearing the autumn palette

  1. Make brown your dark instead of black

    Chocolate brown, bronze and deep olive green give an outfit its weight without the coldness of black. The same swap is worth making in the small things: brown shoes, a brown belt and a warm-toned watch strap keep an outfit consistent, where one black accessory can look like it came from another wardrobe.

  2. Let texture carry the color

    Muted shades depend on the surface they sit on. Wool, suede, linen and heavy cotton hold rust and khaki properly, while a flat synthetic in the same shade reads thinner and slightly dead. This is the palette where the fabric matters as much as the hex code.

  3. Find contrast in depth, not in brightness

    An autumn outfit gets its interest from a dark shade against cream, or deep teal against khaki — not from one loud color in the middle of quiet ones. Forest green and warm aubergine are the accents that do this work while staying inside the palette.

Where it usually goes wrong

  • Treating every warm color as autumn. Clear coral and golden yellow are warm but bright, and they belong to spring — autumn wants the same warmth with the brightness taken out.
  • Keeping the pure white shirt. It is the single coldest thing most people own, and against golden skin it makes the face look tired. Cream or oatmeal does the same job in an outfit.
  • Using cool gray as the everyday neutral. Khaki, bronze and chocolate brown are the autumn equivalents, and they sit with the rest of the palette instead of cooling it down.

Questions about the autumn palette

What is the difference between autumn and spring?

Both are warm, so gold jewellery and cream suit either one — the difference is brightness. Spring shades stay clear and fresh, autumn shades are muted and earthy. Hold a bright coral next to rust: if the coral looks thin and the rust looks natural on you, autumn is the better fit.

Does autumn mean muddy or dull colors?

No. Muted is not the same as dull, and the palette includes deep teal, brick red, pumpkin and forest green, which are strong colors by any measure. What they share is that the brightness has been turned down rather than the richness.

Autumn is described as deep. Does that mean my skin has to be dark?

No — depth here describes the colors, not the person wearing them. Undertone and skin depth are separate things, and autumn coloring appears across the full range of skin tones, from very fair with red or golden warmth through to deep. The test is whether warm and muted shades suit you, not how light or dark you are.

Can autumn wear navy or black?

Away from the face both are workable. Right at the neckline they read as cold next to golden skin, which is why chocolate brown, forest green and deep teal are the dark options in this palette. Keeping black to shoes and bags solves most of it.

How do I find out whether autumn is my season?

Compare your own coloring with the palette on this page in daylight rather than under a bulb, which adds warmth that is not there. The free color report gives you a full palette from a photo or from seven questions you can answer at home, and you can hold it against these shades to confirm.

The three kinds of autumn

Twelve-season systems divide each season into three. The free report gives you the parent season, which is enough to shop with; these pages are for working out which edge of it you sit on.

The other three palettes