colormatch

The cool summer colour palette

Summer in the middle, cool the whole way through, with nothing borrowed at either edge.

Cool summer — true summer elsewhere — sits at the centre of the season. Coolness is the quality that decides here, not lightness and not softness: slate blue, soft rose, lavender and soft plum all have a blue or grey cast, and a shade with any gold in it looks out of place beside them.

Nothing in this palette has been borrowed, which is unusual and worth saying plainly: all ten shades are summer’s own. A subtype only takes shades from the season it leans towards, and this one leans nowhere. Far from making it a thinner version of summer, that is what makes it the clearest example of one, and it means a cool summer never has to judge whether a borrowed colour is warm enough to risk.

Also known as true summer, pure summer.

Cool summer colours to wear

The summer palette at its most typical. Nothing is borrowed from a neighbouring season, which is what makes this the clearest example of the season rather than a diluted one.

  • Slate Blue#6F8FB5
  • Dusty Pink#C98F9C
  • Soft Plum#7A5A73
  • Powder Blue#8FB3D1
  • Seafoam#8AB8AD
  • Soft Rose#D4939F
  • Mauve#9B7F96
  • Lavender#A294C4
  • Sage Green#8FA392
  • Periwinkle Blue#7E8CC4

Cool summer neutrals

The quiet shades to build around. These are shared with the parent season, because neutrals shift far less between subtypes than the colours do.

  • Soft White#F1F1EE
  • Cool Grey#9AA0A6
  • Taupe#9B8F87
  • Navy#2F4260

Shades to be careful with

Strong warm and very bright colours tend to overpower a soft, cool colouring and can pull attention away from the face.

  • Orange#E2601B
  • Tomato Red#D63426
  • Mustard#C8971F
  • Camel#B98B4F
  • Pure Black#000000

Signs this is you

  • Cool colours suit you at every depth this palette offers, light and medium alike.
  • Your skin has a pink, rose or blue cast rather than a golden one.
  • Silver jewellery is an obvious yes, and gold looks yellow against your skin.
  • Warm colours such as rust or mustard make your face look sallow immediately.

The one it gets confused with

Soft summer is the neighbour, and both are cool, so the test is clarity rather than temperature. Hold slate blue at the neckline in daylight, then mauve. On a cool summer the clear grey-blue looks cleaner and mauve looks slightly muddy; on a soft summer it is the other way round, and the clear shade looks a little loud.

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Wearing it

  1. Keep the contrast low

    This colouring is gentle even at its strongest, so two shades of similar depth work better than one very light and one very dark. Slate blue with cool grey, or soft plum with taupe, sits at the level your face can match.

  2. Check the denim as well as the top

    A warm, orange-cast wash undoes an otherwise cool outfit, and it is easy to miss because jeans feel neutral. A blue-cast or grey-cast denim keeps the whole outfit on the cool side.

Questions about cool summer

What is the difference between cool summer and soft summer?

Cool summer is decided by temperature and soft summer by how much grey a colour carries. Cool summer wears summer’s clearer shades at their own strength, while soft summer wears the quietest of them and borrows three deep autumn shades. A cool summer looks slightly washed out in the softest colours; a soft summer looks overpowered by the clearer ones.

Why are there no spring or autumn shades in this palette?

Because cool summer does not lean towards either neighbour. Borrowing happens only in the direction a subtype leans, and this one leans nowhere, so all ten shades are summer’s own. That is what makes it the purest version of the season.

Can cool summer wear black?

Not well, and pure black is on the list of shades to avoid for a reason. Navy and charcoal give you the same weight without the hard edge that black puts along the jaw. Keep black to shoes and bags if you own a lot of it.

Where this sits