Are you a Spring?
Springs are usually identified by what goes wrong rather than what goes right: black looks severe, grey drains the face, and strong make-up ages it. Turn that around and the test is simple. Hold a warm coral and a cool rose either side of your face in daylight — if the coral lifts you and the rose leaves you looking faintly grey, warmth is your direction. Then check strength: if the lighter, clearer version of a warm colour beats the deep, earthy one, you are Spring rather than Autumn.
Your neutrals
Spring anchors in warm, light neutrals — camel, warm greige, ivory, golden coffee. These do the work black does for other seasons, the coat and the trouser and the bag, without the shadow black casts across a warm light face. Cream reads better than optic white, and a warm navy is wearable where a cold inky one is not.
What people get wrong about Spring
The commonest mistake is treating Spring as a pastel season. Spring is clear, not pale — a dusty, greyed pastel belongs to Summer and turns chalky on you. The second is defaulting to black because it is what the shop sells. A warm greige or a golden coffee does the same job and keeps the light in your face.
Spring, or the season next door?
Autumn shares your warmth but carries it deeper and softer. Both of you look well in warm colour, so the question is strength rather than direction. If a rich rust and a heavy olive feel like they are wearing you, and the clearer, lighter version of the same warmth suits better, you are Spring.
More on Autumn →Summer shares your lightness but runs cool. This is the pairing most often confused, because both are gentle and neither takes heavy colour. The test is a warm peach against a cool rose in daylight: Spring looks fresher in the peach, Summer in the rose.
More on Summer →