Clothing Aesthetics: Consistent Colour Choices to Match Fair and Tanned Skin Tones

Abstract

Fashion stylists advise clothing colours according to personal categories that depend on skin, hair and eye colour. These categories are not defined scientifically, and advised colours are inconsistent. Such caveats may explain the lack of formal tests of clothing colour aesthetics. We assessed whether observers preferred clothing colours that are linked to variation in melanin levels among White women. For this, we presented 12 women's faces: six with fair skin (relatively lower in melanin) and six with tanned skin (relatively higher in melanin). Across two experiments, observers ( N = 96 and 75) selected the colour (hue and saturation or hue and value) of simulated clothing that most suited the skin tone of each face. Observers showed strong preferences for red and blue hues, and in addition favoured ‘cool’ blue hues to match fair skin and ‘warm’ orange/red hues to match tanned skin. This finding suggests that skin tone can determine colour preferences for clothes.

Eye color is more important than skin color for clothing color aesthetics.

“…Experiment 1 Task A replicated previous work (Perrett & Sprengelmeyer, 2021) and showed as hypothesized (H1A) that warmer clothing colors were chosen for individual faces with a dark complexion. Here, complexion refers to the color of skin, eyes, eyebrows, and hair.…”

“…The explanation offered by Perrett and Sprengelmeyer (2021) for biases in garment color choice was the association between colder climates and paler skin. Participants chose cool colors for individuals with pale skin because of the geographical association between low-melanin skin pigmentation and low environmental temperature.…”

“…The preference for warm-colored clothing for White individuals with a darker complexion (Perrett & Sprengelmeyer, 2021) may emerge from this association between warm Mediterranean climates and the higher melanin pigmentation in these regions. Reciprocally, lower levels of melanin pigmentation will be associated with the cooler climate of higher latitudes.…”

“…By allowing participants to choose any color from the full spectrum of hues for simulated clothing (an opaque area covering chest, shoulders, and lower parts of the neck), Perrett and Sprengelmeyer (2021) found that 75% of observers chose warm colors (i.e., orange and red) more often for White women with a tanned skin complexion than for White women with a fair (light) complexion. Reciprocally, observers chose cool colors (i.e., blue) more often for White women with a light skin complexion than for White women with a tanned complexion.…”

Construction of womenswear matching expert system based on domain knowledge

“…Besides, the existing fashion recommendation system fails to consider these experiences and knowledge. 6 In addition, Perrett et al 17 established rules between clothing color and objectively measured skin tones from an aesthetic and stylist perspective. Gan and Li 18 noted that the more uniform the style of different outfits, the higher harmony of the collocation.…”