This is where my love for colour and fashion was born. There was nothing that made me happier than walking the aisles of fabric stores, gleefully eyeing the myriad of colours and patterns and running my hands over the bolts of fabric. This led to my interest in reading magazines like Seventeen, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Vogue, and later sewing magazines like Burda, Butterick, McCall’s, Simplicity, and Vogue. In high school, I had a reputation for creating innovative clothing; even the teachers commented on my skill. In my teens I also became interested in makeup with a short stint as an Avon lady (believe it or not!)
While at university, I didn’t have much time to sew, although my former roommate recently recalled that I was still interested in clothing.
When I got married and had kids, I sewed for a local children’s clothing company just before moving to western Canada where I started my own children’s clothing business featuring brightly coloured unisex clothing. I continued my love of sewing for a long time, until 2004, when I discovered a new passion in scrapbooking and photography and which became a new way of expressing myself though colour.
Backtracking, my interest in personal colours, that is wearing colours that looked best on me, was fueled in the 1980s by the book Color Me Beautiful by Carol Jackson. Carol was a leader in the seasonal (winter, autumn, summer, spring) typing based on an individual’s natural skin undertone (warm or cool) and general colouring.
Like many women, I was eager to discover what my best colours were. I vaguely remember getting my colours “done;” what I remember most from the session was that I looked better in ivory than white. I was designated as a “spring,” which means that clear, delicate, and yellow-undertone bright colours look best on me. I still have my original swatches as well as my well-thumbed-through copy of Color Me Beautiful.
When the newly rediscovered hot topic of colour analysis popped up on my social media in late 2024, I stood up and took notice. I discovered that the four-season colour typing process had been expanded to twelve seasons with three subdivisions within each of the traditional seasons.
The blitz of colour analysis posts on social media happened at a time when I was in a state of flux. After going through several years of grieving devastating loss, I was ready to find purpose in my life again. I followed some of the leaders in the field thinking I might get my colours done again. That segued to tinkering with the idea of becoming a colour consultant myself. But I soon abandoned the idea as most of the companies I investigated required travel to big cities for im-person training, and that felt beyond my capacity. So, I let the idea go.
A few weeks later, a conversation with a friend who is also a former counsellor and pastor encouraged me to revisit who I was and what I was passionate about in the first two decades of my life. Of course, colour analysis flashed through my mind again. This time, my online investigation led me to a company out of the United States which couldn’t have been a better match for me. It is the only Christian-based colour analysis and styling company to my knowledge in the world.
I had prayed over those few weeks that the Lord would close the doors He needed to close and open the doors He needed to open for me to find meaningful work and needed income.
It just happened that the company was doing its final 2024 training in mid-December for certified color consultants. After asking close friends and my pastors to pray while I discerned what to do, I decided to jump at the opportunity.
Click here to read Part 2.
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