"It is not the means of expression and representation that count in art, but the individual in his identity and humanity." -Johannes Itten
In 2023, House of Colour HQ welcomed a new CEO, Ally Van Iten, a former stylist and top-producing franchise owner. Van Iten has sought to bring high standards of excellence to our training process and, in doing so, has explored the history and foundation of our House of Colour systems. With this exploration, our HQ team has reinforced our research surrounding the method behind our color analysis, and we are excited to give you a peek behind the curtain.
House of Colour has several distinct services to celebrate our clients’ lives and style journey. Often, clients meet us and are introduced to our transformative process through color analysis as a first step. House of Colour stylists train in our foundation course for seven days to learn the basis of color analysis, seeing over 40 models in a class of up to 8 stylists, with two trainers per class and 1:1 instruction throughout the week. Stylists then attend ongoing in-person and virtual training throughout the year, engaging with our elite accuracy team for further development and mentorship.
The Process
House of Colour's draping process is done in person only. During the Covid-19 pandemic, House of Color conducted extensive testing on online color analysis and proved that it was impossible to do color analysis with guaranteed accuracy. Our evidence shows that most cameras will use software and AI color correction algorithms, significantly adjusting coloring and leading to a high risk of misdiagnosis errors. Because of this color correction, even the most dedicated cameras cannot replicate what is seen in person. According to SPD (spectral power distribution), the use of natural light is necessary as daylight is more evenly balanced than other lighting to ensure an accurate draping system.
House of Colour UK trainer and process curriculum expert Brian Coyle explains why it is necessary to use natural light: "Good natural daylight is crucial to accurate analysis so that the illumination of the client is in full spectrum, with balanced cool and warm components to the light. Artificial light is almost always susceptible to a predominance of cool or warm light, which may affect the observations made during the analysis and the accuracy of the analysis." Natural daylight is better than artificial light, even on a cloudy day. Still, we train stylists to avoid analysis when the light level is too low to observe clearly.
Color Analysis History
Color analysis takes on many forms. We have a world-leading process, as we have been perfecting it for the last 40 years and continue to do so as the market leader in color analysis. Building off Sir Isaac Newton's understanding of light and color, the French chemist Michel Chevreul's law of simultaneous contrast and the color system created and taught by Johannes Itten at the Bauhaus, House of Colour uses a variety of principles that have been trusted and recognized as the definitive theory of visible color for over 100 years.
Louise Hall, a clinical scientist with degrees in Microbiology and Hematology, explains why she chose to buy a franchise with House of Colour and become a stylist. "I wanted to deliver the same confidence and joy I received in 2007 through my analysis. Because I am so process-oriented and factual, I love that House of Colour gives me a proven system," explains Hall. "Our process is based on well-known, well-understood, and well-proven color theory that we utilize and apply to people and skin tone."
Serving as a principal investigator for clinical research, Elizabeth Lowden is a physician and endocrinologist who recently underwent House of Colour's training to open a franchise in Wheaton, Illinois. "I liked the consistency in our draping process," Lowden says. "In training, we learned that every point is a data point. And you cannot make assumptions based on looking at someone. You gather more data points throughout the process and need all this data to arrive at the right answer."
Color and Skin Tone
Skin itself is a color, starting at the melanin site created by melanin cells in the Melanocytes in the skin layers. Denise Winton, a stylist in the UK for the past 30 years and a lecturer and clinical nurse teacher at Glasgow Caledonian University, has studied how color analysis applies to skin tone at a cellular level. "Your melanin cells are predominantly warm or cool. We can see that warmth or coolness in the eye color, hair color, and outward appearance of the skin. Our draping method exposes this through simultaneous contrast. We can see the skin change when a drape color is removed and compared. The right colors will help make the skin look smooth, bright, clear, healthy or even. The wrong color will negate the healthy attributes listed above. Instead, it may give the appearance that the skin is gray, dull, washed out, sallow or uneven."
According to Winton, there is never an equal balance of yellow or blue pigment in the skin, meaning nobody can be neutral, and everyone falls into one of the two categories.
When looking at coloring, House of Colour uses primarily skin tone, not basing the decision on eye color or hair color alone to decide a client's season. However, when a client's season is discovered, wearing those colors will highlight that client's natural beauty, causing the eye color to pop and brighten, and the palette will harmonize with a client's natural hair color. If clients choose to dye their hair, the correct colors recommended during an analysis will further enhance their look.
Significantly, a client's season will always stay the same because the pigmentation undertones remain the same. Your outer layer of skin changes colors based on UV exposure or loss of pigment as you age. Depth of Melanin pigmentation can fade change, leading to gray hair or hyper-pigmented skin tone. But the right colors for your skin do not change; the warm and cool proportions in your undertones are set from infancy and are not affected as you age.
A Practical System
Most clients do not want to know the science behind our process; they simply want to look their best! Hall notes that she primarily works with professional women in her La Jolla, CA studio. "I love that we have a logical system and that it's simple enough for my clients to use and understand. I can tell clients how our system allows them to focus on what's important. It's incredibly efficient and fun!"
A Comprehensive System
Amy Savage, a stylist within one of the highest-grossing franchises in House of Colour located in Des Moines, Iowa, has seen over 2,500 clients and has studied multiple approaches to color analysis. Amy has a fine arts background and a BFA from Iowa State University. She has researched House of Colour's use of harmonizing a client's clothing and accessories with their skin tone. "Our system gives clients a range of neutrals, basics, and accent colors. Not only does it apply to clothing, but it also depends on someone's best hair and makeup colors. We address a client's complete head-to-toe look so they can look put together and intentional. My clients can deviate from black, white and gray and learn to wear color confidently!"
A Customized Experience
House of Colour's process has been developed over the last 40 years, draping hundreds of thousands of clients and teaching hundreds of stylists to perfect the craft of color analysis. Delivering their method in a straightforward manner, House of Colour stylists give clients four palettes: Autumn, Spring, Winter or Summer. These palettes, called "seasons" by Itten, are based on two variables: color temperature (warm or cool) and color clarity (bright or muted). Winter colors are cool and bright. Summer colors are also cool but are blended or soft. Spring colors are warm and bright. Autumn colors are also warm but are also blended. These variables make the draping process straightforward regarding training, explanation and application to clients.
Linda Davis, owner of House of Colour Kansas City, was one of the first stylists in the US. She helped implement the House of Colour curriculum in the US market and trained over 150 of our stylists. Linda has also taken additional color theory and color analysis training, exploring other methods outside of House of Colour for comparisons. "I have people from all backgrounds who come in for color analysis. Some people know a lot about color, and others do not. Our process is a simple way to describe how color works: colors are warm or cool, clear or muted."
Our four basic seasons are listed above, but that is just the beginning! Our approach does not end there. Each season can be further customized to the client through "subseasons," giving clients an additional 16 options. Our subseason method helps us to identify those clients that other systems may classify as "neutral." No other company in the world can match House of Colour's ability to identify clients who may sit on the cusp of one season or another. Helen Venables, Chair of House of Colour, says, “I am so proud of the House of Colour color analysis system. Watching our stylists discover the nuances and complexities our system alone brings to light is always a privilege and delight. When a client is in her best color space, something very affirming and confidence-building happens. House of Colour also celebrates the genetic complexity of all skin tones, having a draping process and a makeup line that applies to lighter and deeper coloring."
Stylists are taught how to apply the seasonal palettes not only to a client's coloring but also to their lifestyle. Once a palette is determined, the stylist can customize the client's ratings and issue them what we call "WOW" colors. One of our founding stylists and member of the House of Colour Global Board of Directors, Jackie Perkins, notes this regarding our customization: "We start with the person in front of us, we work with the person in front of us, and we apply our system to the person in front of us."
Davis loves that even with the subseason categories, House of Colour gives clients a wide range of colors within their palette. "I love that my clients can apply their palettes to their lives. For instance, if you had two clients, one a Deep Summer and the other a Pastel Summer, representing two of our subseasons, we could give an approach where if that Pastel Summer wanted a Winter coat, she can still WOW in her navy. She is not limited to only the light colors. A subseason system needs to be practical.
On the other hand, a Deep Summer might not want to spend the warmer months in deep colors only, so we would teach them how to incorporate the lighter Summer colors for a practical wardrobe. Someone can still look fabulous in a color outside of their subseason. This makes our system freeing and applicable to someone's life."
Rachel Freeman is an art history major and art teacher; now, as a House of Colour stylist, loves celebrating her clients and their unique coloring. "I love how bespoke our results are for each client. After discovering a client's seasonal palette, we show them every single one of their season colors and rate how each one looks. Even if someone is a specific subseason, for instance an Autumn Leaf, they may have WOW colors from the blue autumn family because perhaps a color like Peacock highlights the blue in their eyes."
"In medicine, I help people in a concrete but longitudinal way," Lowen says. "There is something exceptionally gratifying about being able to transform someone's life in a 90-minute appointment. With House of Colour, I can adjust someone's view of themselves in a moment."
The history and foundation of the House of Colour systems, the draping process, and each stylist's extensive training speak to the excellence of the House of Colour system and why our method is the best!