No 2: What are my Colors? | Lu, Show Your Work!

project What are my Colors?	no. 02	status open
brief Find the colors that actually work on Lu	start date 2026.08.07	notes 4

← previously I Sketched out my Wardrobe

log.01 08.07

Choosing my one big beautiful color should be easy.

“The best colour in the whole world is the one that looks good on you.”
Coco Chanel

“Just wear whatever makes you confident!”
Everyone Else

Welp. That’s not helpful at all.

How do I know what color looks good on me?

What if I feel equally unconfident in all colors?

Does color even matter?

“You know, the design can be whack but if the fit is on point, we’re already halfway there.”
A friend, half-delirious from finals week

I was fanatic about fit until I went into my Draping II class blind.

I lost my glasses.

I couldn’t see lines.
I couldn’t see fit.
I couldn’t even find the door.

All I could see stumbling around like Velma from Scooby Doo were colors.

Periwinkle on top of peach with brown on the top.
If I squint, I can kind of see our draping professor.

Light pink on light brown with blonde down her back.
Squinting, I can kind of see my friend next to me.

Red on top of blueish dark.
Squinting and leaning in, I can see my classmate looking at me funny.

Everyone is a color blob in the distance before they become a person.

In theory, everything else can be objectively wrong.

Whack design.

Terrible fit.

A third sleeve growing out of the side seam.

But if color is right, you’re already halfway there.

Color is the new 80/20.

But how do I actually find my colors?

Most color advice sorts people into warm vs cool and matches clothing color to that.

~~Vein Test~~ I have green veins and blue veins.

~~Metal Test~~ Gold and Silver both look equally bad on me.

~~Foundation Test~~ Apparently yellow…but really, neither pink nor yellow.

▸ YOU ARE SO YELLOW!!!

Simpsons-style yellow-skinned portrait giving a skeptical side-eye — fig. 01 · Excuse me? I’m just trying to get color-matched to foundation. She’s acting like I came from the Simpsons or something. You don’t tell an Asian person (or really anyone) You are so yellow. Maybe she misspoke.

NO REALLY.

YOU ARE LIKE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YELLOW.

Alrighty then. The next time someone calls me yellow

I’m going to tell them nah bitch, I’m green :)

~~Color Seasons~~ I’M NOTHING

▸ WHYYYY??!!!

Find your season. Wear the color palette. Simple enough.

The quizzes kept spitting out Dark Winter.
BUT I can’t wear all-over black and look finished.
All black flattens me out,
so I know I’m not a Dark Winter. But that’s what I kept getting.

No. I must be TRUE WINTER.

Or maybe I’m a summer. SOFT SUMMER.

NO NO. I GOT IT. I’M BRIGHT WINTER.

…but why can I only wear half the palette?

Six months in, I’ve ping-ponged across EVERY color season.
The algorithm (every algorithm) has given up showing me anything else because I watch nothing except color consultations.
I can’t look at someone without running their coloring.

EXAMPLE #1: JON

Photo of Jon, showing his pink, low-contrast cool coloring — fig. 02 · Jon is pink. Strawberry pink. Navy as the neutral, taupes but keep it cool. The colors of architecture. (✓)

EXAMPLE #2: MY MOM

Photo of Lu’s mom, showing her pale, ultra-contrast cool coloring — fig. 03 · Decisively cool. Black hair, moonlit skin, ultra-contrast. Cool winter, obviously. (✓)

EXAMPLE #3: NICE LADY IN MY WEIGHTLIFTING CLASS

Photo of a woman from the weightlifting class with deep, smouldering dark winter coloring — fig. 04 · Burgundy. Plum. Deep dark green. The soul of dark winter. (✓)

BUT WHAT ABOUT ME?!

NOTHING WORKS

WHY DOES NOTHING WORK?

I’m lost but my options to get help are slim:

A. Hire a white woman who has NO idea what I am.
B. Fly to Korea so Korean auntie can tell me how ugly I am.

Fuck it.

I’m going to figure this out myself.

I went to the nearest mall and tried on a lot of clothes.

Grid of color test photos tried on at the mall — fig. 05 · I’m the kind of person who takes maybe 2 pictures a year. One for my mom and another for the government. This was a genuinely cringey, painful experiment to do. By the end of this, I was dying. FOR SCIENCE!Also, I made sure the sales associates knew I would put everything back myself. They didn’t mind.Also also, I started out smiling but the more pictures I took, the more my cheeks hurt and I was tired of matching smiles.

One photo stood out.

I asked AI no context. Same answer.

I asked Jon. Same answer.

I asked my mom. Why you no smile?

Photo of the winning red dressing gown — fig. 06 · This is a cheap polyester dressing gown but the red makes me look like a million bucks.

My one big beautiful color is red.

BUT WHY RED?

unless…

And then it hit me.
Red is opposite green on the color wheel.

IS IT BECAUSE I’M GREEN?

LIKE ACTUALLY GREEN???

Theory!

If I’m green, that means green should look better than any brown/taupe.
I raced to the makeup store in my jammies to find out.

Photo of a row of green eyeshadows next to a single brown — fig. 07 · There’s only one brown at the top, the rest are green. The greens look more brown than brown and the brown just looks like shit.

Also, Jon.

Photo of Lu and Jon standing together, showing the contrast between pink and green undertones — fig. 08 · Jon is so pink that I look like a zombie next to him. If you don’t see the green, it’s because all of these photos were taken on a Samsung phone that skews warm. I guess Samsung doesn’t like green people. That’s why nothing worked. Nobody ever made room for green people.

My One Big Beautiful Color is Red

(because I’m green)

log.02 08.08

Illustration of the red coat — fig. 09 · WE HAVE COLOR!!!!!

But one color is not a wardrobe.

It could be but not for me.

What about the rest of my colors?

Lessons from the Great Mall Experiment of 2025*

*Don’t worry if you can’t see it. Camera filters + lighting + different dressing rooms + different screens makes this very difficult to show you.

I AM MOSTLY GRAY

Photo comparing a dull light blue against a saturated royal blue — fig. 10 · LEFT: Light Blue. Not enough color and I look kinda dull.RIGHT: Royal Blue. Enough color and I look alive again.LESSON: I need enough color (saturation) in order to overpower the ghost of Christmas past overcast.

I AM BARELY WARM

Photo comparing rust on the left against silver on the right — fig. 11 · LEFT: Rust. Too warm amplifies the barely warm in my skin into mud.RIGHT: Silver. Too cool clashes with the barely warm.LESSON: The best colors on me are neutralish.

I AM WEIRD

Photo comparing white on the left against black on the right — fig. 12 · LEFT: White. Meh.RIGHT: Black. Meh.

Photo comparing black and white against black, white, and red — fig. 13 · LEFT: Black + White. Better but something is missing.RIGHT: Black + White + Red. Maybe my friend was right about the red lipstick.LESSON: I’m Cruella De Ville with significantly less cheekbones

MY COLORS

Photo of Lu’s best colors: saturated jewel tones — fig. 14 · Saturated. Not too warm. Not too cool. Jewel Tones.

I AM GREEN

Photo showing true red and emerald against the skin — fig. 15 · LEFT: True Red. The absolute best color on me because it complements my green.RIGHT: Emerald. The second best color on me because it harmonizes with my green.LESSON: The very best colors on me live on the red-green axis.

It’s Christmas!

▸ Green + Red = Christmas?

Let’s say that I wore a velvet green emerald dressing gown.

If I topped it with a black trench with red lining, won’t the red and green look like Christmas together?

~~I don’t know~~ Probably not.

Christmas happens when green and red sit next to each other.

Equal. Flat. Fighting.
Red Sweater. Green Pants. Christmas.

BUT

Green so dark it looks like it got murdered by black.

In silk velvet, where green glows at the folds.

Topped with black silk and flashes of RED only caught in glimpses.

THE MOTION. Absolutely gorgeous.

Aw man.

Now I want a velvet green emerald dressing gown.

BUILDING LU COLOR PALETTE

Illustration of Lu reduced to a single sad olive color — fig. 16 · Take off the skin colors and I would be something like this as a single color underneath. Mostly gray + green + a little bit of yellow. Like a sad olive.

Illustration adding red plus light and dark framing — fig. 17 · + our one big beautiful color, RED+ light and dark to frame the red

Illustration adding saturated jewel-tone colors from the mall experiment — fig. 18 · + the colors we found from our great mall experiment. saturated. not too warm. not too cool. jewel tones. Are we only limited to these colors?

Illustration showing which colors can and cannot live next to the face — fig. 19 · No.

Illustration of the worst possible color combination on Lu — fig. 20 · We can wear other colors but it just can’t live next to our face. or this happens...

BUT…

Photo of Lu wearing cream away from her face — fig. 21 · Take the unflattering away from our face, even badly edited, and boom!Off-duty Kungfu Movie star.

Finally!

COLOR MADNESS IS OVER!

Illustration of Lu’s completed color palette — fig. 22 · The palette is complete.

Let’s build.

Red is a color that only loves itself and doesn’t play nice with others.

Light and dark frames the red instead of competing with it.

Illustration of dark undergarments — fig. 23 · Undergarments in dark. Black frames the body and hides stains.

Alternating light and dark for maximum versatility.

Illustration of white underlayers, blouses and the ao dai — fig. 24 · Underlayers. Blouses and the Ao Dai (LONG SHIRT) in white.Adds much needed contrast but not yet committing to a specific shade. Getting white matched across different fabrics is its own project.

I can wear any dark suit over any of my blouse.

Illustration of dark suits in charcoal wool, indigo denim, and Lanh My A — fig. 25 · Suits in Dark. Black adjacent because head-to-toe black flattens me.Wool Suit in Charcoal. Lighter than black to show off construction.ABB x Chanel in Lanh My A. More on this later.Denim Suit in Indigo. Naturally fades over time.

And then we layer on the red in various amounts.

Illustration of red overlayers: winter coat, evening trench and rain coat — fig. 26 · Overlayers in red.Full Red for winter wonderland.Dark (LMA) + Lining red for evening.Light + lining red for drizzle.

Jewel tones for right moments. Especially that emerald green.

DONE!

~~I hope I never have to think about colors ever again.~~

log.03 08.12

I spoke too soon.

The clothes look okay because they are mostly black-ish, white-ish, and red but why does my color palette suck so bad?

The old color palette — fig. 27 · This looks more like a jewel tone sharpie pack than a cohesive color scheme.

Try #2

The best colors: saturated, not too warm, not too cool, jewel tones — fig. 28

Red and green look amazing. Everything else looks subpar by comparison. What if I got rid of the offending jewel tones and went deep into the Christmas colors as accents?

Refined palette built on red and green — fig. 29

Ahhh. Much better.

Depth > Breadth

First, I tried to push red.

It didn’t work.

Range of reds from warm to cool, dark to light — fig. 30 · Red has almost no range. There’s warm red and cool red. Push it too warm and it becomes orange. Push it too cool and it becomes purple. Push it too dark and it skews brown. Push it too light and it skews pink. Red is a point, not a range.

Then I tried to push green.

Green has HUGE range.

Wide range of greens from seafoam to near-black — fig. 31 · Even bigger in Vietnamese because the word xanh covers blue, green, and everything in between. A good chunk is harmonious because I am green.

Which made me wonder.

Can I create a palette by pushing green as far as it can go?

Rebuilding the Palette

Black-ish, white-ish, and one point of red — fig. 32 · Black-ish, white-ish and my single point red.

Gold and silver accents added sparingly — fig. 33 · + gold and silver used sparingly.

Full green range added to the palette, light to dark, cool to warm — fig. 34 · + greens, pushing greens as far as they can goLight: seafoam, celadonDark: green murdered by blackCool: emerald, blue-green, xanh, tealWarm: olive, mossWild: chartreuse, acid green

I knew I was on the right track because, unlike jewel-toned sharpie pack, I’m starting to see moods.

Warm-green palette, 1920s Paris mood — fig. 35 · Warm greens lean 1925 Paris. Think Absinthe-era Paris, Paul Poiret, Etre, art deco jewelry, leopard print, orientalism (done right)

Cool blue-green palette, mythic mood — fig. 36 · Cool greens/blue-green lean mythic. Think Cirque du Soleil “O”, The Shape of Water, fire/water symbolism.

Old Palette

New Palette

LESSON: Best colors ≠ best palette

But does the wardrobe work?

What am I missing? Where are the gaps? next →

log.04 09.03

But what happened to khaki?

Swatch of the leftover khaki from the old palette — fig. 39 · I have this random khaki color leftover from the old color palette.

I only have one garment, the 18th c Brunswick x Trench coat for rain in this one color. Khaki is not the best color for rain either. I wonder if I can substitute the khaki for a color in our new palette.

The Brunswick raincoat rendered in teal — fig. 40 · TEAL: The Brunswick coat already has a lot of shape. Ruffles, a hood, full skirt, bell sleeves, Watteau back. Add saturation and the garment skews costume.

The Brunswick raincoat rendered in emerald — fig. 41 · EMERALD: Ditto

The Brunswick raincoat rendered in petrol blue — fig. 42 · PETROL BLUE: Make it dark and the garment loses the costume feel. It looks like it’s dripping which is appropriate for rain and is much easier to keep clean. This may be a serious contender with the right fabric but it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to find a raincoat fabric that’s dark and saturated. Sigh.

The Brunswick raincoat rendered in chartreuse — fig. 43 · CHARTREUSE: Sigh. I so badly wanted this to work. In my head, it made sense. Yellow-green is the most visible color to the human eye. I would never get run over. I think this would still work with the right fabric but sadly not on me.

The Brunswick raincoat rendered in khaki — fig. 44 · KHAKI: Dammit. On one hand, the khaki trench has been done to death so I’ve been trying to avoid it. BUT there’s a really good reason *why* it’s been done to death. Even though this color is hard to keep clean and is kind of useless (not good for rain, snow, or heat), a century of detective/spy/noir movies immortalized the khaki trench. Any other color and it’s a coat. But this color makes it a trench even if it’s not standard-fare trench shaped. On this design, the khaki desaturated the drama so the cut reads as historical or romantic instead of theatrical. Khaki looks like construction. The others look like costume.

Khaki earned its Keep.

Unless of course, magnificent fabric appears in a different color.
Then all bets are off :)