Many of our colour analysts are open in describing the process of emotions and search for personal answers that brought them to their new career.  In acknowledging that life always includes struggle and moments of defeat, they have also faced the choice to move forward once again. They have known the conflict of having lost their way to some degree with their own beauty, yet never surrendered the belief that it exists, simply accepting that it does for all people.

The moment in which we make the decision to rise up is so important that it becomes an everlasting source of resolve and resilience for us to draw upon, with plenty in reserve to support others. You can see the soulfulness in Debi’s eyes; her wisdom and kindness, and her faith in the healing power of beauty. You may also sense her great dignity, enough to transcend the voices and images of what we are told beauty is or must be to conform.

Beauty takes infinite forms, as many as there are Nature’s creations, and draws our human spirit to deeper perceptions as we observe the manifestation of true grace. The practice of colour analysis adds reliable structure and elegant meaning to help us understand human beauty. Once the analysis has yielded its accurate result, its interpretation is not linear; it is gentle, unassuming, truthful, and flexible. Debi is all of these, and, as colour analysts do, she bridges the worlds of order and theory with bringing to light the radiant beauty of each person.

In stolen moments during the PCA training course, I encourage the soon-to-be professional analyst to write of her experience, while the tension and renewal are fresh in her heart and mind. Much of the journey involves courage, an emotion that seems to dilute once we have committed to it. Debi is brave and will help you find your courage and place your faith back in your own beauty.

It is my honour to introduce Debi Rushworth. Here is her story.

I have always loved clothes and fashion and spent hours as a kid “designing” clothes and dressing my dolls. As I got older, it didn’t really occur to me that this interest was something that could be explored in a career and so I went to university mainly because that’s what was expected. In my late teens my auntie trained as a Colour Analyst with a well-known company and she analyzed me, my sister, and my Mom as a gift. I was intrigued and thought it made sense of why certain clothes suited my sister but not me. Yet I found certain aspects of my season (at the time True Winter) didn’t seem to work for me. I carried on buying vaguely cool colours - a lot of blue - but probably had as many bad purchases as good and still felt my choices were a bit chaotic. I wasn’t sure why.

Then followed the wilderness years when I struggled with depression and life was a battle. My hair silvered in my 20s and I mourned the change in my appearance. I felt like I had disappeared. Because the depression was so chronic, for the longest time I didn’t care much about colour and clothing. But more recently, a time finally came when I felt ready to re-enter the work force again and I knew I wanted a job that involved creativity in some way. We moved to Canada four years ago from Britain and it was then that I started to think about colour analysis more seriously.

As I explored training options I came across Christine Scaman of 12 BLUEPRINTS and felt this could be the route in for me. After chatting to Christine she suggested that I come for a Personal Colour Analysis with her in her studio in London Ontario to give me a feel for what it would involve.

I’ve got to admit I was excited, and the more I read about how colour analysis has evolved over the decades, the more I wondered if I was one of the ‘new’ neutral seasons. When I was first analyzed, there were 4 seasons; Spring and Autumn being the warm ones and Summer and Winter the cool. Unless you fitted into being categorised as either truly warm or truly cool, you wouldn’t find your fit in that system. It is estimated 2/3 people are a blend of warm and cool in differing amounts and Christine’s method of analysis accommodates that in a 12-season system.

It was fascinating to learn that I was really a Bright Winter which made sense of all my fashion faux pas over the years. I learnt that as a Bright Winter I need 3 elements to be present to provide the most harmony between my clothes and the colours that are present in my skin, hair and eyes. My best colours are ones that are cool with a little bit of Spring’s yellow added. This gives me a range of colours that are highly pigmented (not dusty or muted). I also wear contrast (light to dark) well.

Bright Winter includes luscious jewel tones like emerald, violet and magenta as well as neutrals like charcoal, navy and white.

At the end of the day, clothes are just another form of self-expression. I realise they aren’t the be all and end all of life, but finding colours that reflect who I really am, makes me happy. So many women are dissatisfied with aspects of their appearance many of which they can’t change. Instead of seeing the problem as being within the clothing industry or the colour, we tend to blame ourselves. Fashion becomes another area in which we aren’t enough and don’t match up to an impossible standard of beauty. The fact is, all people are beautiful, in all their amazing diversity. What I love about Colour Analysis is that it says, these are the colours, the beauty and design that are already in you. Wear clothes that reflect that and you will look your best with no drastic measures required! Who wouldn’t want that?

So I leaned into my new season and planned to train as a Personal Colour Analyst with Christine last Fall. It was a wonderful experience and I am incredibly grateful to be part of an amazing group of colleagues all doing something we feel passionate about.  I am so excited to be able to encourage women that they are beautiful in their own skin and their clothing can be an expression of who they are inside.


 

My studio is based in my home in the beautiful city of Fredericton, which is in New Brunswick,  Canada. With Fredericton’s location being 50 miles from the Maine border, I am excited to welcome clients from the U.S.  For the purpose of the analysis, I will be using specially calibrated test drapes to look at the reactions to colour in your skin, hair and eyes. Once we have established which seasonal group you are in, I look forward to showing you the wealth of colour combinations opening up for you with the beautiful Luxury Drapes. These will give you the fullest picture of what colour can do in beautiful harmony with your natural colouring. There will will also be an opportunity to try lip and blush Colours in your season from the 12 BLUEPRINTS range of cosmetics.

You can contact me by email at bloompca@gmail.com.  I am also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bloompca/and on Instagram as Bloompca. At present I don’t have a website but you can find me on ChrysalisColour.com which features my colleagues worldwide and a whole host of interesting articles and information on Personal Colour Analysis.