Colour, Colour, Colour In February

Colour analysis (sometimes) focusses on four very different types of clothing colour:

SPRINGS look their best in light, bright & warm colours

SUMMERS are also light, but suit more muted, cool shades

AUTUMNS look wonderful in deep, spicy, warm colours

And WINTERS have very definite deep, rich, cool tones in their palette

Roughly speaking...

With a range of over 300 colours, Kettlewell Colours is a clothing company I quickly fell in love with, and I also approve the fact that their clothes are made in small family factories in Portugal & Turkey.

Last November Kettlewell ran a competition, inviting entrants to explain exactly why they shopped at Kettlewell & to submit some photos of themselves in Kettlewell clothes. I was absolutely delighted to be picked as one of the four winners – and just a couple of weeks ago was able to experience my prize!

Four seasons – four winners:

• Meryl (Spring)
• Marieke (Summer)
• myself (Autumn)
• and Latha (Winter)

We had all met online before on the Kettlewell Colour Club’s Facebook page – but never in person. So it was exciting to meet up in Beaminster, Somerset, where Kettlewell had booked us all rooms in a gorgeous 700+ year old hotel.

A wonderful dinner with Melissa & John, Kettlewell’s founders & CEOs, plus other staff members. Breakfast next morning was with Jo, the Kettlewell in-house colour expert.

Then a short drive in convoy to Kettlewell’s HQ. Not an easy place to find & quite unassuming when you arrive, just two large black warehouses on a small industrial estate. The offices & clothing are in one of the buildings.

Everywhere was light and bright, with terrific colourful artwork. Upstairs the countryside views are stunning and this is where the creativity begins. The atmosphere is a happy one - everyone has a specific role to play in this team & they’re proud to be doing it.

It’s a very well-oiled machine with every part honed to perfection! From the desktop publishing upstairs down to the most organised, clean, regimented warehouse I have ever seen! (Well, I’ve never seen one in real life, but on the telly they never look like this! )

One problem with SO many clothing companies today is that you only ever see their clothes modelled on tall & willowy models who are only a size 6… Kettlewell has listened to customer complaints about this – and the main part of our prize was to be the “real women” on whom the new Spring/Summer Collection would be seen!

So the real highlight of the day was the PHOTOSHOOT!!

We were all wracked with nerves, but quickly got distracted by the sheer ENERGY of what goes on in a professional shoot – and the FUN as well:

Jake whizzing around - snap snap snap snap - "that's perfect"..."just turn towards me - wonderful!"..."you're SO good at this!"..."left hand in pocket, please"... "JUST what I wanted, thanks!"

Melissa zooming in (continually) to tweak a collar, to add a rose, to refold some ruching...

• Jo aiming the wind machine in every direction - except the correct one!! 
• Penny racing to & from the warehouse with different sizes & colours as required (no wonder she's so slim!)
• Elle running in & out of the make up room with brushes & powder puff for running repairs - "she's a bit shiny on the right cheek! "

Meryl went first, then Marieke, next myself – and, finally, Latha.  We haven’t seen the “official” photos yet, so these ones are snaps we took ourselves from the sidelines.

I’m SO grateful to Kettlewell for this wonderful prize – it really was one of the very best days I’ve ever had!