Soft Summer neutrals
The base of your wardrobe: coats, pants, bags and shoes.
- Off-White
#F1EEE9 - Dove Gray
#A8A2A0 - Taupe
#8C8279 - Grayed Navy
#3F4A5F
Summer sub-season
Soft Summer Color Palette: Colors, Outfits, Makeup & Hair
The most blended season: grayed, hushed colors with a quiet elegance.
What is Soft Summer?
Soft Summer is harmony.
Your defining trait is softness. You need desaturated colors, as if mixed with gray.
On you, a dusty rose, a slate blue or a sage green aren’t bland: they’re refined. It’s bright colors that steal the show.
Soft Summer sits on the border with Soft Autumn. They share the same first quality: softness. On you, colors keep a rather cool base.
Your colors look as if seen through a haze. Think of a beach at the end of the day: pebbles, driftwood, heather.
Signs you may be Soft Summer (and the traps)
- Bright colors walk into the room before you do.
- Tone-on-tone looks and monochrome outfits suit you better than contrast.
- You often go back and forth between gold and silver: your undertone is close to neutral.
- Gray, which many people find sad, suits you very well.
The palette
Soft Summer color palette
Twenty colors, with their hex codes, to show you the spirit of your sub-season.
- Dusty Rose
#C48A94 - Tea Rose
#D9A8AE - Muted Raspberry
#A85068 - Soft Burgundy
#8A4756 - Soft Plum
#7B5871 - Grayed Mauve
#A690A8 - Gray Lavender
#A9A6C9 - Gray Blue
#8198AE - Slate Blue
#5F7890 - Grayed Turquoise
#6FA3A3 - Verdigris
#6F9088 - Cool Sage
#93A99A - Heather Rose
#B88A9E - Smoky Mauve
#9C8AA6 - Smoky Blue
#7F93A6 - Washed Denim
#6F8AA8 - Eucalyptus
#8FA89A - Grayed Spruce
#5C7A72 - Rosy Cocoa
#8F7570 - Pebble Gray
#B5B1AE
Soft Summer colors to avoid
Too saturated or too sharp: they overpower the softness of your face.
- Black
#0A0A0A - Bright Orange
#FF6A00 - Bright Yellow
#FFD400 - Electric Fuchsia
#FF1F8E
Outfits and wardrobe
Soft Summer outfits and capsule wardrobe
At the office
Dove gray blazer, off-white shirt, grayed navy pants, dusty rose scarf
On the weekend
Cool sage sweater, washed jeans, off-white sneakers
For an evening out
Soft plum or soft burgundy dress, brushed silver
Soft Summer capsule wardrobe
Eight pieces to start with, all of them mix and match.
- Dove gray coat
- Grayed navy blazer
- Off-white shirt
- Dusty rose sweater
- Gray blue T-shirt
- Washed jeans
- Soft plum dress
- Taupe pants
Prints and fabrics
Quiet, blended prints: heathered knits, tone-on-tone stripes, faded florals. Soft, matte fabrics: cashmere, boiled wool, washed linen, fine velvet.
Three pairings that work
- Dove GrayDusty Rose
- Slate BlueOff-WhiteTaupe
- Cool SageSoft Plum
Makeup, hair, jewelry
Soft Summer makeup, hair color and jewelry
Soft Summer makeup: lips, eyes, blush
- Lips
- Rosewood, dusty rose, muted raspberry. Satin finishes.
- Eyes
- Taupe, gray-brown, soft plum, verdigris. A smudged line rather than a graphic one.
- Blush
- Tea rose.
Soft Summer hair color
Ash brown, ash dark blonde, soft brown. Very blended highlights rather than strong contrasts.
Soft Summer jewelry and metals
Brushed silver, rose gold, white gold. Matte or satin finishes.
The three most common mistakes
- Thinking your palette is sad and adding a bright color to cheer it up. That’s the color people will see, not you.
- Wearing black and white: the contrast is too strong. Go for grayed navy and off-white.
- Going back and forth endlessly between Soft Summer and Soft Autumn. That’s normal, and it’s exactly what an outside eye settles.
Head to head
Soft Summer or Soft Autumn? How to tell them apart
Both seasons need desaturated colors. Soft Autumn is warmer, Soft Summer cooler.
The two-color test. In daylight, with no makeup, hold a piece of fabric in each of these two colors up to your face. The one that evens out your complexion and brings out your eyes is your answer. The one that deepens your dark circles or makes you look tired is not yours.
Soft Summer next to the other Summers and its neighboring season
| Sub-season | Temperature | Lightness | Intensity | Contrast | Signature color |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soft Summer | Neutral to cool | Medium | Very soft, grayed | Low | Dusty Rose |
| Light Summer | Slightly cool | Very light | Soft | Low | Powder Pink |
| Cool Summer | Very cool | Medium | Soft to medium | Moderate | Raspberry |
| Soft Autumn | Neutral to warm | Medium | Very soft, desaturated | Low to moderate | Light Terracotta |
For everyone
Soft Summer on every skin tone, and for men
Any skin tone can be a Soft Summer. Deep, medium or fair, with a warm, cool or olive undertone: what decides is how your skin reacts when colors are held up to your face.
For a Soft Summer man: a medium gray or grayed navy suit, off-white or gray-blue shirt, sage or slate blue knits. Little contrast, lots of tone-on-tone.
The method is the same for everyone: the pieces change, not the colors.
Go further
The Soft Summer guide: join the waitlist
The complete Soft Summer guide
Your full palette, capsule wardrobe, makeup, hair and a shopping list.
- Your sub-season, explained
- Your complete palette
- Your neutrals and basics
- Your capsule wardrobe
- Pairings that work
- Makeup
- Hair
- Jewelry, glasses, prints
Planned price: $29.99. The guide is not on sale yet: join the waitlist to be told when it opens.
Join the waitlistNot sure you’re a Summer?
The quiz shows you your likely season and a sub-season hint, with no sign-up. A first hint, not a verdict.
How the method works
Twelve sub-seasons instead of sixteen, the three things we look at, and why a quiz is only a first hint.
Questions
Soft Summer: your questions
Soft Summer or Soft Autumn: how do you tell the difference?
This is the most common mix-up. Compare a cool dusty rose and a light terracotta. Both are soft: temperature settles it. When you’re unsure, this is exactly the kind of case where a trained eye saves you years.
Is the Soft Summer palette sad?
No. It’s subtle. On the right person, it looks very elegant, where bright colors would look like a costume.
What colors should a Soft Summer avoid?
Keep Black, Bright Orange, Bright Yellow and Electric Fuchsia away from your face. Too saturated or too sharp: they overpower the softness of your face.
Which jewelry metals suit a Soft Summer?
Brushed silver, rose gold, white gold. Matte or satin finishes.
What hair color suits a Soft Summer?
Ash brown, ash dark blonde, soft brown. Very blended highlights rather than strong contrasts.
What lipstick colors suit a Soft Summer?
Rosewood, dusty rose, muted raspberry. Satin finishes.
How can I be sure I’m a Soft Summer?
On your own, it’s hard: we all see through our own taste, and neighboring sub-seasons look alike. Start with the free quiz to check your likely Summer season, then run the two-color test on this page against Soft Autumn. Treat the result as a hint, not a verdict.
What’s the difference between Soft Summer and Soft Autumn?
Both seasons need desaturated colors. Soft Autumn is warmer, Soft Summer cooler.
Think you’re a Soft Summer?
Check it. The free quiz shows you your likely season in two minutes, and the two-color test on this page helps you tell it from its neighbor.