Inside the draping room: how a color analysis really works
From calibrated daylight to the first gold versus silver test, here is what happens between the first drape and the moment your season clicks.
5 min read
Most guests arrive with a guess. Some are sure they are a Winter because they love black, others have been told by a friend that they look best in pastels. The draping room is where those guesses meet the mirror.
It starts with the light
Before anyone sits down, the room is set to daylight balanced lighting. Warm bulbs and window light shift every color they touch, so we keep the studio neutral and consistent from the first session of the day to the last. It is the single most important tool we own.
A clean canvas
Your colourist asks you to remove any makeup and covers your clothes and hair with a neutral wrap. What remains is your skin, your eyes and your natural contrast, the three things that decide your season.
Warm or cool first
The first drapes always test undertone. A gold drape, then a silver one. A warm red, then a cool red. Watch closely and you will see it: one side smooths the skin and brightens the eyes, the other adds shadows that were not there a second ago.
Depth and clarity
Once we know which way you lean, we test how light or deep, and how bright or soft, your best colors are. This is where the classic four seasons become twelve, and where the result becomes truly personal.
The moment it clicks
Almost every guest has the same moment: a drape goes on and the face simply looks rested. That is your season. From there, we build your palette, explain why it works and hand you the swatch card you will carry for years.
Curious which season you are? Book a Personal Color Analysis and see it for yourself.
