Every Shade of Autumn

"Every shade of Autumn"...   As I came upon that phrase in my reading, it really struck a cord with me.  Those are my colors--the ones that result, months later, from new spring growth, survive sometimes scorching heat and drought of summers, unveiling themselves once touched in Fall by colder night air, or nipped by a bit of frost.  An Autumn palette is one I am most comfortable with, the hues my eyes and soul relate to beyond surface beauty.

In my memory, my mother dressed me in lots of brown.  She nixed red saying it would clash with the red in my hair.  I've had a strong attraction to particular hues for a long time but I didn't get to indulge myself in that direction until I was an adult.  As a sweet, young thing, working and living in Salt Lake City in the early 60's, I purchased ... did you guess? ... a RED, brushed wool. winter coat.  On layaway!  I remember well the day I made the last payment and put that precious wrap on.  It was finally MINE!  Oh, how I loved that coat.  I loved everything about it.  I'd had so little exposure to shopping.  This was the first time in my life I'd had money to spend on myself.  Without even knowing what I didn't know yet about color and fashion, I picked the perfect shade of red for me--one with warm undertones--and since I had a figure at that time, the slender cut of the coat with its slash side pockets and lapel collar was becoming on me.  I could have fashionably worn that coat in any decade.  That was to become my fashion ID--traditional cuts and styling, Autumn colors.  And I did cloak myself in my red coat until the sleeves and all the edges frayed and the lining literally shredded and fell out!

Remember the 80's, when it was all the rage to have your "colors" done?  I served as a model once for Edna Burt, who owned Edna Skin Care.  Once a Los Angeles cosmetics company, she moved the operation to Sparks and hosted workshops at her studio, instructing woman in the use of her products and how to put their best foot forward with color.  We met at church.  One of Edna's granddaughters was in my Laurel class.  "You are a 'true' Autumn," she said.  "There are few who are naturally so.  It is the tiny, golden flecks in your eyes that determine this."  And so, I agreed to sit on an artist's stool while Edna and her assistant draped fabric over my shoulders and around my face for one of her session groups.  Her philosophy was that of non-restrictive use of color.  "There is no color a person cannot wear," she said, "if used in the right shade and intensity!"  Then she would demonstrate combinations that made color complimentary winners if you were thought to be an Autumn, a Winter, or a Spring or Summer as determined by skin tone, hair and eye color.  I received a jar of foot cream, for my services.  I always found that funny.

Every shade of Autumn.  I take comfort in them.  They reflect my moods, my thoughts, my insights, and have become a part of who I am.