Dark Autumn Lights — Spicemarket Colour

Dark Autumn has a touch of the unexpected.

When encountering this season for the first time, most people are taken by surprise with one particular aspect.

The colourful lights.

Don’t be fooled.

These colours only read as light when compared to the rest of the palette or when worn by a Dark Autumn.

They are actually super heavy and very low in value.

In fact, Dark Autumn has the darkest lights of any season.

And what you see in the palette are just a few examples of their variety.

I sometimes hear people describe these colours as pastels.

That’s because we don’t have many collective terms for colours we perceive as lighter, or which appear at the lighter end of a palette.

However pastels they really aren’t.

Pastels are from Summer and they’re delicate, chalky and misty.

Nor are they like Winter’s icy lights which are crisp and saturated.

Instead, these colours are dense and organic, reflecting Autumn’s earthiness.

Dark Autumn lights can hold their own against the richest warm-neutrals known to man and are beautifully offset with a little black.

Just as a reminder, this is what pastels look like.

Delicate, chalky and misty.

Nothing dense or earthy here.

Go back and take another look at the pictures you’ve just seen.

Now can you feel the weight of Dark Autumn?

And these are the palette’s lights!

Comparison is central to learning colour so let’s try another one.

Here’s how Dark Autumn lights stack up against those from related seasons.

If you look closely and take note of the colour gradients, you can pick out tons of lighter colour matches in these images.

Soft Autumn is faded, dusty and a bit greyish. It also feels a lot airier and more diaphanous, with teals warmer but reminiscent of mint or sage greens.

Being purely warm, True Autumn lights lean heavily into yellow - plenty of golden beige, latte or olive-khaki laced neutrals, dull apricot tones like unbleached silk.

Look around the edges where the sun sets and you’ll spot plenty of Dark Autumn lights; it really is the sunset palette. Some colours seem similar to Soft Autumn but these versions are much deeper and more pigmented.

Dark Winter is pinker with frosted violets absent from warmer palettes and light blues much closer to true blue than the green-tinted teals of Autumn. There’s a range of pale iceberg greens not pictured here. In addition, Dark Winter can push all the way to white which Dark Autumn never can.

Dark Autumn lights are fascinating.

They are usually the last part of the palette a newly crowned Dark Autumn will learn.

They are also are among the season’s most interesting and exciting colours.

As a Dark Autumn, understanding these lights leads to advanced styling.

Discovering a garment or accessory in one of these colours is like hitting the jackpot.

You won’t believed the effect it has on your wardrobe.

Teaming these lights with more familiar neturals creates instant depth and dimension, especially since we don’t see them as often as we should.

This is the catalogue of colours a Dark Autumn may reference for “lighter” occasions - weddings, the races, a summertime wardrobe.

Don’t be tempted by a crisp white shirt, these colours are plenty light on you and way more flattering.

To look their best, Dark Autumns typically need more contrast than other Autumns, a legacy of Winter’s influence on the season.

These colours break up the more accessible but heavier darks that tend to dominate Dark Autumn styling, providing some respite from the usual suspects of black, military green, burgundy or bitter chocolate, and offering a change from old-faithful ivory or tahini “whites”.

Keep in mind that the overall impression of low value is really important for Dark Autumns so if you enjoy wearing colours from the lighter parts of the palette, you may still need to ground your outfit with a few darker elements - even if that’s just shoes, an accessory, prints or small tailoring details like buttons or piping.