Love the Look: Emilia Clarke
/English actress Emilia Clarke is probably a Soft Summer.
As always I can’t be 100% sure without a proper in-person analysis, but I am very confident of this educated guess.
I won’t call Emilia a Colour Hero because she enjoys wearing all the colours, often going far beyond her Tone.
But when she does dress in her palette, a special magic happens.
Let’s take a Soft Summer tour with Emilia Clarke.
As a reminder, here is the enigmatic beauty of Soft Summer:
Extreme low chroma, cool with a little Autumn warmth, high value with a little Autumn shadow.
The Soft Summer vibe is smoky, antique and deeply mysterious.
On many people, this palette’s faded pastels, misty forest greens and pebble neutrals are a total wash-out.
On a Soft Summer, their extraordinary nuance and personality is brought to life.
Time to see Emilia showing us a few real life, walking examples of Soft Summer.
Here she is at the 2014 SAG awards.
I love the colour of this gown because it demonstrates the season’s hard-to-define character.
Is this cocoa brown or kind of pinkish?
I guess it’s a bit of both - we might call it rose taupe.
Fascinatingly it feels somehow both an accent and a neutral at the same time.
That shapeshifting quality is very typical of Soft Summer.
Because this colour leans to the warmer side of the season, the crushed berry lip is especially complimentary.
It adds important coolness to a feature colour that is reaching into bronze.
Add to this a barely-there hint of warmth in Emilia’s cheeks, teamed with cool eye shadow.
These are thoughtfully considered cosmetics.
The warm-cool bracelet is well played.
It creates a tone-on-tone effect which is particularly flatting on Soft Summers.
The balance between mostly cool with a little warm is expertly executed here.
Apart from the black clutch, value has also been respected.
The result is one of overall lightness but containing that hint of earthy richness so fundamental to the Tone.
This is sophisticated use of colour, I’m really impressed.
Nailed it!
Onto our next example.
Behold a faded lavender Emilia trotted out for the 2019 Oscars.
This is how Soft Summer might do glamorous sparkle.
The beads on this gown are rounded, very small and placed close together.
This diffuses reflective light, softening the effect and creating a mermaid shimmer rather than hard sequin glitter.
The jewellery is really good - more dull vintage glimmer than clean, blinding crystal.
Summers are easily overwhelmed by brightness so bling is not their best.
The all-over English rose makeup is perfect for Soft Summer.
Eyes, cheeks and lips are all taken from the palette’s pinks yet it doesn’t look overdone.
When selecting from the Tone, repeating the same colour creates a really lovely result.
Pink on pink on pink.
Low contrast seasons in particular can often get away with this choice as it connects with their subtle colour gradient.
In terms of hue, this is a head-to-toe cool look for Soft Summer.
It is missing a touch of warmth which would have given that artful finish.
Perhaps a little soft antique gold or pale satiny bronze in an earring would to the trick.
But there aren’t any major objections here.
Soft Summer wins again.
I’ve saved my favourite for last.
This exceptional choice was Emilia at the Game of Thrones DVD launch in 2012
Soft Summer greens are simply stunning.
This is the season’s vintage postcard effect if I ever saw it.
Clever balance of warm and cool again, here via the use of accessories.
The choice of warm-cool jewellery is really interesting, particularly that touch of champagne-brown in the earrings which balances the face.
And that very soft shimmery bronze for the shoes is genius.
Ignore the black mascara but keep the rest of the pink, silver and charcoal makeup.
A triumph!
Now to wrap up, I’m leaving you with this INCREDIBLE example of Soft Summer beauty styling.
What is commanding your attention?
I bet you cannot help but fall into Emilia’s eyes.
Yes Emilia is very beautiful but it’s more than that.
When you really see someone, it’s hard to look away.
That’s the power of colour harmony.
It’s as if nothing is here but the true essence of Emilia.
Along with this spectacular use of Soft Summer pink and taupe, note the hair and how it blends perfectly with the brows, framing and supporting the face without competing for our attention.
This cooler ash brunette is probably Emila’s natural colour and as a result is hard to beat.
It really showcases the season’s unique smokiness and is much more successful than many of Emilia’s warmer or darker hair picks.
Finally, you might not notice initially, but those earrings are set in gold.
The amount of warmth in that tiny contained area matters.
Your awareness may not clock it but your brain does, quietly and behind the scenes.
A trained eye will spot the detail but most people’s brains just shortcut to “wow amazing”.
On a True Summer this small anomaly would stand out oddly and swapping for silver would make a huge difference.
On a Soft Summer - who needs a hint of warmth - it adds complexity and balance.
Bloody gorgeous.
Thank you Emilia for showing us how Soft Summer is done.
