Draping: why fabric matters

Draping means holding colored fabric under your face to see what it does to your skin. The color is only half of it. The fabric changes how that color reaches your eyes.

What draping is

In a traditional color analysis, you sit in daylight with a neutral cape around your shoulders, and colored fabrics are laid one at a time under your chin. The aim is to watch your face, not the fabric. A good color makes your skin look even and your eyes clear. A poor one brings out shadows, redness or a gray or yellow cast.

The fabrics used for this are chosen carefully, because the same dye can look quite different depending on what it is printed on.

Why fabric changes color

When light hits fabric, some bounces straight off the surface like a mirror, and some sinks into the fibers and scatters back out carrying the dye's color. A smooth, shiny fabric sends back a lot of mirror-like reflection, which shows up as bright highlights. A rough or fuzzy fabric scatters light in many directions and gives a softer, more even color.

The weave, the fiber, the pile and any mixing of yarn colors all change that balance. That is why a "navy" sweater, a "navy" silk blouse and a "navy" pair of jeans can look like three different colors next to your face.

Satin and silk

Satin weaves have long, smooth floats of yarn on the surface. They reflect a lot of light, so you see bright highlights where the fabric curves and deeper color in the folds. The overall effect is more contrast and more brightness than the same dye on a matte fabric.

This shine can flatter clear seasons, Bright Spring and Bright Winter especially. It can also be a lot for soft seasons, where the highlights can look harsh. Satin also reflects onto your face more than matte fabrics do, which can lift your skin or cast a tint, depending on the color.

Canvas and matte cotton

A tight, plain-weave cotton, like canvas, poplin or a good T-shirt, scatters light fairly evenly. It shows the dye with little added shine or shadow, so it is the closest thing to seeing a color "as it is."

That makes matte cotton a good choice for testing colors at home. If you want to compare two shades, try to compare them in the same kind of fabric.

Velvet

Velvet has a dense pile of short upright fibers. The pile traps light, so velvet usually looks deeper and richer than the same color in a flat fabric. It also changes with direction: brushed one way it looks lighter and silvery, the other way darker and more saturated.

Deep seasons often look wonderful in velvet, because it adds depth. On light seasons, a dark velvet can look heavy, while a lighter velvet can look softer and more luxurious than expected.

Denim

Classic denim is a twill weave with blue yarn running one way and undyed, whitish yarn running the other. Up close, you are seeing tiny flecks of blue and white mixed together. From a distance that reads as a softer, slightly grayed blue, which is why denim feels casual and easy to wear.

Washes change it further. Dark rinse denim reads deeper and cleaner. Faded denim is lighter and softer, and often a little gray.

Sheer fabrics

Chiffon, voile and other sheer fabrics let light and skin show through. On your body, the color mixes with whatever is beneath it, your skin or another layer. A sheer red over pale skin reads as a lighter, pinker red; over deeper skin, a richer one.

Sheer fabrics are a gentle way to wear a color that is slightly too strong for you. Layering makes the color lighter and softer, and it reads less dominant near the face.

Knits, tweeds and heathers

Many knits and tweeds are made from mixed yarns, sometimes called heathered or marled. Like denim, they blend several colors into one from a distance, and the result is softer and more complex than a single flat color. Soft seasons in particular can look great in heathered colors, even when the solid version of the same color is a little too strong for them.

What this means for you

• Testing colors: compare shades in the same matte fabric and in the same light. Don't judge a satin top against a cotton one.
• Soft seasons: texture is your friend. Knits, tweeds, linen, suede and heathers soften colors in a way that suits you.
• Bright seasons: smooth fabrics with some sheen show color crisply and suit your clarity.
• Deep seasons: velvet, heavy wool and rich, dense fabrics add depth.
• Light seasons: lightweight and sheer fabrics keep colors airy.
• Borderline colors: if a color is nearly right but not quite, the fabric may decide it. A slightly too-bright color can work in a soft knit; a slightly too-soft color can come alive in satin.