The 60-second rule? Colour theory? Yet more ways we’re supposed to live our lives | Francesca Newton

In these times of social, political and even environmental instability, is it any wonder that we turn to influencers for instruction?

A group of young women are about to try colour analysis for the first time. One says she suspects she’s not “supposed to wear gold”, and then holds up both hands swathed in gold rings and bracelets. The video cuts to the same woman with a strip of gold fabric laid across her chest. A sad trumpet sound plays before the strip is whipped off and replaced with a silver one. “See?” the analyst says. “Way better here.” The woman says: “Yeah”, but she sounds unhappy.

Colour analysis is a method of picking out the shades that suit your skin tone. After its first life in the 1980s and 90s, “getting your colours done” found a new audience on TikTok in 2024 and has only become more popular since. This clip was one of many thrown up by my Instagram feed but it stuck with me, largely because it seemed so depressing in its portrayal of the trend as something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Directions on what you’re “supposed” or “not supposed” to wear, it intimated, should be followed even if it means sacrificing your own preferences.

Francesca Newton is a writer and editor

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/i1CBELK