Reference note for skin tone, undertone, and the clothing-color palette that flatters it. Established in the Thailand Trip wardrobe research (May 2026). Physical profile and sizing live in Clothing Sizing & Fit and 2025-03-22 Body Measurements. Color-model definitions live in Color Models; chip-rendering conventions live in Obsidian Styling.
Skin tone result
- Fitzpatrick type: IV
- Classification: Olive — warm, greenish-neutral complexion
- Hex:
#B87C50
{"aliases": ["Skin tone — Fitzpatrick IV olive"], "height": 60, "hover": false}- Undertone: warm with a greenish-neutral cast (shifts with lighting)
- Source: an online skin-tone analyzer; self-reported.
Why olive skin needs its own approach
Olive skin sits in its own category — neither clearly warm nor clearly cool — so standard warm/cool color advice often doesn’t apply cleanly. It reads as muted warmth with a greenish cast that shifts in different lighting.
Practical implications:
- Pure cool colors (icy blue, cool gray, lavender) make the complexion look ashen.
- Pure warm yellows wash it out — they sit too close to the undertone.
- The sweet spot is rich, slightly muted, earthy colors with depth.
Palette that works (#B87C50)
Earth tones (strongest): terracotta, rust, camel, warm browns (tan through chocolate), warm beige.
Deeper jewel tones: burgundy, forest green, deep teal, persimmon; also coral, berry pink, true red, muted plum.
Neutrals:
- Cream / ivory beat stark white
- Warm-toned navy works well
- Warm charcoal or chocolate brown often read richer than pure black
- Avoid cool gray — makes olive skin look ashen
Nuances from external sources (added 2026-07-13, web-verified)
- Greens near the skin’s own hue can merge rather than contrast. Sage, khaki, and lighter olive greens risk blending into an olive complexion; prefer deeper, clearer greens (forest, hunter, emerald). Field note: the dark green/olive UNIQLO pieces got good real-world feedback in Thailand, so the owned shades appear deep enough — the caution applies to lighter khaki/sage territory going forward.
- Mustard/orange extremes can exaggerate the green cast — a second mechanism (beyond “washes out”) for why overly warm yellows fail. Same conclusion: skip mustards and pure yellows.
- Independent sources corroborate the core palette: earth tones (terracotta, rust, camel) and deep jewel tones (burgundy, forest, deep teal, espresso) as strongest; navy explicitly confirmed as the cool-dark-neutral exception that works on olive skin; cream/ivory over stark white.
Cross-check against real-world wear
The palette above optimizes for complexion flattery. Field testing in Thailand (see Clothing Sizing & Fit) surfaced a second, partly competing axis: sweat concealment, where dark colors win regardless of undertone.
- The two axes mostly agree: olive, dark brown, deep teal, navy flatter the complexion and hide sweat.
- They diverge on the lighter recommended neutrals: cream, light beige, and especially light/cool gray flatter poorly and show sweat — avoid for standalone hot-weather wear.
- Net: for clothing worn on its own in heat, prioritize the dark end of the flattering palette.
HSB screening method for buying decisions
Before buying, sample the actual color from the retailer’s color chip image (preferred — e.g. UNIQLO’s chip JPGs on their image CDN) or from a well-lit product photo, and read the HSB values. Marketing color names are unreliable (“Light Gray” below turned out to be warm greige); the numbers are not. Any color picker works; averaging a patch of pixels beats a single pixel.
HSB axes, the Munsell HVC mapping, and model caveats (B ≠ perceived lightness across hues; screening heuristic, not lab measurement) live in Color Models. Short version: H = hue/temperature, S ≈ chroma (muted vs vivid), B ≈ value (light vs dark). Chip-rendering conventions (palette codeblocks, pill spans, the tag-collision workaround) live in Obsidian Styling.
How to interpret HSB against this complexion (#B87C50, warm olive)
Hue (H) — is it warm-leaning?
- Warm zone: ~0–60° (reds through yellows) and ~330–360° (wine/pink-reds). Also warm-leaning greens (~60–150° when muted/dark, e.g. olive, forest).
- Caution zone: ~180–270° (cyans through blue-violets) — cool hues. Navy escapes this because it’s so dark that hue barely registers; light cool hues do not.
- For near-neutrals (S below ~10%), hue is unreliable — check the R−B channel difference instead: R > B means warm cast (good), B > R means cool cast (the ashen trap), and within ±5 points it’s effectively neutral (fine).
Saturation (S) — is it muted enough?
- Sweet spot: roughly 40–75% — rich with depth, but grayed down enough to match a muted complexion.
- Above ~85%: too pure/neon; wears the wearer.
- Very low S (under ~10%) = a neutral; judge by the R−B warm/cool check and by B.
Brightness (B) — dark enough to flatter and hide sweat?
- Under ~40%: dark workhorse (charcoal, navy, forest, chocolate) — best for standalone hot-weather wear.
- ~40–65%: medium-dark, generally safe (the wine red at 59% B sits here).
- Above ~75%: light — shows sweat regardless of hue; only viable as layering pieces or with warm hue compensating (cream/greige over stark white).
Quick verdict rule: warm-leaning H (or neutral with R ≥ B), S in 40–75% (or a true neutral), B under ~65% → buy with confidence. Two of three → judgment call. Cool H + light B → skip.
Worked examples (UNIQLO AIRism Cotton Oversized tee, July 2026)
#DED7D1
#4F5054
#95303E
{"aliases": ["02 Light Gray (greige)", "07 Gray (charcoal)", "17 Red (wine)"], "height": 110, "hover": false}| Color | Hex | HSB | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02 Light Gray | #DED7D1 | 27°, 17%, 87% | Actually warm greige, not cool gray — dodges the ashen trap, but 87% B shows sweat. Layering only. |
| 07 Gray | #4F5054 | ~neutral (S 3%), B 32% | True charcoal; B−R only ~5 pts so the cool cast is imperceptible. Dark workhorse — buy. |
| 17 Red | #95303E | 352°, 68%, 59% | Muted wine/cranberry — warm-adjacent hue, sweet-spot saturation, medium-dark. Buy. |
Cross-check tip: sampling the lit chest area of the on-model photo should land within a few degrees of hue and ~5–10 pts of S/B vs the chip (17 Red: model photo read 351°, 62%, 55% vs chip 352°, 68%, 59%). If model photo and chip disagree wildly, distrust both and check in person.
Current tee rotation (AIRism Cotton Oversized, XL) — official chip values
Owned from May 2026 order plus the July 2026 additions.
#506564
#43505D
#DED7D1
#A78E66
#95303E
#4F5054
#F0F0F2
{"aliases": ["58 Dark Green", "69 Navy", "02 Light Gray", "35 Brown", "17 Red", "07 Gray", "00 White"], "height": 130, "hover": false}| Color | Hex | HSB | Status / role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 58 Dark Green | #506564 | 176°, 21%, 40% | Owned. Dark, muted teal-green — flatters and hides sweat. Standalone. |
| 69 Navy | #43505D | 210°, 28%, 37% | Owned. Cool-dark-neutral exception. Standalone. |
| 02 Light Gray | #DED7D1 | 27°, 17%, 87% | Owned. Warm greige — layering/cool weather only. |
| 35 Brown | #A78E66 | 37°, 39%, 66% | Bought Jul 2026. Camel/tan earth tone — core palette. Standalone. |
| 17 Red | #95303E | 352°, 68%, 59% | Bought Jul 2026. Muted wine. Standalone. |
| 07 Gray | #4F5054 | S 3%, B 32% | Bought Jul 2026. Neutral charcoal workhorse. Standalone. |
| 00 White | #F0F0F2 | S 1%, B 95% | Bought Jul 2026. Mix-and-match utility — under open shirts / with earth tones, not standalone-in-heat. |
Note on 35 Brown: chip reads lighter than expected (66% B, camel rather than chocolate) — two of three on the verdict rule (warm hue ✓, sat slightly below sweet spot, brightness borderline). Confirm against the garment in person; it’s the palette’s strongest hue family so it earns the benefit of the doubt.
Related
- Clothing Sizing & Fit — sizing, fit, and post-Thailand wear feedback
- Color Models — HSB/HSV vs Munsell HVC definitions and caveats
- Obsidian Styling — color chip rendering conventions
- Thailand Trip — origin of this research
- 2025-03-22 Body Measurements — physical measurement data