Triangle body shape with neutral-cool, muted skin tones (Soft Summer)

The one thing to buy

Structured blazers in grey. The cut comes from the triangle rules, which put a structured blazer +14.2 ahead of a neutral garment; the colour comes from the Soft Summer palette, where grey sits ΔE 5.3 from #A8A49C. Structured shoulders widen the top line and pull the eye upward, away from the hips.

The colour matters here more than it usually would. A structured blazer is worn near the face, so it is one of the pieces where a palette miss reads as tiredness rather than as a colour you happen to be wearing. Grey sits ΔE 5.3 from #A8A49C in the Soft Summer palette.

What to buy, and in what colour

Structure on top, space at the waist, and a clean leg line. That sentence is the shape half of the answer; the colour beside each garment is the other half. They are not applied evenly: 2 of the 3 garments the rules want for a triangle are worn near the face, where a Soft Summer palette miss shows on the person, and the rest sit below the waist where it shows only on the garment.

• Structured blazers (+14.2), near the face: in grey, ΔE 5.3 from #A8A49C. Structured shoulders widen the top line and pull the eye upward, away from the hips.
• Bold-print tops (+8.9), near the face: in grey, ΔE 5.3 from #A8A49C. Pattern and detail above the waist balance a bottom-heavy frame.
• Straight-leg jeans (+8), below the waist: in grey, ΔE 5.3 from #A8A49C. A straight or tapered leg keeps the lower half quiet so the shoulders lead.
• Wide-leg trousers (-11.6): the cut is the problem on a triangle, and no Soft Summer colour rescues it. Extra volume below the waist compounds the widest part of the frame.

The Soft Summer colours worth building on

Cool-leaning and very muted. Every colour has grey mixed into it. 4 of the twenty-four colours an ordinary shop names land inside the palette, and Coral is the furthest out at ΔE 21.1. For a triangle these are the colours to find the 2 near-face pieces above in; grey is the neutral to build the rest of the wardrobe from.

• Grey (#9A9A9A): ΔE 5.3 from #A8A49C.
• Mauve (#9A7B8C): ΔE 5.3 from #96849A.
• Cream (#F2E8D5): ΔE 7.2 from #D4D0C8.
• Charcoal (#36393D): ΔE 8.8 from #4F4E4A.

Where the two disagree

They can, and the order matters when they do. Shape is geometry: a cut that adds width at the widest point does it whatever colour it is. Colour is a claim about a face at a distance, and it only binds on the pieces worn near one.

On this pairing it arises 2 times. A structured blazer and a bold print are worn near the face, so the palette binds there in a way it does not across the rest of what a triangle should be buying. Hold out for it: Soft Summer gives you 4 colours that clear the bar, which is enough to find the cut you want in one of them.