A Pantone Expert Shares the Most Complementary Colors for Your Skin Tone

If you’re looking to freshen up your wardrobe with clothing that complements your skin tone, you’ve come to the right place. We reached out to More Alive With Color author and Pantone Color Institute Director Leatrice Eiseman for her expert color-reading advice. Eiseman has written no less than 10 different books on color, so we knew she’d be the perfect expert to tap. 

Of course, anyone can wear any color they please—that goes without saying—but it never hurts to have an especially complementary color to rely on when you’re facing a closet full of clothes but aren’t sure what to wear. Below, Eiseman tells us how to easily pick out our most complementary colors. From shades of blue to light ivory hues, she walks us through the best options for a variety of skin tones. Plus, we shopped out key pieces to update your wardrobe this spring. 

“Olive skin tones are flattered by vibrant pinks and fuchsia—shades that will reflect some rosy glow against the skin.” Shop your shade below:
“Very light, ivory skin tones are best enhanced by a subtle contrast, as in placid blues and blue-greens.” Shop your shade below:
“Dark skin tones are highly reflective and sparkle in jewel tones like amethyst, ruby, and turquoise.” Shop your shade below: 
“[Light skin tones] are boosted with some touch of pink, both warm and cool, especially in the blush-pink range.” Shop your shade below:
“This dusky, fair skin is most flattered by complementary lilac, lavender, and sparkling grape in the cooler range.” Shop your shade below: 
“Honeyed skin tones are enriched by apricot, tiger-lily oranges, creamy whites, and terra-cotta.” Shop your shade below: 
“Skin with warm golden undertones literally glimmers in sun-kissed corals and creamy peach tones.”  Shop your shade below:
“This is another shade of olive-tone skin that looks dynamic in berry and wine tones—again it reflects a glow against a yellow-base skin.” Shop your shade below: 
“Deep skin tones can also wear jewel tones but are radiant with contrasting hues, especially cool aquas and snowy whites.” Shop your shade below: 
“Skin tones with warm, concentrated color in them can handle classic, neutral shades like cappuccino browns, khaki, and bleached sand tones.” Shop your shade below: 

Next, the nail colors that look good on everybody

We Are All ‘The Other Americans’

The Other Americans, by Laila Lalami

Laila Lalami’s new novel combines riveting police procedural with a sensitive examination of life in California’s Mojave Desert region, told through a well-rendered choir of different voices.

(Image credit: Beth Novey/NPR)

Here’s the Truth About the ‘Star Wars IX’ Poster that Blew the Internet’s Mind

Few fandoms are as old and big as the Star Wars fandom. It encompasses all ages and all levels of passion. And some of those fans are really passionate and great with Photoshop, so occasionally they find ways to soothe their burning need for new media about an upcoming movie by just making it.

As far as Mark Hamill knows, that’s exactly what happened with the striking poster above. Asked if it was a real ad for the ninth installment in the franchise, Hamill’s answer was succinct.

“#UPF” equals “Ultra-Passionate Fan.” Hamill, one of the nicest guys in show business, had a similar answer to the same question from another Twitter user: “I’m pretty sure that’s just the (wonderful) work of a passionate fan.”

It certainly looks it, if you really examine the image. First, the resolution is lousy, which is never the case with real Star Wars posters these days, and second, there are all kinds of character details that are wildly wrong. One section alone is enough to illustrate that point.

C-3P0 is wielding Chewbacca’s “bowcaster.” No one knows what the hell is up with that creature over Finn’s (John Boyega) right shoulder. And in general, the whole thing is just kind of blah.

That said, the composition is certainly similar overall to real action and fantasy movie posters from Star Wars and other franchises, so the artist(s) behind it knew what they were doing, to some degree. It’s not that hard to see why people were fooled.

Is there still a sliver of a chance it’s a real mock-up that just got leaked somehow? Sure. But Mark Hamill seems like a better-than-average authority on the subject, and other publications touting it as real later deleted their posts. That’s about all you need to know.

With Star Wars IX, it’s not like we’ll have long to wait for the real thing where posters and trailers are concerned. The movie premieres December 20, 2019, and there are plenty of real images and video to come.

How This Billionaire Luxury Magnate Became One of the World’s Richest Men

Bernard Arnault is a global tastemaker and business icon in his role as Chairman and CEO of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH
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If you’ve ever sipped a glass of Hennessy or Dom Pérignon, coveted a Louis Vuitton bag or a pair of Berluti shoes, or strapped on a Hublot or TAG Heuer watch, you’ve felt the influence of Bernard Arnault, the billionaire French businessman who has quietly shaped the tastes of the entire world. 

A man of exceptional vision who started out as an engineer in his family’s construction firm, in 1989 the Paris-based financier, investor and art collector became the majority shareholder, Chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world’s leading luxury goods company, and has remained so ever since. 

With a net worth of nearly $70 billion, he is now the fourth richest man in the world (as of press time) according to Forbes, which calculated his personal fortune increased by over $30 billion in one year alone, thanks to a 13% spike in LVMH’s revenue.

The unprecedented firm is made up of 70 different brands divided into six sectors: wines and spirits, luxury retailing, fashion and leather goods, watches and jewelry, perfume and cosmetics, and hospitality and other holdings including luxury yachts. 

His phenomenal wealth, as Lloyd Blankfein, former Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, points out to CNBC, “was accomplished in a single generation,” making it all the more remarkable. 

Particularly as just a decade ago many derided the notion that a conglomeration of luxury goods houses—several of them competitors—was even a smart business move. 

“In the ’90s [I] had the idea of a luxury group and at the time I was very much criticized for it,” Arnault remarked to CNBC. “I remember people telling me it doesn’t make sense to put together so many brands. And it was a success. [And then] for the last 10 years now, every competitor is trying to imitate, which is very rewarding for us. I think they are not successful but they try.” 

Victory, he maintains, has not come as a result of relentless profit-seeking but is due to a “business model… based on creativity, innovation, and quality.” 

In 11 years, the market value of LVMH—an acronym for Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy—multiplied by at least 15, while, simultaneously, sales and profit rose by 500 percent. The company had revenue of upwards of $50 billion in 2017. And much of it is attributable to acquisitions that were seriously called into question at the time. 

“He was paying full prices for things that weren’t close to what other people would want,” Blankfein notes, “and other people scoffed that he would ever realize [their] value or earn anything from the prices he was paying.… It takes a certain amount of courage to stand against the tide knowing that you’re going to… outperform the experts and the founders that created those businesses.” 

Arnault’s acquisitions include stakes in luxe luggage company Rimowa, Bulgari, Belvedere Vodka, and cosmetics giant Sephora, as well as Dior, Louis Vuitton, Veuve Clicquot, Fendi, and more. 

“Typically, within a five-year span — which is very short — with hindsight every single purchase looks like genius,” as Michael Burke, Louis Vuitton Chairman and CEO, told the Financial Times. 

 The Fondation Louis Vuitton is housed in a Frank Gehry-designed masterpiece of architectural genius

The tycoon’s latest investment is the Belmond luxury hotel and travel group, whose holdings include the iconic Hotel Cipriani in Venice and the opulent Venice Simplon-Orient-Express train, for which LVMH is paying $3.2 billion; a move Arnault says is “entirely consistent with our continued investment in the field of experiential luxury.” 

“He’s a dreamer,” as Burke explained to CNBC. “He dreams big dreams. And then he has the guts to go after those dreams. Sometimes I try to tell him that the dream is too big. But of course he’s always right.” 

His oldest son Antoine Arnault, who overseas luxury fashion brands Loro Piana and Berluti and sits on LVMH’s board of directors, says his father would much rather be dreaming. “People” imagine him in his big tower with his huge Excel spreadsheets with numbers, he comments. 

“It’s very far from reality. His real interest is his family. Of course, he’s a workaholic. He works a lot and he loves it, but… he also has fun with it. It’s not as serious as some might think up there…We absolutely take no decisions based on the share price, not for LVMH….What motivates the family is that Louis Vuitton, Loro Piana, Berluti, Dior is on top of their game.” 

The latter part is especially important as Arnault runs LVMH like a family business. He has two other children who occupy prominent positions at the company. 

“When you are in a family you have two major advantages,” Arnault notes. “One is you can think long term. I see too many companies in which you have changes all the time. And especially in the U.S., you have to be all the time looking at the next quarter’s numbers. What I always say to my team is I am not that much interested by the numbers [for] the next six months. What I am interested in is that the desire for the brand will be the same in 10 years as it is today.” 

Steve Jobs, someone Arnault admired greatly, thought that the French tycoon had accomplished his goal, telling him at one point, “You know Bernard, I don’t know if in 50 years my iPhone will still be a success but I can tell you, I’m sure everybody will still drink your Dom Pérignon.” 

Arnault puts it all down to talent. “In today’s business, since the ’80s when I bought Christian Dior, it’s the same combination that explains success,” he told CNBC. “You have to work with some of the best inventors, creators, designers and be able to market their products and create with their products, desire in the world.” 

Case in point: last year LVMH hired Virgil Abloh, Kanye West’s longtime creative collaborator and founder of coveted fashion brand Off-White, as Louis Vuitton’s artistic director for menswear. And

Abloh has already started cross-pollinating in the LVMH universe, having designed a limited edition bottle for Moët & Chandon. His “innate creativity and disruptive approach have made him so relevant,” Burke said of his appointment, “not just in the world of fashion but in popular culture today.” 

The typical owner of a storied 165-year-old brand like Vuitton may not want “disruptive” in the mix, but Arnault has guaranteed the famed monogram will find a new generation of fans. 

“He has no interest in standing still, he has no interest in repeating himself,” as legendary Vogue editor Anna Wintour puts it. “He has no interest in anything remaining the same. He is a man that is intrigued by what can happen, not by what has happened…. Fashion is an industry that exists on change and he totally and completely understands that.” 

Antoine Arnault adds, “A lot of people see him as a great financier, a great strategic mind in terms of how to build an empire. That’s not at all how he thinks, in my opinion. I think his big strength is actually to speak to creative people and to make them thrive under his management. It’s not to create profit or create more revenue or double the size of the business. I know that’s the consequence and that’s usually what happens, but his real talent is with creative minds.” 

In 2014 Arnault realized his longtime goal of opening a museum and cultural center in Paris. Already a landmark in a city known for them, the Fondation Louis Vuitton is an LVMH-funded space for exhibition and events, designed by famed architect Frank Gehry. 

They met at the Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum Bilbao 13 years earlier, and spent several years overcoming the technical difficulties and opposition to the edifice, best described as a transparent cloud made up of a dozen massive glass sails. 

“He thinks a lot like an artist,” Gehry told CNBC. “I think in his business life and world he has to be careful, conservative. But he’s a delight to work with as a creative person because he’s open to ideas…. He says things just very softly, but I know, when he says it, he means it. And I go for it and then we have fun trying to make it happen.” 

Arnault has of course collected a lot of personal and professional honors in the course of his life and career, but the most prestigious are France’s Grand Officier de la Légion d’Honneur and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, as well as honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. No doubt he should save room on his lapel for a few more. 

“In terms of where we are in the life of Bernard Arnault and LVMH,” Blankfein opines, “he’s got a lot of runway ahead of him. And he thinks young and he thinks current. I wouldn’t be giving him his lifetime achievement award yet. I would wait a while longer because I think there are still more chapters” to come. 

We’ll raise a glass of Dom to that.

Jewels in the Crown

LVMH’s vast luxury holdings include some of the world’s most exclusive, and profitable, brands in the world.

Formed in 1987 with the merger of fashion house Louis Vuitton and spirits icon Moët Hennessy, in just over 30 years LVMH, under Bernard Arnault’s guidance, had built up a market cap approaching €150 billion (about $170 billion) by the summer of 2018. 

In 2017 the group had revenues of €42.6 billion, or about $49 billion, an increase of 13% over the previous year. With a portfolio of 70 luxury brands and a retail network of over 4,370 stores worldwide, LVMH has achieved astonishing figures; on the wine and spirits side alone it sold about 66 million bottles of champagne and about 91 million bottles of cognac in 2017, while its fashion and leather goods business brought in €15.47 billion in revenue, or about $18 billion. 

Louis Vuitton, the world’s most valuable luxury brand according to Forbes, has a value of $33.6 billion on its own, while, as of press time, those who invested in LVMH shares ten years ago would have made five times their money today.

5 Items a Celebrity Stylist Would Remove From Your Closet

When she’s not working with big names like Lupita Nyong’o, Jennifer Hudson, and Hilary Swank, celebrity stylist Micaela Erlanger also divulges her fashion expertise in our Ask a Stylist column. From the best places to source vintage to the secret to finding your most flattering jeans, come back each week for a professional’s perspective.

When it comes to cleaning out your closet, I always suggest grazing your wardrobe every few months. Aside from swapping in and out seasonal items like coats and sweaters, I look for five key items to move to the donation pile. Think along the lines of that overbearing drawer of socks or your stack of old T-shirts you’ve owned for way too long. Parting with these items on a regular basis will keep your wardrobe well-organized and full of the freshest pieces you wear on repeat. Plus, not only will this habit leave your overall appearance looking perfectly polished, but it will also create more space in your wardrobe. (And who can complain about that?)

Keep reading to find out the five items you should remove from your wardrobe.

Also available in more sizes.

This story was updated by Anna LaPlaca. Next, five celebrity stylists share their exact fashion basics.

British Women Politely Laugh Every Time Americans Wear These 4 Items

Brits rarely leave the house without a cozy scarf.
Great for layering and perfect for a weekend in the country.
A midi-length tea dress that you can dress up or down is a staple in any British woman’s closet.
A chunky grandma cardigan is a must-have cozy staple in a British woman’s wardrobe.
Brits undoubtedly have a pair of tailored wide-leg trousers hanging in their wardrobes.
Don’t step out of the house without an umbrella and a trench coat.

Up next, what the most stylish girls in Paris, Tokyo, and NYC are wearing for date night.

So These Are the Jeans Trends We’ll Be Wearing in 6 Months…

The fall 2019 runways were rife with exciting trends, from slouchy suits to utilitarian silhouettes, sumptuous leather separates, and pistachio hues. But it’s the hardest-working item in our closet we’re taking a closer look at today—jeans. There were some refreshing denim trends that emerged from top designers—from leg-lengthening silhouettes to high cinched waists and rich indigo hues.

Head-to-toe denim looks were also omnipresent—at Chloé sleeveless vest jackets were paired with matching boot cut jeans, Dior opted for denim shirt-and-pleated skirt combos, while Lemaire created a sleek and streamlined look made up of a long-sleeved denim top and a pair of roomie, straight-leg jeans. If you’re eager to stay ahead of the denim curve, scroll below to see the biggest denim trends we spotted on the fall runways and shop the looks before everyone else.

Baggy and slouchy jeans have been stealing the spotlight this spring, and while the trend is sure to remain strong throughout the year, this fall we’ll see the return of a slimmer silhouette—particularly striking when tucked into over-the-knee boots as seen at Celine.
Leg-lengthening jeans were seen folded and cuffed at the hems, creating an edgy utilitarian aesthetic, as seen here at Chloé. It’s a refreshing way to breathe new life into your denim. 
From corduroy to bell-bottoms and earthy hues, ’70s-era styles infiltrated the fall runways, and where denim is concerned, that means boot-cut and slightly flared silhouettes are back.
From Chloé to Lemaire, Calvin Luo and Christian Dior, darker saturated hues of indigo reigned supreme on the runways—we can’t think of a more perfect denim update as the seasons change.
A fashion-girl favorite—this trendy silhouette continues to remain a staple in our wardrobes this year. Accentuate the high waist with a bold belt (an accessory that was omnipresent throughout fashion month).
Denim is a staple in our wardrobes, so why not wear it from head to toe? The wearable iterations that came out of the fall runways are quickly convincing us to give this look a go. The sleek denim shirt and long straight jeans at Lemaire provided a streamlined silhouette so polished you could even wear it to work.
Show off your gorgeous knee-high boots this fall with trending loose-fit culottes cinched at the waist. Flattering and fresh for the new season ahead.

Up next, I tried on 20 pairs of straight leg jeans to find the best-fitting options.