Fall Capsule Wardrobe: 12 Seasonal Color Palettes

Whether you’ve recently discovered your seasonal color palette or have been exploring color theory for a while, figuring out your season is just the first step in the process.

It’s easy to think that once you’ve identified your season, the hard work is over, like finding a key that unlocks everything. But in reality, this is when the real adventure begins. Armed with your color palette and knowledge, you’ll need to reassess your wardrobe, decide what stays, and plan future purchases that align with your new color insights.

Say goodbye to those khaki colors that made you look washed out, or the bright oranges that aged you 5 years. 

Transitioning your closet should be a slow and thoughtful process. Learning how to apply this new information takes time.

Whether or not you subscribe to capsule wardrobes, they’re a fantastic way to test out your seasonal palette and begin refining your style. Especially when you are building a new relationship with color and your new palette.

By creating a capsule wardrobe and documenting your daily outfits over the course of a season (around 3 months), you’ll come away with a strong foundation for your personal color style. You’ll notice you need more contrast in this outfit, or a favorite older piece can be made to work with an in-season scarf. It’s not a rulebook, it’s a tool!

Which is why I’ve created this guide, to give you a visual how each of the 12 seasonal color palettes can work for fall weather and how the colors look all together. 

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Fall Capsule Wardrobes for the 12 Seasonal Color Palettes 

First, it’s important to remember that every palette includes colors suitable for fall. I’ve provided some sample colors from each palette to demonstrate how they can be adapted for autumn. Don’t feel limited by the idea that autumnal palettes are restricted to khakis and olives.

Textures, style lines, and how you finish your outfit will be incredibly impactful for whether or not your outfit feels fall-weather appropriate. No one says you need to be the outfit version of a pumpkin spice latte to master fall fashion.

Second, these capsule ideas are just starting points. They’re not a shopping list that you need to follow exactly. These are examples of how certain colors within each palette work well together.

I generally focus on 1-2 neutrals, and then incorporate 2-3 accent colors. Because I’m building capsules, not just individual outfits, I make sure everything works together. I also provide outfit examples to show how these capsules come to life.

If you look at Light Summer and think I don’t like those dark blues and mushroom colors, I prefer the pinks and purples of the palette, that’s fantastic.  You’ve just gained some valuable, personalized style insight. And heck, that’s the point of an authentic personal style!

For future capsules, if you’d like me to focus on specific colors from your palette, feel free to let me know. For example, the Dark Autumns wanted more blues and purples in their capsule, so that’s what they got this season. 

What If These Capsules Don’t Fit My Style?

That’s totally okay. You can save the images to Pinterest as color references, or use your own clothing pieces to experiment with your palette.

Eventually, you’ll want to master your color fan, which will give you a lot of freedom when shopping. You’ll no longer be guessing—things will just click. If you want to buy an NDU color fan, you can get free color card with fan purchase using the code ARRUDA. These are the fans I use for my Sci/Art in-person color consults.

And if you’re curious about how to use your fan, or how different fabrics align with various seasons, essences, and image IDs, check out my YouTube series on the subject.

Now, let’s get into the palettes, capsules, and outfit ideas for fall 2024!

NOTE:  I have not purchased these pieces, or viewed them in-person and verified them to be within the assigned palette.  I am using my best judgment based on the online photos.  Internet images can be inaccurate at times, so make sure you check the return policy before you purchase.  Shopping links can be found under each capsule wardrobe image.

Dark Autumn

Hue: Neutral/Warm

Value: Low. You gravitate toward darker shades with more depth, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have lighter colors or richer colors. Your palette is honestly perfect for all and you should try to shop during this season to find more options!

Chroma: Medium/High. While muted, your colors still have rich, visible pigments.

Sister Seasons: Dark Winter and True Autumn. You might find it easy to borrow from your sister seasons depending on your contrast level and personal style.

Dark Autumn Fall Outfits

True Autumn

Hue:  Warm 

Value: Medium. Your value range will be near the 4-7 range on the Munsell Wheel.  

Chroma: Muted 

Sister Seasons: Dark Autumn and Soft Autumn. 

True Autumn Fall Outfit Ideas

Soft Autumn

Hue: Neutral/Warm

Value: Medium

Chroma:  Low. Even the higher saturation colors in your palettes are fairly soft. 

Sister Seasons:  True Autumn and Soft Summer 

Soft Autumn Fall Outfit Ideas

Soft Summer 

Hue: Neutral/Cool

Value: Medium

Chroma:  Low. This is shaded side of True Summer, so you will see more shades and tones in this season. This is the darkest of the summer seasons.

Sister Seasons: Soft Autumn and True Summer 

Soft Summer Fall Outfit Ideas

True Summer

Hue: Cool. You are the least flexible on hue, you are pure cool so that should be your primary characteristic. 

Value: Medium. You have tones in your palettes (colors that have had some amount of gray to soften the color). 

Chroma: Medium 

Sister Seasons: Soft Summer and Light Summer. Notice how both your sister seasons are also cool, you don’t use warm hues. 

True Summer Fall Outfit Ideas

Light Summer

Hue: Neutral/Cool

Value: High. High value is your most important color dimension.  It is also referred to as the “light” part of your Light Summer name.  Your colors are still muted tones though since your are in the summer season, but they don’t feel dusty like soft summer.

Chroma: Medium.  Your palette is still composed of tones (gray added) but all together they can appear energetic.  When you compare them to the spring seasons though they will feel less bright. Because your colors have the summer blues influence whereas light spring will have the spring yellow influence. 

Sister Seasons: True Summer and Light Spring 

This may not be a typical Light Summer capsule that you were expecting. I tried to pull more from the browns and pigmented blues for fall.

Light Summer Fall Outfit Ideas

Light Spring  

Hue: Neutral/Warm

Value: High.  You will have a lot of tints (white or yellow added to the colors) and no real muted tones (like your sister season Light Summer).

Chroma: Medium. 

Sister Season: Light Summer and True Spring 

Your colors are gentle and have an warm airyness to them. 

Light Spring Fall Outfit Idea

True Spring

Hue: Warm.  This is your primary dimension. So you can borrow from your warm sister seasons, but you won’t find purely cool colors in your palette. You still get all versions of every color but they are warmed up with yellow or within your general color boundaries. 

Value: Medium. This means you have a lot of tints (white added) and colors warmed up with yellow.  Overall your palette doesn’t get too dark. 

Chroma: Medium high

Sister Seasons: Light Spring and Bright Spring 

True Spring Fall Outfit Ideas

Bright Spring

Hue: Neutral/Warm

Value: Medium. You have a fairly wide value range. It may not be as wide as Winter’s black to white but it can appear that way because you get warm white to dark coal.  

Chroma: High.  This is your primary characteristic. It’s the “bright” in bright spring. 

Your colors (and mine!) are clear, bouncy, and energetic! 

Bright Spring Fall Outfit Ideas

And, since I’m a Bright Spring myself, here are a few of my fall outfits.

Bright Winter

Hue: Neutral/Cool

Value: Medium

Chroma: High. This is your primary characteristic.  It is the “bright” in your bright winter name. 

Sister Seasons: Bright Spring and True Winter

You have a huge variety in your palette, so don’t feel like you only get “lego” colors! While I choose some traditional colors, remember that you have your a wide variety of neutrals and fall weather colors too.  Because of this Bright Winter really needs to customize their own palette as they may naturally gravitate towards a specific side or style of their palette. 

Bright Winter Fall Outfit Ideas

True Winter

Hue: Cool.  This is your primary characteristic, you need cool colors. 

Value:  Medium

Chroma: Medium High. 

Sister Seasons: Bright Winter and Dark Winter. You are only borrowing from cool seasons. 

Your colors are regal, powerful, and romantic. 

True Winter Fall Outfit Ideas

Dark Winter 

Hue: Neutral/Cool 

Value: Low  This is your primary dimension. It’s the “dark” in your Dark Winter name. The first word in any of the names is the primary characteristic in the color palette.  Lighter colors in your palette with will be icy. Icy colors have white added, not gray. 

Chroma: Medium High.  

Sister Seasons: True Winter and Dark Autumn. You can often borrow some colors from Dark autumn because of your neutral undertone, but we don’t want to go too warm or harvesty and lose your winter strength. 

Dark Winter Fall Outfit Ideas

I hope this guide has given you helpful insights into building a seasonal capsule wardrobe. If there are specific colors you’d like to see featured in future capsules, don’t hesitate to reach out (in the comment section)—I’m always open to suggestions!

If you are struggling to determine your seasonal color palette, I’m excited to offer in-person color analysis sessions in Brooklyn, NY, and Seattle, WA. You can find more information here.