Getting a Fan

Once you’ve narrowed down which season you’d like to test from draping cards or just past experience and instinct, you should buy a fan. I recommend the fans from True Colour International. These fans were created by Amelia Butler, an analyst in Australia trained by Kalisz.

I recommend these because they are by far the most common fans, and the ones handed out by most analysts. Usually, when you see recommendations for makeup or clothes that match a particular color in a season, the number that corresponds to the number of the color on the TCI fan is given.

The next step is to decide if you want Classic or Corporate. The Classic fan is the original, and the Corporate has five more colors and colors that are more appropriate for the office, so more darker neutrals, colors for dress shirts, and “power colors.” If you are buying on the secondary market, the Classic is easier to find, but I would just suggest finding pictures of the fans and purchasing the one you prefer.

If you would like to purchase a fan new, they are on the TCI website for 75 AUD. International shipping is 6.20 AUD, so it all works out to 81.20 AUD. This sounds expensive, but as I’m writing this, the exchange rate is favorable for people in the US and Europe. It ends up being 59 USD, which is only slightly more than you would pay for a used fan. I bought my fan new, and it arrived pretty quickly, maybe in 10 days or so.

Fans usually go for 50 USD used, and can be found in Colour and Style Exchange, a Facebook group. This was how I bought (and later sold) my other fans. People post the fans they’re selling, and you can post your ISO (in search of) request when you’re looking to buy one.

The fans are easy to sell on the secondary market and lose little value, meaning that it’s not a huge monetary risk to test out a season. You can choose a season, see how it works for you, and then sell it and use the money to try out a different season if you need to.

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