Style: Shari Braendel Wants To Up Your Confidence With Color
The founder and CEO of Style by Color is on a mission to help people step into confidence
Shari Braendel was in a Houston boutique recently when she eyed a new leather tote. As she checked out, she asked the salesperson if he wanted to learn how to sell more bags.
“I had just spent a lot of money, so he was willing to listen to me,” she says with a laugh. Braendel advises customers who can’t decide which bag they want to choose whatever matches their hair color.So if it’s between a brown and a black bag, and the customer has black hair, a black bag will always be a match and help them create a head-to-toe look. “If they’re spending this kind of money on a bag,” she says, “match their hair.”
Braendel is the founder and CEO of Style by Color, a company that helps clients identify their style personalities and build wardrobes through the science and art of color analysis. She offers digital outfit planners, color workshops, and an online course called “27 Hangers,” which teaches clients how to build a full wardrobe with only 27 pieces. She also speaks at women’s conferences and works with several nonprofits across the country.
Color analysis has been around since the 1980s, but it’s making a comeback thanks to TikTok. “It’s a method for identifying colors that complement a person’s skin tone, eye color, and hair color,” Braendel says. “We look at a person’s dominant color characteristics and contrast level.”
Braendel performs a color analysis session with client Kathie Parson.
Someone like Jennifer Aniston, she says, is low-contrast because her hair and skin are almost the same hue. Anne Hathaway has a high-contrast color complexion because she has fair skin and dark eyes and hair. As Braendel explains this to me over Zoom, I see she’s wearing a leopard-print blouse with copper tones that complement her red hair. “I’m a Level 3 in contrast,” she says, “so I can wear patterns that mimic my hair and my skin.”
Her job is fun, sure, but Braendel’s business isn’t frivolous or skin-deep. The right wardrobe can determine whether you get the job. After seeing the impact her color analysis workshops had on a Texas nonprofit that served victims of sex trafficking, Braendel founded the Women Matter Initiative (WMI), which works with nonprofits to serve women healing from crisis or distress. Through these free sessions, Braendel and her WMI ambassadors teach women how to dress with confidence and dignity.
In Charlotte, she volunteers with Changed Choices to help formerly incarcerated women build wardrobes. “They get five outfits after being incarcerated, but they often don’t know where to start,” she says. “So we help them think through the basics and show them how to dress.”
Braendel grew up in a small town in Ohio and earned a fashion merchandising degree from Bauder College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She began her career as a buyer and manager for a department store cosmetics department, then opened an image consulting firm in South Miami. After seven years with Mary Kay (“where I earned three pink Cadillacs”), she moved to Charlotte to be closer to family and launched Style by Color in 2005.
Five years later, Braendel rolled out The Color Academy to meet the demand of women who wanted to learn color analysis. The $4,000 course also teaches them how to set up their own businesses, but it’s not a franchise model, and Braendel doesn’t take a percentage of their earnings. To date, she’s trained more than 400 women.
“We just trained a few in Saudi Arabia,” she says. “Boutiques can be trained in color analysis so they can help their clients better understand body shape. Three of our consultants are boutique owners, and one now does $3 million in sales a year. Hair salon owners are taking our training, too.”
To Braendel, finding your style personality isn’t self-indulgent—it’s an essential life skill. “You’ll save money, buy fewer things, buy better quality, and you’ll have more pieces to mix,” she says. “With the right makeup, you look younger, fresher, and more vibrant. The right color helps a person light up.”
As we wrap up our Zoom, I have to know: What color bag did she purchase in that Houston boutique?
“Do you want me to show you?” she asks. I nod, because obviously.
She jumps up and darts out of the frame. Seconds later, she returns to the screen and holds up a rust-colored YSL leather tote that’s a match for her hair and lipstick. The gold chain strap coordinates with her gold necklace and hoop earrings, and her blue eyes sparkle.
