“Summer or a fall”

Rory tells Richard he can do a quiz in Cosmopolitan which will tell him whether he is a summer or a fall. Rory is referring to a popular theory of colour analysis, whereby matching those colours which fit a person’s skin tones are divided into the four seasons.

Although colour analysis had been part of fashion and beauty since the 19^th century, the theory of linking them with the four seasons came in around the mid-twentieth century. It became prominent in the 1970s, and was most popular during the 1980s.