Patent Application
20200056943
The present disclosure relates generally to fashion accessories, such as glasses, sunglasses, jewelry, etc. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for matching an accessory to a skin tone of a wearer.
A person's overall skin tone results from the amount of melanin pigment present in the skin cells of the epidermis in response to genetics and ultraviolet light exposure. Additionally, skin tones are affected by the presence of red hemoglobin and blue connective tissue. Besides color, skin complexion also varies in its characteristic reflectance. With all these factors, a person's skin tone can easily feel like a unique fingerprint, which may be used to express individuality.
Often in the fashion industry, designers will offer products in a nude shade. However, the nude shade offered will only match the skin tone of those within a narrow range of skin pigmentations. This lack of options can be especially disheartening for those with skin tones falling outside of the most common skin complexions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,420 discloses methods for manufacturing bandages to match a person's skin tone, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,351,038 discloses methods for making prosthetics that match a patient's skin tone. However, these are medical applications individualized to patients in a more expensive healthcare environment, and do not reflect the same issues relevant in the mass production fashion industry.
Thus, there is a need for a line of fashion accessories offered in a variety of shades, spanning the full gamut of human skin tones, such that individuals may match the accessory to their own skin color.
The present disclosure addresses the issues associated with matching fashion accessories with skin complexions. Providing fashion accessories that are available in a range of colors that spans across the possible skin tone shades for humans may allow for optimized matching and/or blending in with the wearer's skin complexion. A consumer may manually choose their complexion match from a set of skin tone shades or utilize a camera and/or photograph to automatically choose the closest match from the set of skin tone shades. Additionally, rather than having to automatically or manually select from the set of skin tone shades, the disclosed systems and methods allow the consumer to index their closest matching skin tone shade for the fashion accessory by using their makeup foundation information to cross-reference a database that correlates makeup foundations with one of the skin tone shades.
The present invention is illustrated and described herein with reference to the drawings, in which:
Providing fashion accessories in a variety of skin tone shades, spanning the full gamut of human skin pigmentations, may allow all wearers to express their individuality by proudly celebrating and augmenting their own skin. Conventionally, consumers looking to try to match a nude shade to their own skin tone would have to shop around at various stores and across different brands, since historically fashion brands have tended to only offer one or two nude or tan shades. Thus, if the consumer is even able to find shoes, for example, that match the consumer's skin tone, the shoes may not be in the consumer's desired style. This phenomenon can be especially disheartening for those with skin tones falling outside of the most common skin complexions. For example, the makeup industry has attempted to deal with these same issues arising with foundation shades. Providing a line of products available in skin tone shades across all complexion subgroups may allow all consumers to feel welcome and represented. Moreover, being able to select from a full gamut of skin tone shades may save the consumer time and frustration.
As shown in
The choice of color presentation may include presenting a set of colors, correlating with various skin tone shades. The skin tone shades may range from Fair, Light, Medium, Light Brown, Olive to Dark Brown in color. The skin tone shades within the set of colors may be displayed along with unique names, numbers, and/or codes. The skin tone shades may be named according to a theme and/or according to their matching color characteristics. For example, as shown in
In some embodiments, the set of colors 200 may be organized or classified into subsets. The choice of color presentation may include the consumer being first presented with the subsets, into which the skin tone shades 250 within the set of colors 200 is distributed. For example, the subsets may correspond to the six skin types of the Fitzpatrick scale, outlining sun tanning responses (i.e., Types I, II, III, IV, V, and VI). Further, the set of colors may include 36 skin tone shades corresponding to the von Luschan scale, which may be subdivided into the six subsets of the Fitzpatrick scale, as is known.
The fashion accessories may be formed from plastic materials dyed to match the various skin tone shades. Alternatively, the fashion accessories may be formed from plastics, metals, composites, wood, and then painted to match the various skin tone shades. The fashion accessories may have a matte or satin finish, for example. Further, the fashion accessories may have specific reflectance and/or undertones to better match the skin complexion of the wearer. These material, finish, reflectance, and undertone options may be additionally presented as choices to the consumer.
In some embodiments, the fashion accessory is a pair of glasses or sunglasses. A frame color for a pair of glasses or sunglasses that matches the skin tone of the wearer may appear to blend in with the wearer's facial complexion. This effect may provide a pleasing aesthetic look and/or minimize the appearance of glasses on the wearer's face. A minimized appearance of glasses may be advantageous for those otherwise embarrassed by having to wear glasses. For example, a consumer may access an online retail site called shades-of-shades.com, where they can order COMPLEX™ brand sunglasses, frames, jewelry, and accessories in a shade matching their skin tone.
In some embodiments, the fashion accessory may be jewelry, such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, etc. Jewelry matching the skin tone of the wearer may provide an interesting and unique visual effect. For example, 3D printed structures within a necklace matching the skin tone of the user may give the appearance that the necklace is a continuation of the wearer's own skin. This opens up endless possibilities for designers in both the fashion and body enhancement industries.
The selection of the color from the set of skin tone shades may be performed in various ways. The consumer may manually select a skin tone shade 250 from the set of colors 200 in a skin tone shade chart, as shown in
As shown in
Although the present invention is illustrated and described herein with reference to preferred embodiments and specific examples thereof, it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments and examples may perform similar functions and/or achieve like results. All such equivalent embodiments and examples are within the spirit and scope of the present invention and are contemplated thereby.
