For more than 20 years, Holly Bernatz made a career helping businesses communicate through design. As the owner of Beyond Design, she understood color theory, branding, and visual communication inside and out. Ironically, she struggled with one audience. Herself.
Working remotely long before it became common, Holly rarely gave much thought to her wardrobe. A T-shirt and sweatpants worked just fine when clients only heard her voice over the phone or exchanged emails. Her work spoke for itself.
Then COVID changed everything. Suddenly, meetings moved to Zoom. Clients wanted face-to-face conversations through a computer screen. Networking shifted from phone calls to coffee meetings as people craved connection again.
"I realized I knew I brought value," Holly says. "I just wasn't sure how to present myself in a way that reflected it." She wanted to look like the professional she knew she was, but every morning started with uncertainty.
A friend suggested she schedule an appointment with House of Colour. That one appointment changed the direction of her career.
More Than Getting Dressed
Many people assume House of Colour is simply about makeup or fashion.
Holly says that's only the surface. "What we really do is help grow the confidence of our clients," she says. "We're rebuilding the relationship between the person and the body they live in, and how they show up in the world."
Clients usually begin with one of two services: color analysis or style analysis.
During a color consultation, Holly spends about two hours evaluating how different colors interact with a person's natural features. She looks at three characteristics: undertones, softness versus clarity, and lightness versus depth. Those qualities are then organized into a seasonal palette that naturally complements the individual.
Rather than chasing whatever color happens to be trending, clients begin to understand why certain shades make them look rested, healthy, and approachable while others seem to compete with their natural features.
The results reach far beyond clothing. Hair color, makeup, jewelry, and accessories can all become easier choices when everything works together.
Style analysis answers a different question. Instead of focusing on color, Holly studies body architecture alongside personality and lifestyle. The goal is to identify clothing shapes, proportions, and details that feel authentic to the individual wearing them.
"When people get dressed, especially women, they're flooded with choices," Holly says. "Decision fatigue is real."
She describes it simply. "Color is the ingredient. Style is the recipe."
A Discovery That Changed Everything
Holly admits she initially found the color analysis interesting, but the style consultation truly surprised her.
"For 20 years, I had been hiding," she says. "I was trying to make other people comfortable while forgetting who I was. I was making myself smaller, so I would fit in."
She began researching and discovered that House of Colour is the world's largest personal styling franchise, backed by a comprehensive training program in both color and style analysis. While she already understood the science of color from decades in graphic design, she was fascinated by how those same principles could help people instead of products.
"I thought, if I had this problem, other people probably do, too."
Holly purchased a House of Colour franchise in the fall of 2022 and opened her Farmington studio in the summer of 2023. She works with women, men, and children, but many of her clients are people experiencing change. Some are entering the workforce. Others are preparing for retirement, changing careers, rebuilding after a major life event, or simply trying to reconnect with themselves after years of putting everyone else first.
While they often arrive expecting wardrobe advice, they frequently leave talking about something much bigger.
For Holly, that's the real purpose behind the work. "It's about helping people stop second-guessing themselves," she says. "When you understand what naturally works for you, you stop trying to be someone else. You simply become more of yourself."