these comments have more to do with portraiture than fashion but there are
several factors.    Factual. emotional and social.

Back before there was video analysis of negatives for printing they would
use a small spot color meter.  I asked my lab guy about how/why he could use
the same setting for everybody, from darkest African to palest Chinese.
Everybody is 18% blue (or maybe it was green, I forget) and its just the
yellow content that varies.

I used to think that deep warm tones complemented deep warm skin tones, but
found that most of my black clients preferred the cool tone blue
backgrounds, as did most of my then lower middle class (ok blue collar and
welfare) clients.   Later as I upscaled a bit, I noticed a preference to the
warm old masters over the brighter blue ones.  Frankly I think it is more of
a class distinction than a skin tone one.    Since most of the hi volume
studios use bright blue backgrounds a lot of folks just assume that's what
you are supposed to do, why ain't chu?   Whereas wealthier folks want
something more sophisticated, harking back to the old master paintings, or
they just want to have something that at least looks different than what
they get for $20 at the shopping mall.

As a parallel, black folks and white folks go to Nordstrom, Ralph Lauren,
Abercrombie and Fitch, and I suppose some white folks go to Fubu and other
brands that market specifically to the black demographic.  I bet you, if you
compare price points, the difference in color schemes in any of the stores
are more similar in the age and financial demographics.   You check out
color schemes in the nicest and highest priced stores, restaurants in
various merchant and service provides, and compare them to similar product
and service providers that market to trailer trash.

Social pretensions trump over racial distinctions in marketing concerns.
backgrounds should be targeted towards your target market.    A brown tone
face, whether it was born that way or acquired from hours in a salon or
beach will look just as fine in front of a background that fits their social
and economic status.  The question is, will the color scheme of the image
match the decor of their home.

A black family's home where the household income is equal to other
professionals of the white persuasion will probably have similar tastes in
style and colors.  I am sure there are many notable exceptions, but you will
also find these exceptions in the white homes too.

This reply is echoed to the z-prophoto mailing list at yahoogroups.com

I don't know what lighting setup you use, but if you can use good rim
and hair lighting, you should be able to separate your subject from the
background, even if the background is black, and your subject is wearing
a black suit.  Rim and hair lights will define the edges of your
subject, creating a contrast with the background.

I'd say to just get something that will work for the majority of your shots.

Buy a couple of issues of Latina magazine. Best portraiture of latinas
available.  See what they use.

Marc