on color

Woah Nellie what's happening here?

Something like 16 years ago I had a chat with a woman about my life and one of the pieces of advice she had was - stop wearing so much black, wear pale pink and pale yellow and you will be happier.

Pale pink and pale yellow?  This will make me happy?  

It's a understatement to say this wasn't the advice I was expecting.  

I'd been wearing black shirts and white shirts and jeans and not much else since I was 13 years old.  Pale pink and pale yellow had not even been in the realm of consideration.  I tried it though - I went home and ordered a J. Crew pale yellow linen shirt and bought a pair of pale yellow Gap jeans.  I wore these but don't remember feeling any more cheerful in this outfit than in my black clothes.  My black clothes felt comfortable and safe, an embrace from someone reliable.  When the two pale yellow items wore out I didn't replace them with more pale-colored clothes.  Clearly I couldn't make the advice stick.

I think I thought of happiness like weight - you have a set point and while you can work to change things but the barriers to getting outside your set point ...  Better perhaps to make oneself comfortable with what you know is your range.

Besides I didn't think wearing black was making me less happy.  

A few years ago I tried again and bought a raspberry tank top and purple tank top.  I'd put them on but 10 minutes later would be back in my closet digging out the black or navy or if it was summer white.

Then about six weeks ago something happened and I can not wear black or navy or any other somber color.  I want raspberry and purple and coral and peach and lavender clothes. 

If you're a person who lives in black you will know how astonishing this is.  Even things like black socks are getting hard to put on.  Putting on a black or navy sweater now is now impossible.  I've tried and after a few minutes I feel wretched.  

I'm not at the place where I can go out and buy a whole new closet of clothes in a week or even a month but I've been picking up a few inexpensive summer tops and dresses in pale pink, raspberry and purple.  I also found a light weight coral colored Free People shrug at the thrift store.  I'm living it that these days.  Demin shorts, a tank top and the coral shrug.  I have to say the colors are making me happy.  

I've tried a lot of clothes on in the last few weeks and it's true - pale pink and pale yellow look best on me - I should probably stick to these two - I haven't bought much in these two colors though because it's not easy to find anything even semi-chic in pale pink or pale yellow at mall prices.  

Sad hey.  At the malls here most of the pale pink and pale yellow clothes are not inspiring.

I know how to get some lovely shades of pale pink and pale yellow from natural dyes.  So this winter may find me dyeing up some yarn - and maybe even ordering some undyed t-shirts and creating my own anti-old-lady-or-sunday-school-teacher pale shades.

In knitting news I'm close to finished the Gossamer Stars Scarf for my daughter.  I'll see her in two weeks and we'll dye her scarf together.  That's it really - not much knitting going on.  I hope to get back to finishing the redo on the cotton gima cardi soon.  

I'd really like a warm cream or peach colored alpaca cardigan to wear this winter ... I should think about getting on that.  A friend says she lives in her Tangled Yoke Cardigan.  I also really like Hannah Fettig's Whisper Cardigan and Featherweight Cardigan.  As usual - more ideas than execution time.  

Comments

[Claire]

yay! I love color, especially pink--I'm thinking of making one of those two Hannah Fettig sweaters too. J. Crew, though pricey, always has good shades of pink, I think. If you can find one of their sales or outlets, they are a bit cheaper.

[gay]

me too, black was my staple forever it seemed and i moved away from it to colors sometime when i wasn't payng attention, reds and greens last year some gold and browns even pink but this year i seem to be moving back to black. i love the look of black and with my hair now that it is mostly gray. don't know if i'm ready to get back into the black glasses again tho!

[kat]

color is good for the soul. i really look forward to seeing the things you dye in your new shades.

[donna lee]

I am not a black wearing person but I tend to neutrals. A short while ago, I noticed my closet was all grey and black and navy blue and white. And I wanted some color. Slowly, I am introducing color into my wardrobe. I wonder if it's because I'm getting older and am giving myself permission to be more whimsical (as if neutral colors make me look older and more respectable?) I bought a salmon colored polo shirt and actually wore it to work. I felt very brave all day! It's the little things, you know.

[Rose Red]

You are not the only one with more ideas than time! Not that there's anything wrong with that!!

It's funny how colour can creep - or spring - into your wardrobe. I was the same with black, wore it all the time, and over the last few years have gradually branched out into other colours. Some I've since left behind (brown) and some I'm now embracing, to my surprise (orange). It's an interesting trip.

[Luisa]

Michele, what a story! I live in color, but for formal occasions I go out with the usual uniform - black.It helps me to blend in. Otherwise, I remember a winter when I had a bright (not pale) yellow coat I took everywhere! I still have that coat deep in my closet.