My Colors

I've always, always, always been fascinated by color. A big box of crayons, paper and time is all that is needed to make me happy.

Yesterday I had a gift certificate to use down at Nordies. It's an hour drive from my home to go there, so I don't usually haunt the place. Plus the piano music played on the baby grand on the ground floor drives me insane. I need to concentrate when shopping in an environment where everything seems to have three or more digits in the price (before the "dot" indicating the cents.)

Nordies majors on black and white clothing. The majority of people on the planet look fabulous wearing black and white, so that is a smart marketing move on their part.

Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Canadians (whoops, maybe not all Canadians...) all seem to have dark hair and dark eyes. Perfect for those high contrast colors. Add a splash of deep red, blue, purple or grey and Katie bar the door, Snow White has arrived, looking just grand.

I can not compete with their glorious coloring. I felt a little better after reading that Meryl Streep was described as having porcelain skin as she was photo'd for the Oscars. That sounds so much nicer than pale.
Or even washed out, which is how I am usually described. All that has changed; I too now have a porcelain complexion.

Even though I may navigate around my bland coloring via semantics, black and white and other saturated primary colors still overwhelm my appearance. Pastels make me appear as though I am recovering from a bout of the flu. This was a such a puzzle to me. The only colors I ever felt alive in were lime green, peachy pink and turquoise. You see those colors all the time in department stores. (Not!)

Back in the 1980's there was a big to-do about having your colors done. I turned out to look best in Spring colors. Imagine the flowers in a Springtime photo shoot, and you've nailed it. My mom, my husband and son have coloring that looks great in Summer colors. Imagine the misty blues and pinks, greys and lavenders of a dawn on a lake and you've got it. Other friends are winter, imagine a walk through snow, with bare trees etched in black, and rainbows of colors sparkling up from the snow, and you have the image of those colors. I've met few a Autumns, but imagining a walk in a flaming autumn forest, and you are there.

After trudging the Nordie store I was feeling pretty down. Until I saw the fish above. One of four fish that swim on a lovely lime green silk background on a wonderful scarf that called out to me: "Jill, I'm over here! It's US! We belong to each other!"

I was ecstatic! I wanted to wrap the scarf around myself and dance. ( Thankfully the piano player was taking a break!)

Bernie's face lit up when I showed him my find that evening. "It's perfect. It's you!"

Signature colors just feel great. The scarf goes with so many things in my closet, and rescues me from the "I'm being buried" feeling that comes when I wear serious business colors like black and navy.

What are your signature colors? The ones that make you feel great, and that other's always think of you when they see?
I'll bet you lime green isn't one of them (Kate, you are excluded from this comment.)