I Have a Crush on Color. Here’s Why.
May 1, 2020 / Garrett Smith
As we’ve made our way out of winter with its blues, whites, and blacks, it’s now time to explore the colors of spring — vibrant pinks and statement purples. Then rain begins to let up, the flowers bloom and summer colors make their debut. Earthy greens and sunshine yellows radiate energy as powerful as the summer sun. Fall leads us into a more somber time of the year, and we add layers to our bodies as the trees lose theirs. In fall, we earn warm reds, crisp orange, and intimate creams. On this ever-rotating earth each season comes and goes adding bright, pastel, muted, neon colors for us to enjoy 365 days a year.
All this to say: as the earth rotates, so should our wardrobe. We have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves every three months by just adding new color blends into our closet.
Looking at the color wheel can be intimidating. The spectrum is composed of infinite blends and wavelengths. Incorporating every color in your closet can be daunting, but in its truest essence, the color wheel serves as merely another form of communication: Each hue interacts with others in different ways, developing relationships with one another just as one human speaks to another. Color has the ability to shape our moods and influences how we carry out our day.
For me, each new color blend is a friend. Color has always had a place in my wardrobe because I love the energy it can add to my day. I love to see colors argue, like an old couple bickering over what soup of the day to share. The way colors mix and blend in perfect synchronization minimizes my constant curiosity about how the world works. I want to see colors complement each other like they’re in the freshest stage of dating — so obsessed with each other that their hands are molded into one 20 finger mess. Where the boundary that creates a line between person A and person B is transparent.
Colors work together to create an energy and that energy can be translated into your wardrobe to spice things up. Dive deep into your emotions and understand what you want to feel each day . Listen and learn from your surroundings to let your environment shape how you feel, and be open to communicating that with others.
Color can have predisposed emotion tied to it, but each color is also flexible to your interpretation. Tie personal events and emotion to each color and create your own meaning from them. Let color speak to you. Don’t see color, feel it.
Tomorrow morning when you wake up — before your morning coffee, before you leave your bed, even before you check your phone — just lay there and feel for a moment. Think about how you’re feeling and what you want your day to be like. When you get up and look in your closet, reach for the color that most connects with that feeling. Don’t overthink it. Don’t make up your emotions. Just be honest with yourself and grab what feels right. And then continue to feel throughout your day and take the reins of your life. ■
by: Garrett Smith
Graphics by: Izellah Wang
Graphics by: Izellah Wang