(shirt, thrifted. rainbow cuffs, street vendor in NYC. star bracelet, claire's. peace bracelet, claire's. peace sign ring, claire's. long beaded necklace, claire's. chunky beaded necklace, strawberry. short beaded necklace, claire's. tiny choker that you can barely see because it's hiding, gift from the family.)My outfits since I returned home from school:
-Black t-shirt and jeans.
-Grey t-shirt and navy skirt.
-Black turtleneck and browny-grey skirt.
-Black button-down and browny-grey skirt.
-Black A-line dress.
-Dark purple t-shirt, black turtleneck, and jeans.
-Any or all of the above with black boots, black ballet flats, black platform sneakers, black belt (hahakarate), black tights, and/or black leggings.
The most interesting piece of clothing I've worn all summer so far has been a pair of electric blue walking shorts, and even those were framed with black. Black t-shirt, black flats. My wardrobe has been, to say the least, BORING. I've justified it with the fact that dark neutrals are chic and timeless, and it's not like I don't look good, I just don't look very interesting.
The cry goes up from the townsfolk, "O Woe! How shall our dearest Yessie Bear save herself from the black abyss of boredom?"
And I state, with a voice as booming as a thunderstorm at sea:
"RAINBOWS."
And the townsfolk respond, slightly confused, "Why?"
And I give them my reasons:
-Rainbows go with everything. It's all the colors put together! It's practically a neutral! You really can't go wrong with rainbows, because they match, well, EVERYTHING.
-Rainbows have positive sociocultural implications (GAY PRIIIIIIDE).
-Rainbows are FUN. Who doesn't look at a rainbow in the sky and crack a smile? NOBODY. Not even Old Man Grumpus can resist good ol' Roy G. Biv.
-Rainbows are PRETTY, too, and they're part of nature. If you're accused of wearing too many brights, or too many colors that can't be found in nature (which, actually, is a bit of an impediment to looking chic, as style should appear effortless and unnatural colors are, well, unnatural), you can toss your chic hair and say in your most chic voice "Why don't you try refracting light through a prism sometime? Maybe you'll learn a thing or two", and trot away. Chicly, of course.
HOWEVER, even I have to adjust rainbows to suit my personal style, because they have the potential for mega tacky if done wrong. Thus:
-I don't own any rainbow tops. Bright colors covering the entire upper half of my body wash out my face (on the pale side of peaches and cream) and my (grayish-green) eyes. I keep them to accessories, or to the occasional skirt (I have one crazy handmade-looking mini that gets worn over jeans, and a plaid pencil skirt).
-I don't wear enormous amounts of rainbow accessories at a time. Today, for example, I wore a black collared t-shirt, boyfriend jeans, and a gumball beaded rainbow necklace. If I really want to go overboard, I might wear my rainbow mini with a bracelet or two, or maybe my peace sign ring. But generally I stick to the tried and true 'neutrals with a pop' method.
-My rainbows don't have primary colors. My necklaces stick to the pastel-y pinks and rich fuschia kind of rainbows; turquoises, teals, oranges, burgundies, magentas, purples, golds, mustards, greens, hot pinks galore, even browns (which is an unexpected neutral to set off rainbow colors with and thus much more interesting than plain old black). While Roy G. Biv is great, I need less expected colors (secondaries, tertiaries, etc.) to make my look a little more modern and funky than classic and, well, predictable. (It took me a while to warm up to my peace sign ring for this reason; it has the 'classic' rainbow coloring and is bordered by black and looked a little twee at first--though now I adore it!)
Lately, all my shopping sprees have drawn me to the accessories aisles to find my latest rainbow bracelet, or ring, or necklace. What's your latest color-related obsession?
(closeup on necklace details. ignore the blink. claire's, gifted, strawberry, claire's.)
(the crazy handmade-looking miniskirt; my first and favorite piece of rainbow attire. thrifted.)
(the plaid pencil skirt; not exactly rainbow, but full of poppy fascinating colors that it basically qualifies. also thrifted.)
