Black blouses, black jackets, black tops, and of course – black pants. Am I afraid of color? Somehow I accumulated so many black clothes. One might get the impression that I go to funerals every day, when peeking into my closet. How did it end up like this?
I think it must have started with having trouble matching things up. I had bought a few garments that turned out to be mistakes. They didn’t match with anything I had, and I couldn’t return them. So I thought it would be safer to buy black the next time I shopped, because “it matches with everything”. (So I thought at the time.) And black I did buy. But I wasn’t quite aware of just how much black I was buying, until one day it just dawned on me when I organized my closet.
The statement that “black matches everything” is actually a falsehood that many women unknowingly operate on. With certain colors, brown, gray, white or cream make a much better match. Of course, we can’t get away from having at least a couple of pairs of black pants – that’s a staple item. And a black jacket or two. However, many of the garments that we buy in black just so that they will be easy to match, could just as well be bought in other neutrals. Now, I haven’t seen your closet, but I bet that some of those black items can be traded for a pair of gray stylish pants – a well fitted light brown suit jacket that goes with a variety of tops you have, that you can just throw on in a hurry – a comfortable beige skirt with a feminine cut – a crisp white blouse – a cream casual pant suit to mix and match with other jackets and bottoms. Exchanging your black garments for items like these will lighten up your wardrobe and freshen your look.
My mom is my favorite person to go shopping with. Sometimes she and I make a pact with each other to stop the other one from purchasing black clothes. She takes it as her job as a shopping buddy to shout: “Stop! What do you think you are doing?” when she sees me heading for the register with something black in my hands. And I do the same thing for her. It’s as if people are put in a trance when they enter the mall and don’t think about what they are doing. Why do we buy so much black?
Colorful tops cheer up your wardrobe, of course. But you can also add vibrant life to your look by wearing colorful scarves and shawls. Shoes also have to do with it.
White and cream pants can be difficult to maintain since they get dirty so fast. You can get around that problem buy seeking out white pants that are machine washable, and even better, no-iron. This way you can wear them once, throw them in the washer, hang them to dry over the bath tub, and wear them again.
Lighting can also be a problem when you have a lot of black in your closet. I recently found myself not being able to see what I had – with black, next to black, next to black, in a dark closet, I couldn’t find things easily at all. I changed the lighting and now I can distinguish one black item form another.
Let the funeral procession end. Let’s buy basics of other neutrals, like white, gray and brown – then splash it up adding happy colored tops that cheer up everyone we encounter.
Also see:
White Blouses
Bow-tie Blouses
Blouse Care
Basic Blouse |
