We love to contemplate blue, not because it advances to us, but because it draws us after it.
– Goethe
Choosing a color palette
One of the biggest style lessons I learnt was about color. It came from the legendary DeadFleurette. ( She deleted her blog.) She was making a case for choosing a neutral palette where everything pairs together in a minimalist closet. She said something in the lines of “If you like a color, that doesn’t mean that you have to wear it”. It was such an “ahan” moment for me. You could flip that sentence around and say “Life is too short. Wear it all”. But “do what ever you want” sort of thinking doesn’t always lead to good decisions. Between impulse and response, there has to be choice. I choose to adopt a uniform. Life is too short to entertain all sort of whims and impulses.
Liking a color is of course the first filter for entry into the closet. But do we allow things to enter after they meet the bare minimum requirement ? Refinement comes from adding constraints and making edits. The next barrier of entry : is the color wearable ? If yes, is it a flattering color on me ? If yes, can I wear it in my everyday life ? If yes, does it have a place in a minimalist closet ? Yes ? Bring it in. The next big lesson came from all the chic French women I was reading about. If you like a color like yellow or turquoise, add it in small doses as an accessory. I started exploring other ways to add color into the closet – as a scarf, as a belt, as a gem stone, as nail polish, as shoes, as a bag, as a lipstick, as eye liner, …. This way, I get to build a wearable closet and collect a few interesting accent pieces.
My Blues
I wanted to tap into the convenience of uniform dressing – less choice and decisions to be made. But I didn’t want to wear one garment for life. That’s a bit too severe. Next best thing was – a small COLOR palette. It will take out the idea of matching clothes to other colors. It will considerably narrow down the shopping pool. I could walk into any store and have some noise taken out. I might have less to declutter since I was falling in and out of love with the trendy colors. This was my way of doing uniform dressing – wear one color for 90% of the time. Of all the colors in the spectrum, I zero-ed in on blue. I was never a neutrals person. I won’t wear white, beige and gray. I like purples, reds, pinks and greens – but they were too loud to wear. Blue won. I initially started with an array of blues :
Blues
Blues I dislike vs like.
Blues I find wearable.
Blues that are flattering on me.
Blues I find wearable.
Blues in my closet.
The One.
Jenny : I am trying to work out what makes good things good. its hard isnt it ?
The things is, Jenny, you know. without necessarily being able to explain why. See, you have a taste. that’s not half the battle. Thats the whole war.
– An Education.
It is said that style is a privilege of age. You know what works for you and why it works. You have made peace with your body and understand it. You have worn out garments and repurchased in the exact ones again. You have the same garments in slight variation of size and design to rotate through. You have the confidence to buy the same garment in different colors. This self-awareness, is a gift of the 30s. With time, I somehow ended with a closet full of navy blue. It’s easy to wear. It’s versatile. It’s not conspicuous. It’s convenient. It’s practical. It’s humble. It’s a flattering color on me. It ages well. It’s timeless. It’s classic, classy and trendy. You can arrive at it from indigo dying. Every morning, I open my closet and see a sea of navy blue. It’s my daily dose of color therapy. I am content. This uniform works for me. I arrived at it after a simple calculation but it un-wrote itself in the end into something much more.
The right Navy blue
I believe I got to thank the Catholic Church for choosing navy blue for Mary in art work. The color was seen in a positive light and was adopted by the general public. It then got picked for the military. Army surplus was often used by the police before an official uniform was adopted. And as they say, the rest is history. I completely understand the charm. I am glad that many variations of the color exist on the market. I have a lot to say about the right shade of navy. I can knit pick on a certain shade for not being warm toned enough or for loosing it’s ‘blue-ness’ as it ages. But with increasing OCD, the law of diminishing returns applies. It defeats the purpose of effortless of uniform dressing if I start walking around with a shade card. I like them all. This are the navy blues in my closet :
