Back to black

Those were the days when you could
smile for a passport photo

Those good old days, when coral reigned queen of all the colours - how I loved my coral lippie, my coral blush, my coral clothing and accessories, and if I could wear them all at the same time...so much the better.

Any outfit I wore was coordinated to the max - everything matched from the makeup to the hair accessories (how I loved my scrunchies and scarves and plastic earrings).  

Back then, I thought nothing of wearing coral, brick, orange, bright pink and any certain number of colours that would have made me look like I had caught some exotic disease like malaria - I was yet to embark on the "Colour me Beautiful" phase..and when I did, evidently coral, brick and orange weren't my colours. Go figure.  But apparently neither was black.  So I ignored my "Colour me Beautiful" shopping palette. Because...well, I'm a New Zealander, and we Kiwi girls love the colour black. I mean, we even have a national rugby team that goes by that name.  What's not to love.

Sometime between the new romanticism and grunge era, my wardrobe morphed from a rainbow confection into a dirge...I'm not sure how it happened, but there it was. ABC and Spandau Ballet were no longer topping the charts and I was starting to resemble the musical palette of Nirvana and Pearl Jam. All of a sudden colour had been given the heave ho, and in its place was a sea of drab.  Now that was nearly 20 years ago, and colour has been too scared to pop its head above the parapet ever since.

Every time I travel overseas for work, I will always get two or three comments on my "dressing for a funeral" wardrobe choices...but for me, the colour black is empowering...and slimming.  (Hey, a person can dream a little, can't they?)  And more importantly, it's easy. Having a monochromatic wardrobe just takes a lot of the guess work out of what I'm going to wear each day.  Black...or black with a hint of cream...or when I really want to spice things up, I might throw in a touch of beige.  Easy!

But sometimes I need a break from the black that permeates every part of my closet. Yet how do I do this when 90% of my clothing has been purchased due to an absolute fear of wearing anything that registers on the colour spectrum?

Enter the humble accessory...here is where I can indulge my passion for all colours (okay, maybe not coral or yellow...or brick orange).  And the beauty of an accessory is that you can experiment with colour and not spend too much on an item.  

My standard work uniform of black skirt and top changed up with a few accessories

My standard look for casual evening or day

For the most part it's back to black...hiding behind the uniform of dark clothing, trying not to stand out too much.  Boring...

Is it time for a change?  Time for me to get off the conservative (and monochromatic) treadmill. Maybe it's time to embrace a bit of colour...and to wear the fuschia hat without fear.  

What about you?  Did you always embrace colour?  Or are you like me...chromatically challenged?, 

How do you add colour to your wardrobe?