Category: Style

Fashion, flair, fabulousness

Orange

October 19, 2016

 

orange-board1a

Orange is the colour of joy, optimism, and cheerfulness. It is youthful without being infantilizing and warm without being hot. Apparently orange also stimulates the appetite which is no doubt why it’s often used in decor within fast food restaurants. I imagine many children have asked themselves why oranges, the fruit, are named after the colour, while strawberries are not called reds, and bananas are not called yellows. But in fact, the colour orange is named after the fruit. In the before times, the colour was called yellow-red, and the word orange as we now know it came into use in the 16th century. It was derived from the Sanskirt naranga, which literally means “orange tree”.

Orange is also the colour of autumn, and of the 1970s, so even though an autumnal palette simultaneously evokes warmth and the crispness of fall, it can also cause traumatic flashbacks to shag carpeting, brutalist architecture, and questionable fashions.

orange-board2

Where I live, in Montreal, there is a metro station called Lionel-Groulx, which opened in 1978. This explains why the floor is patterned in circles of varying shades of orange. It is extremely trippy to look at and can even cause vertigo if you stare at it for too long, which you will because it is so mesmerizing. For my orangespiration board I brought Casimir, the French dinosaur from the ’70s, to Lionel-Groulx for a photo shoot and no pairing has ever felt more natural. But let’s not assume orange must remain in the ’70s, where it was deployed for evil. Orange is undeniably fun but can also be modern and edgy when done right. I won’t claim that I’ve successfully made orange edgy, but I’ve made it cute, and for me that’ll have to be close enough.

orange-board4

I made this maxi dress because I wanted something to cover my legs in the summer so as to avoid wearing sunblock. As someone who is both anemic and Scandinavian, I cannot be out in the sun for more than two minutes without bursting into flames, but sunblock is gross, and I’m lazy. Turns out though that maxi dresses are kind of difficult to walk in. They’re great for standing still while the fabric sways in the breeze but when you’ve got somewhere to be a long skirt can trip you up, quite literally, especially if you’ve not hemmed it properly. How did women do it back in the day? I guess they were so busy being considered the property of men that getting their legs wrapped up in their skirts was the least of their problems.

orange-board3

 

Red

October 12, 2016

red-board1

Red is bright and bold, dynamic and sexy. There’s even something called the red dress effect, wherein people wearing red are perceived as more sexually attractive than when wearing other colours. Plenty of theories about why that is but red is undeniably a powerful colour. Interestingly, different cultures perceive red in various ways. In the West, it’s very much about sex and warning (like stop lights). In China, red is the colour of celebration and good luck, which makes sense because it’s so vibrant, but in South Africa red is apparently the colour of mourning, and in other African countries, red is the colour of death. I guess that’s because red is the colour of blood? Or because death is powerful? Certainly red is an aggressive colour. No wilting wallflower is going to wear red.  Red demands attention and so will you when wearing it.

red-board2

For my redspiration board I photographed things under a red umbrella with natural light shining through it to give already red objects an even redder glow. This dress was purchased at Modcloth, (this is not a sponsored post) and while it’s very comfortable I find it too fancy for work so I’ve only worn it a few times, on the very rare occasions that I have somewhere to go out in the real world. I do own red shoes but I prefer this look with these royal blue booties. These two jewel tones together really pop, in my opinion.

red-board3

I actually don’t have much red in my wardrobe, which is interesting because whenever I paint self-portraits I tend to choose a red colour palette. Not sure why. Perhaps in public I’m too shy to demand attention but I see my internal self as bold.

red-board3

 

Pink

October 5, 2016

I went through a phase in adolescence where I refused to wear pink. I denounced the colour as anti-feminist because I considered it too girly. Eventually I had a revelation and realized that I could be a feminist and still dress in conventionally feminine attire and colours. When I was a child I loved doll-like fashion and as an adult I’ve returned to this appreciation for all things twee. Sometimes I still chastise myself for having a style that veers too juvenile but what can I say? It’s what I like. It’s who I am. My authentic style is ModCloth/Zooey Deschanelesque.

pony2

Don’t be afraid of pink. I rarely see women wearing it in office settings, probably because they want to be taken seriously and pink still carries that girly connotation, (though this wasn’t always the case) and of course, we still live in a society that considers all things feminine to be negative or at least inferior to masculine things. But perhaps embracing this colour can be a subversive act. We shouldn’t have to “act like men” (whatever that means) to be taken seriously. We should act like whoever we are, and if that means being “butch” then great, but if that means being “girly” then that’s great too. Being treated as equals isn’t just a matter of proving we can do whatever men are tradionally praised for, (although even when we do we get paid less, and when men enter professions that were traditionally thought of as female the perception of the field changes, not the perception of women) but also bringing esteem to things that are derided simply because they are associated with femininity.

cupcake

My pinkspiration board includes the irrepressible Pinky Pie, a necklace I made on a whim, a painting of a cupcake, and the fabric of a dress I only wore once (to a wedding) and then never again because I thought it might be too twee even for me.

In this pink outfit I’m wearing something I would wear to work, though I only thought to pair all these pinks after putting together my pinkspiration board. Maybe I’ll wear this for realsies soon.

quee2

I love these hot pink shoes though they are slightly too small for me. I bought them anyway because the next half-size up were like boats on my feet. I only wear these shoes at the office, where I’m mostly sitting. If I need to wear pink shoes while walking for significant distances I just don’t. When I was in my late 20s, early 30s I used to regularly walk around town in heels but I’m over that now. As I age I get more concerned with my health so now when I walk, I WALK! I do it for efficiency and exercise, not just to get from point A to point B. So for my walk to the metro I’d wear this outfit with ankle boots that don’t really go but I’ve gotten to the point where I’d rather be comfortable than cute. I’ll never be that woman who is utterly on point all the time.