While sorting
my clothes at change of season, I couldn’t help but be struck by the consistency
of the colors in my closet. First up, black and more black—slimming (I hope!) and easy to
coordinate. Dark charcoal. Then shades of navy, blue, lavender, purple and
aqua, relieved by splashes of cream and pale caramel.
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| A selection from my clothes closet |
All my colors
come from the blue-indigo-violet end of the color spectrum. That’s what I wear.
I long ago gave up experimenting with the red-orange-yellow end—pinks and
oranges are just not me. Brown? So dull with my blue eyes, fair skin and auburn
hair.
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| I found the colors so pleasing in this window box in Salem, MA |
Truth is, I
just don’t feel comfortable outside my color comfort zone. And others seem to
feel the same. One of my friends, a dark-eyed brunette, laughs when she sees the
hues hanging in my closet—her collection of clothes is basically red, white and
black. She wouldn’t be caught dead in my beloved purple.
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| This day lily is about as bright as I go--and it's in a blue pot! |
I’m the same in
the garden—I love pinks and purples and all shades in-between highlighted with
splashes of white, orange and yellow. The exception? The deep glory of scarlet
and crimson roses, judiciously placed. Not for me, riots of unrelieved red and
yellow, though I truly appreciate their beauty.
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| Bright, breathtaking bouganvillea |
While I stick
to my own colors for myself, I’m good at helping others choose the right shades
for them—usually nothing like what I wear. (I had lots of practice organizing
makeovers in my days as a magazine fashion editor). Colors I most liked
dressing my daughter in when she was little? Red and hot pink—and she still looks
fabulous in them.
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| A favorite corner of my garden |
I love dressing
the characters in my novels—it’s kind of like the fun I used to have dressing
my dolls when I was a kid. Part of choosing my characters’ clothes (and
accessories, mustn’t forget the accessories!) is making sure the colors suit
both their hair, eyes and skin tone but also their personalities. One of my
favorite heroines to dress, Serena in Home Is Where
the Bark Is, starts the book hiding out in shapeless, colorless
clothes and Birkenstocks, she ends it in sassy, sexy black and sky high stilettos
with a slash of scarlet lipstick.
I’m giving the
last word on color to this visitor to my garden this morning—an Australian lorikeet
feasting on the nectar of flowers of a flame tree. What a color clash! And yet
so beautiful.
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| The glorious plumage of a lorikeet feasting in a flame tree |
What about you?
Do you have a color comfort zone and stick with a family of colors in the
clothes you wear, your house, your garden? Does it annoy you when a character
in a book or movie dresses in the wrong color?
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leave a comment to be in the draw to win a Love is a
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Kandy
Shepherd writes fun, feel-good fiction. Her books include The Castaway
Bride, Something About
Joe, Love is a
Four-Legged Word and Home Is Where
the Bark Is—and you can enjoy reading them no matter what color
you happen to be wearing at the time!
Visit
Kandy at her website
