My Beige Period.

RHYS BOWEN:  I just ordered a couple of new jackets from Banana Republic. One is oatmeal color, the other camel. And a cream sweater. When I hung them in my closet I realized that I had been buying variations on stone, beige, camel for the past year. 

And I also realized that I suddenly fancy a certain color, never based on what is popular that year. I don’t realize I’m doing it but when I look at the items hanging up I can see that that was my navy blue period, that was my teal, my turquoise and once, God forbid, my mauve. Don’t worry, they’ve all been donated long ago.

I have come a long way on my fashion journey from the Sixties, when I was tres tres fashionable, did some modeling, worked for the BBC, had a Vidal Sassoon haircut and wore Mary Quant to the Seventies when I was flowing and flowery, to the Big Shoulders of the Eighties and then got some idea of the look I wanted: well cut, timeless, professional, I suppose. But I've never really hit upon MY COLOR.  I had my colors done and I was definitely a spring. Pastels, light colors.  I look awful in black, red, anything bright. But this doesn't account for a sudden yearning for a particular color that I'm not even aware of until I can see a whole line of them hanging in my closet.

 So what can it be that makes me decide I have to have a certain color at a certain time? Is it how I’m feeling about life? Was I more upbeat and cheerful in my turquoise year? Sweet and lovable in my pink year? And now, in my beige period, am I more subdued and boring? (But then I saw this pic of Angelina Jolie and she is wearing... so maybe I am fashionable after all)

 

I know other people decide what their colors are and stick to them—I’m thinking of Hank and her black suits for work, occasional splashes of red. She knows who she is, what she represents and what suits her. Perhaps I’m still looking for who I am? Roberta—psychiatric help needed please.

 Reds and Reddies, did you ever have your colors done?  Do you stick to a few that suit you? Do you follow fashion trends Or do you move between colors like me? What makes you choose?

Have You Had Your Colors Done?

RHYS BOWEN: The other day I met my good friend Jacqueline Winspear for coffee. As we approached each other I saw we were wearing almost identical gray and white striped outfits. Jackie smiled and said, "Oh good. You got the memo.'

But isn't that weird? I went home and found that everything I've bought in the past year has been gray or gray and white. Why is that? I've even just bought a new house that is painted gray and white. For house decoration I gather it's the IN color of the moment but I'd been buying gray clothing before I saw it this winter. So why am I so attracted to gray right now? Is it somehow a popular color, an evil strategy of those in power in fashion? Is there a secret power that meets each year to decide what color we will wear? But I haven't seen too much gray in department stores.

I realize that for most of my life I've suddenly fallen in love with a color, bought items, worn them and then moved on to another color. If you look at my closet you will see my royal blue period, my turquoise period, my navy period. You will never see my black or brown ages because I look awful in both those colors. This year I bought one pink jacket. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I did that.

So why did a particular color appeal to me at a particular time? Was it how I was feeling about life? Bright and confident in royal blue? Bright and hopeful in turquoise? More solemn in navy blue?  I suppose it's as simple as I buy a navy and white dress and then I think, "Oh, I need a jacket to go with that." and I buy a navy jacket, and then I think, "Navy pants would be useful," so I buy navy pants. And then I see a navy and white cardigan and so on...
But there must be something about how a particular color makes me feel at a moment in time. Silvery gray looks good with my hair right now.

I'm actually not a huge clothes person. At home you'll find me in sweats or athletic gear, sitting at my computer. I don't change to go out shopping or to the gym. I'm the sort of person who buys a pair of white pants when I see that the old pair is fraying around the hems or won't do up around my waist. I was born sensible. I rarely buy clothes on impulse, (and usually regret it when I do. I'm thinking of you, pink jacket).

However, as a writer who has to appear in public I do need a wardrobe of respectable clothing. And a problem is that I am sent on book tour to the same stores every year. So I have to be careful that I don't wear the same jacket  to the same place. There is nothing more embarrassing than having a fan come up to me saying, "I took this photo of you signing a book for me last year," and I'm wearing the same outfit. Mortification!

So what about you, Reds. (apart from Hank who wears black, black and more black). Do you find you wear a certain color for a while, then move on to another one? Did that color define a particular period in your life?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Rhys, actually, yes, there is a group that meets every year! In Italy, Milan, maybe, and decides what the color of the year will be. That's why, in years past, you've suddenly seen--everything is apple green! Or fuchsia,  I remember (for some reason) that was 2001.  I think it's been ultra-violet,  and this year MIGHT be "living coral." Maybe that was last year.  One  a recent year's was claret. It's called the Pantone color convention, something like that.

One year, long ago, I wanted a hunter green leather couch, and someone who was more au courant told me--oh, no, dear. You want navy blue. That's what the color of the year was. So we THINK we're just gravitating to a color, but in reality, it's all be decided for us.

Remember that wonderful scene in The Devil Wears Prada when they discuss turquoise? That's ALL, essentially, true.

And yup, social media has really created a clothing situation! I'm just hoping nobody really notices.

(And I just bought a pink jacket, Rhys....:-))

RHYS:  But it wasn't Living Coral, Hank. It was dusty, blah pink. I still have no idea why I bought it.

LUCY BURDETTE: Gray looks horrible on me so I'm holding out for the next color! One year I made the trek to an Eileen Fisher outlet with a good friend and found all these beautiful orange tops (one of my GOOD colors!) Now that color can't be found anywhere. Did anyone else have their colors done? They had a special guest at the hair salon many years ago and now I have a little wheel of good colors for my hair, skin, and eyes (though heaven knows the hair color is mutable...) But I always forget to take it shopping...

HALLIE EPHRON: I like gray but it washes me out. Maybe I'll like it better when I've got full-on gray.
TURQUOISE! RED! BLACK!! Strong colors. Pastels: Feh.
I do think it matters where you live. Go to LaGuardia Airport en route to Florida - your black outfit is perfect for NYC but the minute you land in Florida you want to switch to whites and colors. Traveling in the winter gets complicated.

JENN McKINLAY: Jeans. I like jeans everything else is superfluous. Because I live in AZ it's jean shorts and tank tops (all colors) in summer and jeans and sweaters (also all colors) in winter.The only time I can remember gravitating to a certain color was when I turned forty. I went through a pink phase of epic proportions. I think I was having a midlife crisis and thought the pink would cheer me up. No idea if it worked or not but the pink did eventually fade from my wardrobe.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm trying to expand the amount of pink in my wardrobe, since, despite having natural silver hair for almost a decade now, it still thrills this former redhead that I finally look good in pink! Actually, letting my hair grow out (and accepting my skin tone had changed with age as well) necessitated a major color switch for me. I used to look great in Autumnal colors - mossy green and browns, camel and cream. Now it looks muddy next to my face and hair - I have to limit it to the lower half only.

One thing I've noticed recently is that my winter wardrobe is 85% red and black. I like it, but I really need to stretch out from there. It's hard because as Rhys says, once you have the pants, you get a sweater to match, and then a shirt that works with both... on the plus side, I'm so grateful when summer arrives. I dress like a toucan in hot weather.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: No gray for me, ugh, although I can see that it would look fabulous on you, Rhys. And I cannot wear mossy, autumnal colors. I had this in mind when first writing about Gemma, because she can wear all colors I can't, and I still get a kick out of "shopping" for her. I did have my colors done years ago, and had a little booklet with the things I supposedly should wear. I was supposedly a "summer" which is a fairly muted palette, but I actually prefer brighter colors. I can wear white, and black, and I LOVE turquoise and hot pink.

Rhys, I totally get what you said about the book tour, and the same is true for conferences. If you buy really smashing clothes for these events, you can only wear them once because they will be in photos. I'm sure Hank has the solution--just wear black. But instead, we could always wear turquoise!

RHYS: I remember now that I did have my colors done, years ago. But as other Reds have pointed out, our skin tone changes as we age. I was a spring then and I think I'm still a light pastel type of person (when I'm not wearing gray).

So is gray the color of the year for anyone else? Did you all get your colors done when it was so popular?

What Color Is Your Parachute?

RHYS: The one form of spring cleaning I do every year is to go through my clothes closet and get rid of any item I haven't worn for at least a year. (At least, this is the theory. I practice I find myself muttering 'I might wear that again if kilts/long skirts/peasant blouses come back into fashion)

But the interesting thing to me about this exercise is that I clearly favored a certain color at a certain time. Picasso had his blue period. So did I. And a light green, and a teal, and beige, and even brown (that was a mistake. i don't look good in brown.) There was even a mauve period. What was I thinking? Nobody looks good in mauve except little old ladies with blue hair.

So now I'm fascinated: what made me go that color at that period in my life? Was it the 'in' color that year and I was subliminally influenced by the fashion industry? Did it match the way I was feeling? Was I particularly cheerful the year I went for buttery yellow?Was I trying to be efficient when I wore navy?  I won't even try to analyze how I was feeling when I went for mauve.

Some people have 'their' color and stick to it. Have I ever seen Hank not wearing black? My daughter Anne, with true black Irish coloring of dark hair and fabulous blue eyes only wears black/light blue/red and white. A true winter person.  If I had to come up with 'my' color I suppose it would be turquoise or teal. But that doesn't stop me from beige which is probably quite wrong for my hair and coloring.

So I'm interested, Reds. Do you feel energized or angry when you wear red? Do you choose light blue to make you serene? Do you have your own particular colors and if so, how were they chosen. Did you ever have your colors done? (I'm spring).

Also are some colors more appealing than others? I'm going to look at my book covers and see which of them sold better than others (The lilac Molly book didn't do that well. Aha. Memo to self. No more lilac.)

Do you have a favorite color right now?

HALLIE EPHRON: I LOVE red. Also black. Or red and black. Or black and red. They're good with my coloring.

Pastels? Feh. They wash me out and make me feel girlie which I do not like. I try to do strong colors -- bright ones like turquoise and jade green and violet -- but I confess, I invariably fade to black... and red.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I used to wear autumnal colors that flattered my red hair:  brown, rust, moss green. Now that I've gone silver, I've had to change it up a bit. I'll still wear my favorite brown turtleneck, but I'll add on a turquoise necklace or red scarf to brighten it up. One color I can wear now that never used to look good on me? Pink! My summer wardrobe has become heavily pink and green in the past few years.

Living in a cold climate, I really notice how colors in my environment make me feel. As soon as the temperature drops in the fall, the living room chairs and ottoman get covered with plaid wool in shades of burgundy, burnt orange and hunter green. It makes the room warmer without having to turn up the thermostat!

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  Looking at the photos I posted recently of my book signings twenty years ago and fifteen years ago, I was wearing deep purple in the first, and a sort of teal-blue-green in the second. Hmm. Still wear those colors. I had my colors done years and years ago, and I am supposedly a "summer," so I was cheating towards "winter" on the purple.  I used to stick by that palette pretty religiously, however, but I seem to be getting more adventurous. I've developed a thing for lime green the last couple of years, and I've noticed I have several things in burnt orange, both of which would have been absolutely taboo. But my hair is, um, lighter these days, and that does make a difference.

I still can't wear olive or yellow or clear orange, or most grays and browns. Not unless I want to look like one of the corpses in my books.

Oh, I deliberately made Gemma a "spring/autumn" so she could wear all the colors that didn't look good on me.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, Debs, the idea that you had signings twenty years ago. Swoon.

And yes, black it is. (Thanks, Rhys.) The only color that looks reliably good on me. Okay, red. Chocolate brown. Winter white. And that, my friends, is it. Except for the occasional navy blue.

Why is this, I ask? Anyone know the color thing?

DEBS: It was supposed to be some formula of skin tone, eye color, and hair color. Summer and winter were "cool" skin tones; autumn and spring, "warm." Is it still the thing to have your "colors" done, I wonder? And don't most of us have a pretty good idea what works for us and what doesn't?  Maybe the real thing is to ask what colors make us happy, and why? I painted my kitchen a soft apple green when we remodeled.  That was six years ago and it still makes me smile every day.

Hank, I have to say, your packing must be really, really easy:-)

LUCY BURDETTE: I had my "colors" done about twenty years ago too. And who knows what my hair color was back then?? But they gave me a little wheel of swatches with all my flattering colors on it, and several of them designated as especially good for making eyes stand out (green), hair, skin, and also, what color of jewelry to wear (gold and bronze better than silver). The problem is I forget to take it when I go shopping...And so I buy black and white:). I think I'm an Autumn like Gemma, Debs, so I do better with greens, browns, and peach. But in any case, you can pretty much tell when you look in the mirror--ghoulish? Don't buy it no matter how cute!

RHYS: One thing I've learned the hard way--I do not look good in patterns. No flowers, swirls, blobs for me. I'm Ms. Ralph Lauren. If I stick with him, I'm okay (except last year when he included an awful pink and green dress). But this makes me wonder whether we make our characters look like us or deliberately different from us. I always wanted red hair and Molly has the flame colored locks I craved. 

So let's hear from you? Have you always favored the same colors? Do you experiment?