Briefly, let's muse on the subject of organic thought, works, and actions--do they truly exist? The idea is nothing anyone does or says is truly original, everything that can be done has been done or thought. A less severe option would be to muse that originality can exist, however all this is dependent on our influences/environments. Meaning, we are not as original as we think, every thought/work has a history and we are knowingly or unknowingly inspired by others before us. While we might actually be able to do something new, a line of similar actions before us might be drawn to show how we followed in others' footsteps.
Tangent your thoughts from this subject and think about what those inspirations might be: images, culture, family, weather, art, etc. Everything around us acts as stimuli. And what do most of these things have in common--color.
Ah, finally the point of this post: my love affair with color. In high school I did an Advanced Placement Art portfolio on color. Color blindness runs in my family. I read every report on color I come across. I really enjoy this color quiz that gives a very accurate read of your personality/mood.
I often enjoy playing with color in my outfits and being a rather over-analytical person have noticed how people's behavior towards me changes with the colors I am wearing. For example on (rare) days when I wear pink I am approached by more people (especially males); which makes sense since pink is the color of romance and often seen as a tranquilizing factor. In sports sometimes teams paint the opponent's locker rooms pink in an attempt cause their opponents to lose power.
So, when I struggle to moodily dress what is causing my stress? Is it that painful egg shell paint in the dorm room? Or a restless night and giant pimple? Or is it something more complex, less complex, or just entirely different? (Darn you Newton for leading the discussion on the optical spectrum that led to all this mess!)
Makes me want a color-changing mood ring to make life (appear) simpler.
21 comments:
Very true! I always inadvertently incorporate color into my outfits, though I've noticed I tend to overdo primary colors... one of my favorite challenges in dressing is mixing colors which aren't supposed to "match."
This is very interesting, and I've felt this way often but haven't really analyzed what makes me tire of/choose my outfits. I am conscious of the little things that change my mood (like bad eggshell paint or a zit), but haven't translated that into colors.
If only they would make an actual, functional mood ring rather than the cheap ones I wore in elementary!
A very interesting post! I also find that I am influenced by colour, and love to play around with colour combinations to see what effect I get.
I think colour is one aesthetic function in fashion to play around with that has immediate effect/impact more so than texture or shapes.
Regarding organic thought though, I wouldn't be so concerned with total originality as you have pointed out...everything comes with a past reference... it's how you reinterpret things that really matters...
Wonderful, thoughtful post! My ex-boyfriend was colorblind or partially colorblind. He could only tell certain colors apart. There was a dress he used to like me in, it was purple and had orange polka-dots. I found out about his color blindness when I wore it for the first time and he said "cool dress, I like the green polka dots". I laughed and said, "what are you talking about?! They're orange silly" I don't know. It always made me a bit sad, especially when I went over to his house once and he showed me some diploma they had awarded him in kindergarten for "knowing all his colors". On a more happier note I so used to have one of those when I was little (the mood rings I mean). Then it got wet and it wouldn't change colors anymore. It just stayed an ugly mud color.
very very interesting ..
and I had a mood ring too but then it always was orange and it would never change..
I love mood rings, of course! (My very first post was about mood rings--when only Wendyb was around the blogosphere, it seemed...)
Anyhow, wonderful post. It's nice to know other people struggle with color... even you---you seem to incorporate color seamlessly into so many of your looks and I am often jealous! (I wear a lot of black.)
this is really interesting - I always tend to think of people/events as colourshades.I find I always paint my mood colour but tend to conversely dress the opposite (ie maybe brights to cheer me up). Never really thought why, but kinda like art=reality but fashion=theatrics/persona? if that makes sense.
at that, i'm really fascinated with the idea of sound+ colour synesthesia - seeing that realised in some kind of chalayanesque show would be insane
I always buy the same colors in my tops because I know certain colors look better on me than others, so then I don't end up with that much of a choice when choosing my outfit. I wonder what that says about me? I need more colors in my life
Ooh I have a ring just like that! (stolen from an ex *evil laugh*) I must dig it out. Though I never know what the colours actually mean?
Such an interesting post... colour never really leaves fashion... shapes and styles come and go but colour is always a base to return to I guess.
And I go through a similar dissaticfaction every morning too, I put it down to dreams affecting the unconscious outfit-choosing part of the brain.
Yes such a thing simply must exist!
wow fascinating post :)
interesting post..
mood ring reminds me of elementary school.
Im off to choose my clothes for tommorow
xoxo
Color can be very tricky indeed.
For me, weather decides what I wear. If it's raining I'm not going to wear ballet flats anyway, but I'll pick a boot and design the outfit around that. So I guess, my shoes and weather decide my outfits. Hmm... interesting...
maybe colours affect you rather than you picking the colours to match moods? like say if you wear pink it might have some psychological affect where you feel more pretty and girly, therefore act that way and attract more people! I used to find that people used to comment on my hair more when I wore black rather than a stand out colour, but I think that partly had to do with looking less threatening in plain black, rather than possibly fierce and maybe unapproachable in bright purple or green. Also, maybe materials play a part too? You could have black tulle or black velvet or black lace- all would surface a different emotion. fabulous post, a really simple yet surprisingly very interesting subject and you've gone into such depth, great reading!
I like your writing style. I think my sometimes excessive juxtaposition of colours and prints stems from my private school days, and that when I moved (and thus moved to a new school), 99% more of the spectrum was now open to me.
What the.
That color test read straight into my soul and now I feel uncomfortable.
I love colors. Also I think I had a mood ring exactly like that one. It turned my finger green though.
Oh Newton you crazy cat. Good referencing there (I'm a physics student... shhh!!). Colour can have an impact on the way people act. I've not noticed it particularly for myself, but maybe it's because a lot of my wardrobe is similar. Or I'm just the same person most of the time (I'm ok with that).
Re: Selina's point about hair colour and people approaching, I tend to get more people complimenting generally (and about hair) when I wear dark green. Some colours do just bring out people's best features, so when they're wearing them, it almost doesn't matter so much what they're wearing. The perception is still there.
Very much enjoyed this post!
are you a synaestheste?
(a person who associates colors and numbers/letters/etc.)
very insightful post.
you might also enjoy this color link. it's a well used reference for me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Crayola_crayon_colors
as a science nerd (by profession ;), i am fascinated with light and, therefore, color. actually, i did my own post on monochromatic outfits accompanied with my ramblings on color. here's the link:
http://hello-dreamecho.blogspot.com/search?q=spectral+singularity
this post was back when i started my blog last summer...when nobody was reading it ;)
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