The Color Purple
My roommate, MC, is quite the fashionista. And one of the fun things she sometimes does is set weekly themes for work clothes. One week she tried to wear all black, one week it was all black and white, etc. Since I enjoy experimenting with work clothes (how fun and funky can I get while still being considered business casual?), I thought it would be fun to try it too! So this week, I am trying to wear something with purple all week. This is challenging for a few reasons: 1) Do I own enough purple to do this for 5 days? 2) Do I own enough purple items in different shades/textures/styles so that it doesn't look like I'm in uniform? 3) I'm not supposed to even like the color purple...is it crazy for me to even think I can do this?? These issues make this challenge all the more fun.
For those of you who don't know, the women in my family don't typically like purple. The reason: my great-grandmother was buried in a purple dress. She died when my mom was five. So my grandmother came back from Hawaii after her death and convinced my mother from a very young age that purple is ugly. She grew up not hating the color, but avoiding it like a good daughter should. Then I came along. Now I don't know what my mom used to say to me about this color, but I do know that I have never liked it. Ever. I've never had my room painted it, I've never bought purple clothes, I never liked purple candy. Some of this undoubtedly has to do with the fact that I don't like "grape" flavoring, but I can't help but think that some of it also has to do with this bias running through the women in my family.
Fast forward to Halloween 2004. I am designated the purple Fanta in our group costume. I like Red better, but I thought I looked more like the purple Fanta girl (and I wanted it to be as accurate as possible). I choose purple willingly, but I have to admit I was a little worried because I didn't want to look ugly. And instinctively, without logic, I think of purple as ugly! But it ended up being just fine, and after wearing it I don't think that the color is ugly. In fact, my brush with purple on Halloween made me realize I do actually have lots of clothing in shades of purple. I've got tons of lavender, some purplish-burgundies and some things in an aubergine type shade. And really, they're all quite lovely. So I've decided my problem is not with all purple in general, but with the primary color only. But even wearing primary purple clothes in the right circumstances can be okay too.
So attempting to wear purple-colored items for 5 days in a row is a big challenge for me--not just because it's hard to stay fashionable, professional and non-repetitive while working within a theme, but also because it is forcing me to accept that I sort of like the color my great-grandmother was buried in. Which means I am growing as a person.
I think I've done a good job so far this week. Monday was a pretty basic 3/4 length purple sweater, yesterday was a grayish-lavender sheer shirt layered over an aubergine tank top, today is a pinkish-lavender embroidered blouse. I'm a little worried about tomorrow...maybe I can whip out the purple mini-skirt from Halloween.
If anyone thinks I'm shallow, read some of my earliest entries. There was depth in March!
For those of you who don't know, the women in my family don't typically like purple. The reason: my great-grandmother was buried in a purple dress. She died when my mom was five. So my grandmother came back from Hawaii after her death and convinced my mother from a very young age that purple is ugly. She grew up not hating the color, but avoiding it like a good daughter should. Then I came along. Now I don't know what my mom used to say to me about this color, but I do know that I have never liked it. Ever. I've never had my room painted it, I've never bought purple clothes, I never liked purple candy. Some of this undoubtedly has to do with the fact that I don't like "grape" flavoring, but I can't help but think that some of it also has to do with this bias running through the women in my family.
Fast forward to Halloween 2004. I am designated the purple Fanta in our group costume. I like Red better, but I thought I looked more like the purple Fanta girl (and I wanted it to be as accurate as possible). I choose purple willingly, but I have to admit I was a little worried because I didn't want to look ugly. And instinctively, without logic, I think of purple as ugly! But it ended up being just fine, and after wearing it I don't think that the color is ugly. In fact, my brush with purple on Halloween made me realize I do actually have lots of clothing in shades of purple. I've got tons of lavender, some purplish-burgundies and some things in an aubergine type shade. And really, they're all quite lovely. So I've decided my problem is not with all purple in general, but with the primary color only. But even wearing primary purple clothes in the right circumstances can be okay too.
So attempting to wear purple-colored items for 5 days in a row is a big challenge for me--not just because it's hard to stay fashionable, professional and non-repetitive while working within a theme, but also because it is forcing me to accept that I sort of like the color my great-grandmother was buried in. Which means I am growing as a person.
I think I've done a good job so far this week. Monday was a pretty basic 3/4 length purple sweater, yesterday was a grayish-lavender sheer shirt layered over an aubergine tank top, today is a pinkish-lavender embroidered blouse. I'm a little worried about tomorrow...maybe I can whip out the purple mini-skirt from Halloween.
If anyone thinks I'm shallow, read some of my earliest entries. There was depth in March!
posted by Follow the Frog at 5:14 PM
1 Comments:
This sounds fun! And very challenging indeed.
And forget depth. I think it's overrated, as you can obviously tell from my posts. =)
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