Colour Speaks Louder Than You Think

It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words. And a picture of you is made up of your natural colours and the clothes and accessories that you wear.

Those colours are speaking loudly to the senses of others. When you meet someone new, you usually see them first from a distance. Their hair and clothing colours are the areas that reach our sub-conscious first. You judge on the hair colour (and often the hairstyle) and reinforce your first impression with their clothing colours. We all do it without thinking even if you protest that you don’t. Lastly, you use their body language and words to either confirm your first colour impression or feel confused by their conflicting signals.

Hopefully as you, a Baby Boomer woman, get older and learn more about different personalities, you give others the time and attention to read their more subtle clues. BUT colour is the first thing that speaks very loudly to your left-brain senses.

Colour can have different meanings in different countries and cultures. In this article, I am concentrating on it from an Australian view which is 95⁺% compatible with most western cultures.

Also I am concentrating on the positive messages of the following seven colours. I want to help you subconsciously shout out loud positive colour signals.

Be aware that different shades of colours give different messages. These below are general descriptions.

The Primary Colours

YELLOW – Yellow colours are eye-catching as it takes longer for your eyes to process yellow. In general yellow relates to the sun and it sends out a bright, cheerful and happy signal. That’s why we generally associate blondes with being happy women. Yellow is also the colour of learning and logic.

RED – Red colours are active, romantic, sexy and fiery colours. Quite often we believe that they look best on brunettes but this is not true. Medium red suits every woman. On its positive side, red is a go-getter, confident colour. Red has been deemed the colour for Baby Boomer women in their 60s, probably relating to a time to let loose and really be yourself.

BLUE – Blue colours usually relate to communication. Dark blue has long been associated with business and sends a trusting vibe out to others. Men relate to women dressed in blue as being easy to talk to.

The Secondary Colours

GREEN – Green colours are a mixture of yellow and blue. In general, greens are balancing colours as they are the opposite of the red skin tone of most women. Mid green is an eco-earth colour used to signify caring for the planet. Turquoise (2013 Colour of the Year) in a strong shade projects a commanding Extrovert presence and in a soft shade implies a quiet-achieving Introvert energy.

 PURPLE – Purple colours are a mix of red and blue. It has always been a spiritual or royal colour that was once hard to find. The Woman’s Movement adopted purple as one of its logo colours and now purple represents a more refined, elegant, female power colour. In its magenta shade it is a colour that supports the confidence of business women.

ORANGE – Orange is made from red and yellow. Once regarded totally with ‘cheapness’, it has updated its image. Orange is a warm, lively, people colour. Wear a deeper orange and you project a down-to-earth, easy-to-relate-to aura like this 2011 orange burnout blouse from Chicos.

The Seventh Colour

WHITE – White is my last colour because a white shirt is touted as a woman’s must-have basic like this 2013 white
shirt from Chicos website. Be aware that when you wear white, you shout out an image of purity and complete confidence in your ideas and opinions. You know what you are doing; where you are going and why you believe it is the way to do it.

 

Last Words

If you own a TAIC or any brand Colour Palette, read the colour descriptions. Use them and these general comments to dress to express how you feel or how you want to feel that day. Notice how a particular colour changes your body language and your words. Then use it to read others with empathy and tolerance.

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For More Reading on Colour Messages

Go to the ‘Colour Articles’ on this – https://thefashiontranslator.wordpress.com/colour-articles/

‘The Complete Book of Colour’ by Suzy Chiazzari

The Modern Midi

In 2013 the Midi is being claimed as a fresh new look both in the USA in Oprah April magazine and in Australia in Dressmaking with Stitches magazine.

The Midi is any length from just below the knee to mid-calf. It is a length than can easily label the Baby Boomer woman as old-fashioned and dowdy depending on the style and material. It can either restrict you to very small steps or need a long, possibly revealing split at the back for general living.

The longer Midi best suits tall women or those with a long body.

To look modern, choose a Midi in slim-fitting skirts or dresses with a bit of stretch in them. Then add a little something extra like this black & pink belt on the J Crew outfit on the right from Oprah, April 2013. Or choose a Midi in a textured material like this lace skirt on the left from Dressmaking with Stitches magazine and add similar-coloured accessories. I think that the pink striped skirt is the better Midi length for women of any height and body shape as it ends just before the widest part of her calf. It is slightly longer than knee length, modest, easy to walk in and definitely not dowdy.

Other ways to wear Midi length are in a slightly flared trumpet hem or a dress or a skirt with a pleated, flared or slightly gathered flounce at the hem. The Midi looks best with high slim heels. Avoid thick or chunky heels with this length.

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WARNING: Are You Chasing People Away

WARNING:  The Colours You Wear May Be Chasing People Away

Most people let the weather decide their attitude for the day.

As I write this newsletter the weather is changeable. It is grey with intermittent rain, cool and quiet. Sometimes the sun peeks through and everything looks brighter. Today you can end up feeling depressed, eat more and want to go back to bed or alternate between sunny and miserable all day. Either way you feel totally exhausted at the end of the day.

It is easy to automatically react to the situations and colours around us. BUT smart women don’t do that! They choose their colours and feelings for the day. That choice may not always be upbeat and positive but it is a considered choice.

Most women dress unconsciously. Some women have a wardrobe full of one colour, usually safe black, although I know a woman who only wears red. Other women may have lots of colours but wear only 20% of them. Finally some women just grab and wear ‘this will do’ clothes.

A recent survey stated that ‘women spend longer getting dressed to go out with other women than they do to go out with their partners’. I believe that Baby Boomer women take more time to dress for meeting new people than meeting old friends or going out with their partners. Quick dressing can result from a ‘stuck in a habit’ dressing.

Truth is not what someone else tells you. It is when you agree with what someone else tells you. So here are some of my insights on how you are chasing people away by the colours you are wearing. Choose your truth.

Colour is A Language
I have read and believe that we have seven brains. Only one of them deals with words. Sometimes it is interpreting visual and emotional signals (or languages) and translating them into words. Other times we get heart and intuitive messages in a language that we often ignore or supress. Colour speaks those languages. What we wear and what others wear consciously or unconsciously connect to these visual, emotional, heart and intuitive languages. We have learnt over time to interpret colour – eg feeling blue, seeing red or being sunny yellow.

Different cultures also have attached different positive and negative associations and feeling to colours. Be aware of this when you travel or have personal or business dealings with other cultures. You may turn them unconsciously to you or against you.

Then there are the Five Element Colours of Feng Shui and the Rainbow Chakra Colours. Add Colour Therapy, Angel Feather Colours and the rest and you can be totally confused.

Unconscious Dressing
Like my introductory weather analogy, too many of us dress and live on auto-pilot. Do you change your dressing to blend with the weather? Do you go mono-colour because it’s safe? Do you unconsciously dress to please others or not annoy or out-shine them?

Your unconscious colour choices can actually repel the people you want to attract as they cannot emotionally connect with the real you. Your colour choices can also bring lots of people who are draining your life energy with their challenging emotional problems.

Lastly you can also unconsciously do it to others by choosing, buying and imposing your personality traits on them. Like this cartoon, we claim we do it in the name of Love.

 

Conscious Dressing
Life today is a real smorgasbord and you are swamped with choices. My advice is –

(1) Choose one system of Colour Interpretation and stick with it. There are many paths that lead to the same result.

(2) If you have a TAIC Personal Colour Solutions Palette, you have this advice at your fingertips. Read the Colour Effects descriptions on the back of your favourite colour chips to see the type of people you are attracting. Look at the other colours in the Palette and see what you are missing that you can add to your life.

(3) Learn to stand up for yourself and wear colours that fully express who you are. Give your loved ones and others the chance to appreciate you not the pretend you.

(4) Then leave others adults alone. Make them buy their own clothes. It saves you time and teaches you that we are all different and that’s OK.

Last Words
It’s grey and raining again but I don’t care. I chose this morning to wear Red. I needed to feel active and get this newsletter written. What colour are you wearing today and why?

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How to Wear a Modern Chanel Jacket

Everything old can be made new again. That’s the basic principle of fashion.

The Chanel Jacket, created by Coco Chanel, has been a legendary timeless classic for 60 years. It has a round neckline that comes just below your neck bone; ends just on or below the top of your hipbone; has full-length sleeves and was a modern style we Baby Boomer women all copied in the 1960s. It is usually worn unbuttoned.

Here is my personal style advice for Baby Boomer women with three ways to modernise the Chanel Jacket.

Version 1:
If you want to wear modernise it a little, read the two-part article ‘A Chanel-Inspired Jacket’ by Rita Camastral in the current Vol 21 No 9 issue of ‘Dressmaking with Stitches’ magazine. Part 1 is in Vol 21 No 8. Rita has made the sleeves three-quarter length and added an interesting top under the jacket. The shell top has a centre open-weave inset that creates vertical stripes to contrast with the horizontal stripes of the jacket. This looks modern over unmatched black pants.

Version 2:
On the Chicos website I noticed two modern interpretations of the Chanel Jacket.

Make it new again by choosing a three-quarter sleeve variation and wearing a longer top under the jacket. On the left is a white denim variation over a white top and jeans. I am not a fan of this much white; so I would change the shell top colour or add coloured accessories to lift the white. On the right is a light open-weave jacket worn over a darker green top. I think that works better.

Version 3:
Both examples have added modern accessories. On the left she is wearing silver necklace and bangle to match the silver stitching on the jacket. On the right she is wearing mid-green earrings and two chunky gold bracelets set with green stones. The bracelets add a little drama and funky edge to a timeless jacket.

There you have it. To make the old new again – Wear the timeless Chanel Jacket with three-quarter sleeves as an unmatched jacket or over a longer top with modern stylish jewellery. Old is now new again.

(Don’t miss out on upcoming personal style articles for Baby Boomer Women. Click here to sign up for The Fashion Translator eZine and get your weekly info every Thursday.)