Color Blocking For The Soul
This week, I dressed like the rainbow to try and feel something.
Illustration by Ally Hart
Getting dressed to sit in the house and answer Zoom calls all day sucks. I’m just going to say it loud and clear, because that’s where my heart is. Some days, the only thing I want to wear is a big pink fluffy robe, and other days, I want to sit in my prom dress from the end of secondary school and scoop hummus out of the tub with my fingers. It’s either full on nude or an amateur Met Gala experience.
This is particularly difficult for me since I have such a close relationship to clothes and styling outfits. I love a dramatic skirt and clashing patterns, creating a story with each piece whether I’m going to the supermarket or out for the night. It’s so inherently tied to my identity, that when my ability to be visibly flamboyant in public was stripped from me, I suddenly forgot how to wear clothes.
In an effort to find some joy in my wardrobe, and my daily life, the challenge this week was to wear one color every day, and record how I felt. I encourage anyone reading this to have a go, because I know how comfortable a black sports bra is, but it’s not exactly motivating, is it?
DAY ONE: YELLOW
Not sure if you know this, but yellow is sort of my thing. My hair is usually dyed bright yellow. Everything from my suitcase to my bedroom walls are a shade of mustard or daffodil, so this was a fairly easy task for me. Yellow is warmth, sunshine, positivity, and in the midst of lockdown? A saving grace for a sad mind. Despite the weird gazes I received on my daily government-mandated walk, this outfit had me feeling confident, vivid, and classically myself.
DAY TWO: PINK
Some bubblegum joy, this outfit was a little slinkier, and probably as sexy as I can get. I wore this exclusively to deliver my neighbor some brownies, but pink always makes me feel radiant and feminine, which makes a nice change from being tits out on my laptop at 3 in the afternoon at home. Go figure!
DAY THREE: RED
I bought this strawberry bag from Collectif before summer had even started, so on the hottest day of the year in the UK, my main inspiration was just that, ripe fruit and fresh flowers. This was an outfit that, again, found me feeling girly and sweet. It’s probably that winning hat and bag combo.
DAY FOUR: GREEN
Perhaps you can see me losing steam here. As I ran out of block-colored clothing, I ran out of excitement for the challenge, so I just stuck on this comfortable green playsuit and felt nothing. This day was a reminder that you don’t always have to force effort out of yourself, and sometimes you can just stick on the most comfortable thing you own and kick it.
DAY FIVE: ORANGE
But then, a resurgence! For some reason, this might be my favorite outfit of the whole challenge. A pair of pajama shorts and a They Might Be Giants t-shirt is apparently a perfect shelter-in-place uniform. Orange is a wholly creative color for me, and the energy from this outfit was warming.
DAY SIX: BLUE
This jumpsuit, although a nightmare to iron or pee in, is the perfect calm shade of blue to finish this challenge with. Bought on a whim from TK-Maxx last year, this is sort of the clothing item for me. It’s a powerful piece of throwback design that emulates land girls and other outdated wartime concepts, but I adore it.
DAY 7: RAINBOW
This look is way more akin to what I would wear on a daily basis. I’m a big advocate for pattern clashing and disrupting a chill moment with the weirdest clothes possible. I always feel so confident in a million different colors.
So, did this challenge help me to fall back in love with fashion?
I mean… not really. I’m back to wearing pajama shorts and old band T-Shirts for now. The strong obsession I currently have with comfort outweighs my need to be pretty, and I don’t see that changing very much until after lockdown.
Ultimately? I think that’s okay. There’s no harm in nesting during a pandemic. Getting glam might help some people, but it just made me a little stressed out. Who am I trying to impress? The mirror? My dissertation supervisor on our weekly Skype calls?
I think the main moral here is that sometimes, it’s okay to fester in your smelliest bathrobe. Whatever feels good for you right now is the real key to feeling good during these torrential, difficult times. So sharpen that eyeliner — or if not, fester on, baby. It’s your choice.
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