the color yellow

When I was 10 or 11 years old I bought a beautiful tie-dyed sundress from a little hippie shop down the road.

I don’t remember what I spent on it, but I do remember that it was quite a bit for that time in my life — probably my whole allowance. But I loved that dress. It was bright and cheerful, soft and flowy, and the yellows in it were like sunshine.

I also vividly remember the man who sold it told me that I was lucky, because a lot of people can’t wear the color yellow.

click on the photos to enlarge them

It’s funny how certain things stick with you, and that comment was one of them, for whatever reason. And that idea was only drilled into my mind more by the internet over the next decade.

Yellow seemed to be a quite unpopular color when it came to clothing, and the claims that it’s often unflattering, and can tend to wash people out, began to make me wonder if people had been lying to me my whole life. Was it true that unless you have gorgeously dark skin, then yellow was indeed a horrible color to wear?? Should I stop before I look back and regret it??

(like some of my other questionable past fashion choices…)

Although I seriously did start to wonder about this, I never let it get to me completely. Because I love yellow. It’s been my favorite color for as long as I can remember.

Sure, it’s closely followed up by a pastel pink (and it definitely shows), but yellow has been there since I was a child. Taylor was red, I was yellow, and Riley Mae was orange. I can’t tell you when that started, but that’s just the way it always was.

It’s the color of sunshine and warmth, and the first daffodils and dandelions of spring. One may even go so far as to say that it’s the color of happiness.

When I was growing up (a very long time ago, I know), you simply wore what you liked, but in this day and age it seems to be quite popular to find your personal color palette.

Honestly it’s pretty intriguing to me, because I couldn’t begin to tell you what undertones or levels of warmth I have in my skin. I think that the colors of spring have always been what I’ve gravitated towards, but am I secretly an autumn and I just don’t know it yet!? I’ve tried to figure it out, but without another person’s unbiased eye, I haven’t gotten far.

But although the color palettes have piqued my interest, I’m a bit on the fence about the whole thing. Like, I understand why so many people would want to know, but I also feel like dressing how we want, in what we want, is one of the ways we get to naturally express ourselves in this world.

We get to show up and present ourselves however we want to be seen, and there’s a certain level of freedom in that.

Do I really want to invite someone in to tell me if I’m expressing myself correctly or not? Someone who doesn’t know me? I just don’t know how I feel about that.

What if you feel beautiful when you wear lilac, and then you’re told that lilac is simply not flattering with your complexion?

What if wearing red brings you joy, and then you find out that it also washes you out?

What if a deep green makes you feel strong and confident, but the professionals tell you that it draws out all the wrong features?

What if turquoise makes you calm, but it’s simply not in your season?

In this world where we have rules and social guidelines for everything we do, why do we have to hand over our personal comfort, preferences, and [harmless] likes and dislikes to someone else? Especially when we know that we’re so easily influenced by other people’s opinions.

As you can see, it just bothers me a wee little bit.

So although I will admit that I’d be curious to hear what my “best” colors are, I typically know what colors I feel good in, even if perhaps they’re not my season (we may never know).

And some days, it just feels necessary to look like a ray of sunshine…and to celebrate the fact that it’s sunflower season 🌻💛