All the Colors, All the Time

The subject of having a signature color recently came up in a conversation between myself and my youngest child.  I explained that the concept is a bit foreign to Americans, but quite common in France and other countries.  The first person I knew of who had a signature color was a dear friend I met while studying in Switzerland.

My friend's signature color was lavender and she truly wore it well.  The only other person I've known in-person with a signature color is my maternal grandmother.  Her color is also a shade of purple that she uses for perfume, pens, and high end track suits.  It also suits her well even though she has the opposite complexion of my European friend in every way.  It leads me to speculate that Lavender looks good on everyone.

In the early days of the internet I followed an independent French artist who said her signature color was seafoam green and oh how she wore it well.  I absolutely adored her for a few years until she unexpectedly disappeared and I have never found out what became of her.

I have known a number of people who said black was their color.  With Johnny Cash being the one and only exception, I could never really believe that this is anyone's signature color.  Black is a neutral and neutrals cannot be any kind of color, but rather the items we pair with signature colors.

So, the conversation naturally progressed to my daughter asking if I had ever had a signature color.  Believe me when I say that I have tried.  I so wanted for a number of years to have a signature color, and I tried more than anything during my time of admiring that French artist.  I even tried to make seafoam green my color too, but alas, it did not love me as much as I loved it.  

After that I moved to a signature color palette instead of a signature color but found that palettes are so trendy and seasonal it was difficult to find things in those shades for very long.  So, eventually I decided to just embrace all the colors and wear the rainbow year round, all the colors all the time, and it suits me far better than one single color ever could.

The bottom line is that if you are a signature color kind of girl, then my hat's off to you and your classic sensibilities.  If you're more like me and you have enough love in your heart and room in your closet for all the colors then kudos to you as well.  Be who you are and wear what you like.