“Red means stop, yellow means ready, and green says go.”
Colors are an interesting concept given to immense impact and little recognition; a society without colors might be bland and raddled with inexistent social cues. The world thrives on colors: vibrant, bright, sharp, dull and mute, for a plethora of reason we cannot begin to state.
In Fashion, colors play a much bigger role and even extends to the most insignificant of things such as, the thread used in making a clothing. However, a sturdy influence of colors in fashion is manifest through ‘fashion trends: a style, clothing or accessories which has gained acceptance for a period of time. I like to view ‘trends’ as a set of informal rules guiding the behavior of consumers for a period of time; this is why a group of people might favor darker colors today and go haywire for brighter colors next week which explains the renouncement of ‘neutral colors.’
In this article, we will understand why neutral colors faded and why it deserves a revival.
WHAT ARE NEUTRAL COLORS?
Neutral colors are well neutral.
The word ‘neutral’ connotes a middle man, something neither here nor there. In terms of colors, neutrality is one that does not standout and are muted. Fashionably speaking, neutral colors provide a foundation for a person’s wardrobe and can be paired with other colors without impairment. Examples of these colors are: beige, white, brown etc.
Neutral colors have been big since the advent of minimalist fashion in the 60s though it gave way to the glam and sequins in the 70s, it returned at a time when people needed simplicity and easy specifically as a defense to the ongoing pandemic at that time.
Alongside minimalist fashion, there was the arrival of other concepts like quiet luxury, clean girl aesthetics and old-money style: all of which posited the theory of ‘less is more,’ a theory that manifests the appearance of neutral colors.
And with all that is within the realms of fashion, these trends has faded into near oblivion – with people declaring a revival for brighter and colorful outfits. No to beige, they said, an opinion rife with frustration and weary at the lack of colored outfits on the streets.
An angle that has rarely been explored is the effects of these bright, exorbitant, colorful outfits on a certain category of people, a category people have termed as ‘unreal’ or ‘a bone of woke bullshit’ (I actually heard someone say this), but let’s give an example using our dearest friend Mary:
Mary is a sales executive at a Fortune 500 company and one of the brightest staff in the company, however she is a workaholic with no social life and barely any friends much to the chagrin of her mother who has insisted time and again she brings a man home.
To satiate her mother, Mary decides to attend a picnic hosted her by her high-school friend however she has no social outfits and her wardrobe is filled to the brim with power suits. She’s begins searching for a few outfit ideas on Pinterest and is interest in floral gown, especially with all the rave about it on X.
Mary goes shopping and when she arrives at the boutique, she is immediately overwhelmed with the plethora of outfits hanging on the rack. She calls the sales girl and instructs her on the outfits she needs while insisting heavily on the color white or beige. The sales girl comes back, armed with a couple of floral gown, none of which are white or beige but there’s a multitude of bright blue and red hues.
Mary feels her not only overwhelmed but an imminent headache so she leaves the boutique.
What Mary went through is what we might term ‘sensory overload’
A what now?
Well, Basic Science tells us the brain is the powerhouse of the human body with its main function accepting signals, interpreting them and all that nine yards. There are times this information channeled from the five senses gets a bit excessive and even the brain cannot accept them and lashes out in certain ways.
This is termed ‘sensory overload.’
People susceptible to this vary from ADHD’ers or ASD. Emphasis is laid on the five senses which is the channel through which these information is sent to the brain: say you’re in a grocery shop or at the market and the options available are so much they overwhelm or like Mary you get overwhelmed easily or even suffer headaches when confronted with bright colors.
(Note: Before you self-diagnosis, it is advisable to receive a diagnosis from a professional. This material exist for the purpose of enlightening and elucidating).
So how then do people with sensory overload interact with fashion?
Let’s say it together: 1.2.3. GO!
NEUTRAL COLORS!
Those dull, mute colors are the vehicle through which a category of people can express themselves. Hence when I see trends like “quite luxury” and co, though it is not the purpose for which it was intended, I feel acknowledged as do a number of people.
The crux of the matter?
Fashion is colorful, exorbitant, bright all the things expected of it as an art form and to reduce fashion to bouts of neutral colors is well….impossible.
An important form of fashion is trends, the title of this article is proof enough of that. People tend to look up to fashion trends for inspiration or the dictate of their clothing, something which can be traced to the human desire to be in vogue, to be known, to be seen at the top - a human need that assuages our subtle need for attention, something obvious in all walks of life, fashion included.
And yes the ephemerality of said trends is undeniable but I do wish when we antagonize certain trends, we do it with a consciousness and a knowledge that people depend on this.
Also we must understand, modern fashion is built on the foundation of comfort and accommodation, a startling difference from the haute couture days in Paris: the people are at the center of everything. If the needs of said people remain unacknowledged, what is to say of this foundation?
Conclusion
Researching for this article was not as long as I feared it to be, the number of articles speaking on this issues is less, lesser than it ought to be. I genuinely hope creates an understanding of an issue suffered by many people including myself and though we might not have the solution now, we can treat it with empathy.
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