When I was little and playing dress-up, my aunt told my cousin and I that the color yellow was tacky and should never be worn out of the house. Since then, I've considered yellow to be the underdog of colors in fashion. Who says it has to be? With a little confidence, yellow can be a February color if it wants to. Don't limit yourself to just two thirds of the primary colors, you deserve them all.
"This jovial color is highly-reflective, producing expansive characteristics reminiscent of sunlight. Soft tints of yellow serve as great background colors –active with mild stimulation," Ecosalon journalist Leigha Oaks tells us. "Inviting yellow into your home is like ordering a glass of house wine, safe; you may not swoon for the taste it leaves in your mouth, but at least you won’t hate it either."
Yellow has been through a lot in the past. In the 1920's, it was a happy, healthy color much like you'd except to see in a box of color crayons. Unfortunately for yellow, in a time of severe financial lows, it was important to show what class you were in by your clothing and yellow certainly wasn't a traditional flapper dress color. However, in the 1930's yellow took a turn for the gross. In that time, it was most popularly worn in it's pale, washed out yellows and paired with sickish looking greens, mostly in floral patterns. Thank goodness for yellow that the 1940's happened. At that point, yellows turned to golds and brought yellow the taste of glamor it had been waiting for. Still being paired with washed out greens, designers started to sew metallic colored thread into fabrics for everything from dresses to curtains.
Starting around 1950, yellow dipped back out of the spotlight and was again looking a little pale. Unlike the 30's, this pale yellow was a springier, neutral color and paired well with everything. Then, the 1960's happened. For the first time in history, yellow was then a showcase color. In patterns it was thrown in next to every color imaginable, most often oranges and pinks. Usually a more orangey shade, or perhaps the color of a school bus, yellow hung out center stage all the way through the 70's. In the 1980's, yellow practically glowed in the dark, jumping to the more neon end of the spectrum. Yellow was getting a whole new kind of attention until it started to mellow out again in the early 90's, showing up most often in terrible floral patterns and matched with denim.
Since the early 2000's, yellow has been all over the board. Vintage has been in style for quite a while now, so it's not uncommon to dip into the fashion vault of yellow. Yellow is now whatever we want it to be. The ball is in our court. To me personally, yellow reminds me of the Post-It notes my mom used to leave in my lunch. It reminds me of the awful yellow carnation corsage I received in eighth grade that did not match my dress, and it reminds me of the countless boxes of bleach I've put in my hair over the years. It reminds me of Pac Man, the Morton Salt girl and my friend Jeff's home brewed hefeweisen. It has always been weird to me that the yellow traffic light is supposed to mean 'proceed with caution,' because what about the color yellow doesn't scream 'speed the f@#* up?'
From my extensive googling, I have found that the color yellow is supposed to represent a lot of things. It's a 'happy' color that stands for energy, humor, intellect and logic. Yellow is a universal sign of caution, although it's said to have positive vibes. A yellow aura about you means that you're creative, playful and inspired. According to David Johnson, color psychologist, "while it is considered an optimistic color, people lose their tempers more often in yellow rooms, and babies will cry more. It is the most difficult color for the eye to take in, so it can be overpowering if overused. Yellow enhances concentration, hence its use for legal pads."
It makes sense to me that to be 'yellow' can also mean to be a coward, because people are so afraid of it in the fashion world. Why? While yellow can bring about a warm energy, it can also be seen as obnoxious or glaring. Personal theory? The people who come up with these rules are wimps. "Orange had its heyday, and now it's time for its next-door neighbor, yellow," says Leatrice Eiseman, the author of "More Alive With Color" and executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. "It's been a hot color on European runways for the past two seasons, and now it has jumped the pond. Everyone needs cheering up these days, and nothing's better for making sad spirits soar than eyeing a bunch of sunny daffodils. So, the timing is right for yellow's big moment."
Yellow's not your color? Of course it isn't. It's not really anybody's color and that's why you need to own it. The lady sitting next to you on the city bus, the one across the restaurant from you or the person interviewing you for your next job - surely it won't be their color either. For this reason, they'll envy your confidence all the more for being able to rock something they'd never try. There's a reason they make highlighters yellow; to call attention. So let it. How do you wear yellow? I think yellow should be a centerpiece article to build an entire outfit around. "The range of colors that accentuate yellow in most clothing attire are the dark tones and shades," Says fashion journalist Tracy Birdine. "Charcoal grays, deep browns, royal blue and similar colors make a good pairing with yellow. A suggestion is to use muted shades of yellow in these color combinations so as not to jar the eye from one part of the outfit to the other." Go forth, walk tall and wear yellow with confidence. I believe in you.
Here are MY yellow inspired images...
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