Picking one color — and then sticking with it — relieves anxiety
The city of Aleppo, Syria, is not the first place you’d think of as the source of a special story. Between August 2011 and December 2016, the city was a key battleground in the country’s civil war, with countless casualties and tales of horror. And there has been sporadic violence since its recapture by government forces.
But leafing through my China Daily last week I spotted a piece about a 68-yearold man named Abu Zakkour, who has worn only yellow clothes since 1983. His obsession with the color extends to his home too. Any item he cannot get in yellow he paints.
It appears the widower adopted this aesthetic not just as a state- ment but as a challenge. “For me the yellow color represents love and something no one has ever done and no one even endures. I believe no one in the world has worn yellow for 35 years, day and night, indoors and outdoors,” Zakkour told Xinhua News Agency.
The motives of this intrepid fashion warrior are linked to the death of his wife and his sons leaving Syria. He combats loneliness with his clothes. Wearing nothing but yellow has turned this man, unsurprisingly, into a local celebrity. Everywhere he goes, people stop him for a chat and a photo.
One cannot help but marvel at his bravery and acknowledge the power of clothing we often forget.
Having experienced much teasing from colleagues when I paired white shirts with white jeans for about a year, it’s not difficult to imagine what he went through over the decades. Apart from the difficulties of locating every home item and piece of clothing in the correct color, there’s the problem of coordination.
No two yellows are alike.
It must have taken him months to reach a point where most of his belongings matched. But eventually he got to 100 percent. What a sense of achievement that must bring! I imagine there’s a pleasing sensation of harmony when everything you own matches impeccably.
By contrast, the rest of us live in a chaotic world of mismatched shades and patterns. A chaotic and hideous world filled with faux pas and ill-judged flourishes. We’ve all done it. And every day you run the risk of creating another embarrassing ensemble that will haunt you for years. The risks presented by our multicolor world never cease to hound us.
Looking good is one of the prime directives of our horribly shallow egos, and taking care of that need fills a significant part of our day. Wearing a well-coordinated outfit has an enormous effect on selfesteem and the impression you give to others.
In the West, yellow is not a popular color despite it being associated with optimism and amusement. To Britain’s shame, the most common use is warning signs and road markings telling you not to park. Being eye-catching is a doubleedged sword.
In China, yellow has strong cultural and historical associations, being the color of happiness, glory and wisdom. Strange, then, that I have not seen much of it in Chinese clothing stores. Perhaps we have to wait until the spring/summer collections are released? But I digress.
Abu Zakkour appears to have unearthed a life hack or cheat code. No matter what he wears, it matches. Decorating or furnishing his home no longer brings the agony the rest of us experience.
It appears he wasn’t the first to discover the advantages of monochrome.
Legend has it that genius physicist Albert Einstein had several identical suits in his wardrobe so he could spend more time thinking about equations in the morning instead of what to wear. If that doesn’t inspire you to take action, nothing will.
Here ends the lesson. Instead of questioning why our inspirational Syrian gent wears just one color, we should be asking ourselves why we wear so damned many.