JOANNE Watkinson
WE DON’T ALL WANT TO BE BEAUTIFUL IN BEIGE
We have all seen that woman, either out shopping, at the airport or out for dinner who is resplendent in shades of cream and oatmeal from head to toe, looking immaculate with no grubby marks, no food or drink splashes on her person, just a vision in beige. If you’re anything like me, you will have thought how is that possible and secondly, how big is her dry cleaning bill?
I follow quite a few influencers who fall into this category. I am fascinated by people who live in a neutral world, who only wear colours that fall into one small part of the spectrum. It usually seeps into their homes too, they have beige homes and sand coloured carpets.
My interest in all things oatmeal is no doubt amplified by the fact I am not this person. Only when faced with a person dressed head to toe in beige or when I see a house awash with neutral homeware do I realise how much I am drawn to bright colours.
When I’m being particularly harsh on myself, I berate my own love of colour, why am I not muted and chic? It all appears terribly tasteful, but alas we are who we are, and my impulse is to live in a colourful world.
When shopping for clothes, I find myself drawn to the Kelly Green, Marine Blues and Sunset Orange. I also love a colourful print – Ikat, paisley, candy stripe, hand them over, just not all at once.
I am a two, maybe three, colours in each outfit kind of girl. Often they are just an accent colour, a bag, or a coat, or sometimes it’s just my trainers but I always find a way to work in something bright.
I also like to bend the rules, mixing colours that might feel jarring on paper. My trick is somewhere there will be white, grey or black to bring it safely out of clown territory. There is something joyful and liberating about wearing and living among bright colours that appeals to me, In the same way, I imagine people who prefer more muted tones feel calmed and polished. I might lean in to the middle ground and see how that feels, dig in my wardrobe find some rust, terracotta and maybe even chocolate brown clothes. Well, they do say a change is a good as a rest.