The Rambling House: Do you wear Yellow?
Do you wear yellow?
This morning I got a message from a friend who recently started her “natural dye journey”. She sent some pictures of yarn she just dyed; half of them are Eiru and half of them are Galway wool. Those are beautiful yellow shades. I was very much delighted to see this because those were dyed with the leaves from my garden!
My friend is a fabulous knitter and spinner. Recently she took up natural fibre dyeing. A few months back we met up in a coffee shop and talked about everything “crafty” as usual. She told me about a dye book she found and the materials she can use for natural dye. Among them alder tree there was.
“Oh my goodness, we have alder trees in our back garden,” I said.
Last week, I was thinking about trimming the trees in the back. These are overgrown so much. I like them as they are but I was afraid my neighbours wouldn’t like large trees hanging over their gardens. I contacted my friend if she wanted to come over and collect alder tree leaves before the trees were cut. And there she came and harvested some. That’s how deliciously beautiful yellow shades became a reality.
This is the yarn (Galway wool) which my friend dyed with alder tree leaves.
As you guessed it, this story is not about natural dyeing. It is about yellow. At the end of her massage, she added that she doesn’t wear yellow so she will use this as a base for another batch of dye with indigo.
Wait a minute! I heard this before. I have heard many people saying this over the years. I tell you there are so many of them.
Years ago, my mother-in-law and I were shopping. I was trying to help her pick a nice suit for a wedding. I saw a yellow skirt-suit with a shape that would flatter her figure.
So I asked, “What do you think of this one?”
She replied, “Oh no. that is yellow. I would never pull off yellow!” And then, there was no more discussion about it. I still think that she would have looked fabulous.
Another one, my neighbour, said the same thing once looking at my yellow cardigan. She says, “It’s a beautiful colour. I wish I could wear yellow”.
While many Eastern Asian people say the same thing that they would look very jaundiced as they are yellow people, I hear many white people saying yellow never looks good on them as they are too pale. Who can wear yellow then? I once saw a blog post claiming that yellow looks good only on black or dark-skinned people. But my Mexican friend who has very dark skin never wears yellow either! Her reason was that the yellow would make her skin ashy. It seems like no one can wear yellow. Could it be true?
A quick search in my wardrobe found this many yellow pieces. Apparently, I make and wear many yellows.
Unless you don’t like the particular colour, I think you should wear any colour you like confidently. But please don’t avoid a colour or colours just because you think the colour doesn’t suit you. Colours are wonderful. I even love the grey sky colour like today. Because of these dull shades of grey, my green lawn and red roses are more appreciated. My point is you can wear whatever colour you want.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not dismissing “colour opinions” altogether. Certain colours would elevate your skin tone. These days, so many YouTubers or influencers are talking about “colour analysis”. There is too much of it, in my opinion. I think that it confuses people (including me) more.
So I’m not trying to give you a “colour analysis”. Even if I want to, I can’t. I’m no expert. I don’t care about which colour season I belong to because I wear whatever colour I want. You just need to know how.
Find out which tones/tints/shades etc. suit you best.
You can go for a colour expert to find out which colour season you belong. If you want it done, go for it. One thing remains the same whether you get an expert’s help or not. You have to try as many different tones/tints/shades of the same colours as possible. I think this is the only way to train your eyes. As you can see from the photo here, there are many different yellows.
But you would say, “How can I try all the different colours? I don’t have that many clothes to try on.” Me neither. But we have many clothing stores around us and we shop there. When I go shopping, I do colour analysis at the same time. For example, I’m buying shirts. Then I try many different colours in the changing room. I wear one and I come out of my cubicle and look at myself through a distant mirror. In this way, I can see my whole body at once. If my eyes go only to the clothes, the colour might not be for me. If my eyes are drawn to my face, that is the winner. At first, you might feel confused. If you keep doing it, you will notice you’re getting better at it. Go with your friend(s), do it together, help each other. This is quite fun too.
The yellows of the first two rows in the picture above are my kind of yellows. I hear compliments when I wear those yellows. On the other hand, I tend to lose brightness in my skin if I wear the bottom two rows of yellow. However, the yellows that I love are in the bottom rows. I like golden, mustard and any warm yellows. Somehow I’m attracted to those. So I wear them no matter what.
Wear something that elevates your natural skin tone close to your face.
Left photo: I’m wearing a warm yellow cardi with navy. Right: golden yellow cardi - my favourite but I cannot wear it alone as it makes me look sick. I wear it with a black scarf and red lips. Even a small bit of pop colour close to your face helps enormously.
Black is my colour. I always receive praise when I wear black or navy. So I wear not-so-good-on-me colours with them. A small accessory works as well. When I wear the gold colour cardigan, I wear it with a black scarf (or any other colour that compliments me). An accessory helps too. I have a big turquoise choker. It’s very handy when I want to wear a colour which is not best for my complexion. Because turquoise colour never fails me. The lip colour helps too. So the rule is simple. It is to wear something that elevates your natural skin tone close to your face. It will offset any colour that doesn’t look good on you.
I remember a post from Aimee Gille. You would know “La bien Aimee”. Yes! that Aimee. (Still, if you haven’t heard of her. Visit here). I remember once she posted how she overcame the idea that she should not wear yellow although it’s her favourite colour. So the story goes, she had this idea from her mother (I think) that she never looks good in yellow. But now look at her. She’s on yellow very often. Her storefront was bright yellow (unfortunately it was closed during the pandemic). I think she looks wonderful in yellow.
How about you? Do you wear yellow?
All the yellows in my stash!
On a side note, the same goes for any colour(S), red, blue, green, orange, whatever the colour is.
Update: La bien Aimee now opens a pop-up shop seasonally in Paris. I think the next one is coming soon this August. One day, I want to visit there.