Black seems to be a colour that gets co opted into many subcultures. Religious garb, goths, punks, rock n rollers, they all wear black. For some it’s tradition, for others they are clinging to the idea of when wearing black was considered anti establishment.
Black is not a colour I consider all that much. Apart from some tights and underwear until recently I never even owned any black clothes. In a rare moment I purchased a black dress (admittedly a black dress with enormous bronze metallic polka dots on it) but still it’s black. For me black was boring, it was for people who didn’t want to think about what they wore. They wanted to blend in, be like everyone else and their highest clothing ambition was to buy yet another pair of black polyester pants to wear to work.
For the most part that’s still how I view black for myself, but every so often I see a piece that challenges my notions of boring predictability and then I kind of nod and think, yep that’s doing it right.
Do you consider black to be safe and boring? or do you seek out black as a way of expressing something different?
To continue seeing black in new ways I’ve been collecting ideas on my Pinterest board.
1- via the colour inspiration 2 – via Elle.com 3 via Madewell 4 – via TheblondeSalad
MaciNic
I’ve been enjoying your black pins! I’m in Melbourne – enough said 😉 In all seriousness, today was black jumper, dark grey skirt, B&W patterned leggings, black socks & Docs. Pops of colour are nice (& I’ll go out of my way to include them), but somedays, black on black is just perfect, for whatever activities the day (& eve) throw up.
Susan Goodwin
I can never do all black (and not just because I don’t own that much black) it makes me look so blah. It looks so cool on others though. Plus as you say it can take in everything the day and night throws at you.
Catherine
i totally agree with the notion that black can be boring, especially when you work in corporate and people were black suits every day, and defeated looking office girls wear black trousers with those candy coloured chiffon tops, but totally every now and then you see something so beautiful on a person and its black and you dont think its boring anymore! Its just done poorly all the time. The photos above really make black so chic!
Susan Goodwin
Yes! Love your description of “defeated looking office girls” its like they choose the most uninspired wardrobe they can think of.