You need colorful clothes

My wardrobe has gotten a little boring in my old age.

I have a lot of black and whites. When I venture into something of color, its an olive green or a faded maroon.

Somewhere along the line I moved from bright colors and flowers and goofy prints to something more monotone and serious.

Maybe it is because monotone is more functional. Or because I want to be taken more seriously for some reason.

Or maybe I have become boring.

Maybe we all are.

A recent thread (linked at the end of this article) revealed that we have become more gray as a people in America. Our clothes have lost many of the distinct colors. Our movies have been washed in grayscale. Many companies are rebranding their logos in black and white. Our architects and designers have removed curves and ornate features to be replace by smoothed, straight lines and colorless features.

This is not a bug but a feature of western philosophy that has been playing itself out over hundreds of years. Plato saw color as a distraction. Aristotle called it secondary. Batchelor’s “Chromophobia” enlists color as disordered. Our modern sensibilities push us towards minimalist designs.

But, as I observe the natural world, I see a richness of colors and curves and chaos being brought to order.

The branches of the trees, twisting and dancing around one another, finding the light between it’s siblings as it’s leaves wrestle out and up towards the sky. The river bouncing off rocks, finding the weakness in the soil, carving paths deeper and deeper into the dirt. The birds and their vibrant hues lighting the bushes and branches. A flower garden lit with every color imaginable.

Nature is anything but monotone.

Color feeds our soul. Psychologically, color changes our mood. Colors calm us, energize us, draw us into happiness, inspires us.

I fear that our design decisions and our collective mental health crisis is feeding each other in a relentless downward cycle.

We remove color and ornate design because philosophically we believe color is a distraction and design should be simplified. In turn, we lose the richness of color and design, and along with it the benefits we were experiencing psychologically. It makes us sad without us realizing it. In turn, we make grayer and duller color and design choices. Making us, in turn, a more monotone kind of people.

So, if you are sad, wear a light colored shirt. Paint a canvas with neon colors. Decorate your house with hand-crafted, meaning-filled furnishings. Get plants, real ones, and place them all over your house. Get flowers.

Defeat a monotone existence with the richness of color. You may be surprised that the color in your shirt may bring color to your character.

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