monochromatastic

My deeply uninteresting post about Yves Klein Blue got me thinking about color. I was going to write about Rad Hourani, whose work I desire on a visceral level - and to whose prices I have a visceral reaction, but I got distracted by two of his looks from his FW08 collection. My first encounter with him was with these pieces, which at the time were being stocked at Reborn:

It was in my tender youth, in an art class I eventually failed, that I learned that black is not, in fact, a color. Neither is white. I don't know what that says for gray, but it doesn't look good. Which is rather problematic for me, because those ... shades? tints? anti-colors? make up the bulk of my wardrobe. The exceptions are, for the most part, red. Red is one of the colors that looks best on me because of my darkish hair and pallor. Dark colors in general tend to suit me (and my personality), and I tend to look rather ... unwell? in pastels and lighter colors. If I were forced to choose a real 'color' to wear on a consistent basis, it would always be red. Remember that NY Mag article about people who only wear one color? The first girl only wears blue - IKB allegedly, but she has clearly been cheating with other shades. And she studied color theory as her major - I can't even find a class on color theory at this school. We do have a Peace and Conflict Studies major, which is, I don't know, superfluous?

Yojhi Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2009

A friend of mine was telling me about a book he'd been reading about brain injuries and neurological studies, and he brought up a specific case about color. I don't know the nature of the accident, or the man's name, but he is an artist and his injury destroyed the part of his brain that processes color. Not only is he colorblind, but he is incapable of remembering how color looks - what red is, essentially. Apparently this guy had been some kind of coloristic genius and could identify any hue with its Pantone name and number. There were some photos of his art from before and after the accident - before the paintings looked like Franz Marc and after, vaguely cubist. Harsher lines, more distinct forms, obviously less subtle use of color.

What I like about the idea of a monochromatic outfit is that it really allows you to play with texture. And also, if done right, there is something very fresh about a one-color look. Susie Bubble did a great series of monochromatic outfits last year, and I particularly like the purple look. Purple is a color I have a lot of difficulty with because wearing it is a precarious balance between looking chic and looking trashtastic. It's not the classiest-looking color either - the Official Preppy Handbook notes that preps do NOT wear purple. Those faerie goth kids wear purple. Nuff' said.