U3A Writing: Colours
Joyce Hinchliffe defies the Colour Police by wearing pink and red.
Today I wore a pink shirt and a red cardigan. The combination looked cheery and bright, but what would the Colour Police of the 1950s have said?
They would have been horrified because, as everyone knew, certain colours could never be put together. Red and orange, purple and orange, green and blue, black and royal blue…
Purple and gold were the colours of the Zundelowitz Junior High School football team, worn by the whole school on match days. When we grew up enough to attend Wichita Falls High School, our football colours became red and black. The Coyote colours covered the whole town on Fridays.
Orange and black were seen together only at Halloween. Red and green were the colours of Christmas. Pink was for girls and blue for boys. Always.
White was the colour of purity, especially for brides. How times have changed. And for the better. I recently looked at some wedding photos in which the bride wore a deep red dress, with matching flowers in red and white.
It was a beautiful scene.
But not always for the better. A friend told me about attending the wedding of a couple of Goths. “What was it like?” I innocently inquired. “What do you think?” she replied. “They all wore black!”
Those red and white wedding flowers would not have been allowed inside the church by some superstitious people. Those who believe that they portend blood, illness and death.
Why the change towards more vivid colour combinations? It must have happened in the 1960s with flower power and fewer inhibitions in society. There was the monochrome phase, huge geometric patterns in black and white. And then brilliant, even day-glow, colours everywhere bringing freedom from the rules and restrictions of the past.
I have always loved bright colours, and pastels are fine in their place. But I must confess my own prejudices in this area. Baby pink should rarely be used in interior decoration, unless you want to create a Barbara Cartland room. I’m not fond of black and royal blue together -- too much like a bruise. Mauve is a most peculiar shade, and I have my doubts about many purples. Beige is a no-no for people of a certain age. I stopped wearing it many years ago.
Oh, dear. It sounds like I’m recruiting for Colour Police cadets. Nothing could be further from the truth. People can use or wear whatever colours they like. And if there are any new and original combinations, please let me be the first to see them.
(Huddersfield University of the Third Age)
