FASHION AND JEWELLERY Story by: Elizabeth Simonsen
FASHION ZEN STYLE THE POWER OF COLOUR
I
love colour. I have a wardrobe full of every colour in the spectrum. My closet is my rainbow which I use to dip into every day and bathe myself in the shade that will best serve me that day. Scientists have found that colour has an emotional effect on our wellbeing. Use it well, and it can enhance your life beyond measure. Our optical nerves pick up colour and then send messages to our brain which have a direct effect on our mood. In the Netherlands where winter days are short, sometimes non-existent for months on end, it is common for households to paint one whole room yellow to mimic the effect of the sun. They will sit in this room for a few hours a day to enhance mood and increase serotonin levels. Colour in clothes can send powerful but subtle messages to those around us. It was found in a survey that when going for an interview to land a job, the colour which most successful job applicants wore was Navy. This colour expressed confidence, intelligence and reliability. Black was deemed as too ambitious and possibly arrogant (the job applicant might have ambitions on the interviewees own job) Brown and Orange were the least successful colours. Brown was seen as boring and bland. Orange was seen as too alternative and loud.
You will have noticed the most common colour of world leaders will be a Navy suit. The message they are sending to their opponents is, “I am the person for the job. I command respect and am confident�. A British survey also found that the most auspicious colour for a woman to wear on a date was Red. Men found this colour irresistible as it conveyed passion, energy and confidence but if you chose to wear this colour to a meeting with a difficult client it could increase aggression, volatility and create a heated environment. So knowing how and when to wear the right colour in different situations in life could definitely give you a subtle advantage and edge over others. I never knew the science of colour and its effects, but I would naturally pick colours to wear according to how I felt and how I wanted to feel. Without realizing, I would naturally gravitate to tones that made me feel less anxious, more energized, less sad. If I was in a playful and happy mood, I could get away with wearing black without it totally depressing me. If I was in a dark mood, black only made me eYs Magazine
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