I love Weight Watcher magazine. The upbeat articles and photographs give people the hope and incentive to be the best that they can be. An article by Stacey Colino (July/August 2011) was all about wearing bright colored jeans. A lot of people wear dark colors and hope that nobody will notice that they are a little plumper than they would like to be. Older people tend to do the same thing, whether they are plump or not. Most people don’t relish the idea of being invisible, but isn’t that exactly the look they are going for? People who are overweight and people who are older gravitate toward blacks, grays, or browns.
Unless people are compelled by religious or cultural dictates to wear somber colors, there is no reason why they shouldn’t wear bright colors. An article by Jean Patteson (Tulsa World Press: April 6, 1997) reminds us that the word bright has many connotations. Bright means colorful, but it also means glad, favorable, or intelligent. When you wear something “bright” you look pleasingly comfortable. It also makes you look happy, optimistic, alert and quite pleased with yourself. You can’t beat that, especially when all it means is swapping a blah color like beige, gray or mauve for a lively one like red, yellow, or blue. We really do need more color in our lives.
There really isn’t anything wrong with wearing neutral or pastels colors when you get a little long in the tooth, after all they are enduring classics. On the other hand, you may have noticed that as you get older your natural coloring fades a bit, well quite a bit. Color fades from the skin, lips, eyes and hair. Many people view these changes in skin tone and hair color as a cue that they need to tone things down, but this really isn’t true. If you don’t want to fade completely into the background it is important to add some subtle color to avoid looking washed out. Yes, blacks and whites are classics, but they can look harsh on older people.
If you would like to give yourself a bit of a lift the author suggests that you spice things up a bit with color. She encourages adding a few bright touches to let others know you are still here:
- Trust your intuition. Pick colors that feel comfortable to you and suit your personality.
- Warm tones fade from your skin but you can still experiment with color. Cooler shades such as a blue-red instead of an orange-red, or silver instead of gold might give you just the lift you need without look gaudy.
- Use light, bright and sunny colors to highlight your best features. Use dark or matte colors to down-play any flaws.
- Color at the throat and shoulders reflect up onto your face so light and bright shades are most flattering around the face. Dark colors make you look pale and accentuates wrinkles. Women can soften this effect by using white collars and colorful scarves; men with white shirts and bright ties.
- Eyeglass frames in bright or deep colors give more definition and lift to the face. Rimless frames tend to make you look faded.
Your entire outfit doesn’t have to be bright to make a statement, but you can have fun and feel considerably perkier if you add some bright accents. When you look in the mirror you want to see something that will make you smile. Go ahead and buy your jeans, skirts, and shirts in a rainbow of colors and live a little!
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