The colours at retail this fall have hit me like a ton of bricks - but in good way ! - in terms of what I'm discovering works for me and how I will make colour choices moving forward.

For as long as I can remember, I've viewed black and grey as keystone colours for the sophisticated and well-dressed look I aspire to. Call it brainwashing by 45 years of reading American fashion magazines, and now the much wider exposure to world-wide digital info - but it became so ingrained in me that I "should" wear those colours if I wanted to look good. Too much colour veered into whimsical territory for me, and looked too cheerful and mainstream . Does that make sense? Serious fashion people do not want to look cheerful - lol. Even my hair reflected that - usually being some version of blonde/highlighted.

But this fall, I dove headfirst into all the earthtones in all of their glory : soft, vibrant, muted, patterned, plain, you name it, I have bought it. Suddenly all the clothes seem interesting, and make me feel more alive and vibrant .

Carla mentioned in Inge's weekly links that a story about unefemme.net's recent foray into Redleoparduk's colour service interested her. I too followed along with that story when she was in Europe , and was speechless at how wonderful she looked when dressed in the right colours and tones. I actually gave a few minutes thought to how to hire their services, but then common sense and reality kicked in

Anyways, I feel like a complete change has happened in how I want to dress . I wore a new forest-teal green top from CM yesterday with faded black Frame denim jeans, and felt like utter crap all day. SO blah, bland and colourless. No makeup tricks in my bag could solve that one, plus who needs more makeup? I have also been fighting with my hair colour for a good year now, trying to get it brighter, thinking that would help this blandness ....and a lightbulb went off in my thick head the other day that my hair colour is also not doing me any favours . I'm going to go back to an auburn/red shade for now, and see how it looks on my old self, several years since wearing it that way.

I never really related to Angie's ongoing commentary about how she stays focused on certain colours because they make her feel happy. I have never looked to clothing colour for "happiness" , but I think I finally get it. My black clothes are not getting much wear now - except for at my second job - and I'm definitely not looking for more. Footwear and bags included. Blech.

So = the big challenge for me is : how to achieve the sophiscated/luxe look I want and add in a bunch of colour without getting all kooky .

Thank you for reading along with this self-indulgent post. It's a snow day here for us in Manitoba (I don't think we've ever had snow in October before, and it came last night from Colorado with a vengeance. No power for awhile this morning, and no one is going anywhere today.) and I'm doing some musing and planning.

*finds below include pieces I have, including the dead-looking CM top, which I hope to revive with a better hair colour; first photo= hair colour inspo, other two- taken 10 years ago, and 3 years ago. Hair appointment booked for next Friday- and now of course I can't wait that long

Interested in hearing how you all approach colour . It can't just be me that was so stuck on black and grey for too long?