Bringing Black Out of the Closet

This week Anne's 52 Pick-me-up prompt is "black."  I have a very odd relationship with black clothing.  In high school and college I definitely had leanings in the goth direction and wore plenty of black. Black has never been a depressed or otherwise negative color for me. It's strong and defiant. It's mysterious and secretive. And sometimes, it's just plain simple.

A rummage through my closet resulted in this all black outfit.  I think the layer and textures give it a lot of interest.

At some point in my mid-twenties, I was clothes shopping with Hubby and trying to decide which color of a garment to buy. I decided to get black because it goes with everything when Hubby pointed out that of course it went with everything because everything else in my closet was black too. Oops!  I guess I had taken it a bit too far. 

I see all of the gorgeous colors and patterns that other bloggers are wearing and keep thinking that I should do that too, but try as I might I keep coming back to dark colors and black.  This tug of war I have with myself over black vs bright colors has resulted in several angsty moments in the fitting room and at least one very odd hole in my wardrobe.  It turns out that in my attempt to not buy black clothing I never replaced my basic black skirt when it gave up the ghost a while back.  I keep pulling out shirts that would look great with a black skirt and then realizing that I don't own one and thus not wearing the shirt.  Or, I should say, DIDN'T own one.  Yesterday I filled the gap with the great basic linen/rayon blend skirt I'm wearing today.  It's just the right length to be long an flowing but also let my shoes show.  I expect to be wearing it a lot. 

All black and all thrifted from head to toe except the polka dot socks.  I threw them in just for fun! Don't you just love a good granny boot?



Vintage rhinestone jewelry.  The earrings are another pair of converted screwbacks.

 

So, yes, I'm trying to add more color to my closet but apparently not doing a very good job of it. To be fair I do generally wear them with assorted shades of red (but my obsession with all things red is a topic for another post) such as here and here. 

My Maine Coon is supervising.  He's a giant fluffy marshmallow of a cat and I love him to pieces.

I realize looking back through my outfit pictures on this blog that you wouldn't realize how much black I wear from just looking at the outfits I've shown. Of course that's because I don't bother taking pictures of yet-another-black-outfit, but trust me it's a staple.  Maybe after this post I won't be so shy about posting pictures of outfits centered around black.  After all this is a blog about my style.  (Note to self, stop worrying so much about what other people will think.)

I did decide the all black outfit was a bit much (but I could see wearing that out somewhere) and changed into softer knits for a day of errands and chores.  And on the whole I think I prefer the cheerfulness of the fuchsia. 

Whew!  I had no idea this would turn into a therapy session. 

Also linking with this week's Share in Style: Black and White (there are some white polka dots thrown in with all the black after all) and Patti's Visible Monday.