I like black! Choosing to wear black doesn’t mean I’m afraid of colour or that I’m depressed, I just like it.  How about you? I wonder who made that rule about being afraid of colour or depressed if you like wearing black? And who decided it was true?

Black is easy. Black is smart and timeless and elegant.

Even though it’s not one of my ‘colours’ I like wearing black! In fact I wear it nearly all the time especially over winter. You can dress it up with some silver jewellery, maybe a scarf, a belt with an interesting buckle, a patent leather bag or shoes and it always looks smart. Using different textures keeps it interesting and because black dyes vary be aware of this when teaming different items of clothing. Woollens are a deeper black and hold their colour better than cottons which fade more quickly, cotton/lycra blends hold their dye better than plain cottons.

How often do you find that a garment that looks superb in black somehow lacks impact when produced in another colour?

The opposite can also apply when a garment in another colour looks lovely and in black only manages to look trashy. So be careful what you choose when buying black.

I recently saw a woman dressed all in black wearing a wonderful burnt orange scarf around her head and another around her neck and she looked fabulous. My good friend wore black with grey, silver jewellery and a touch of patent leather and she too looked wonderful, and supremely elegant.

“When a little black dress is right, there is nothing else to wear in its place.:- Edith Piaf

There currently seems to be lots of encouragement from some stylists to eliminate black from one’s wardrobe and wear colours more suited to one’s skin tone etc. Different climates seem to call for different colours. The summer weather here, with warmer temperatures and brighter light does call for lighter brighter colours and yet when the cooler weather arrives out comes the black. Greys, white, taupes or browns soften the effect and add some silver to lift it, or try a touch of orange or red for a splash of colour.

Frenchwomen are renowned for their chic sense of style and they tend to favour black! Often it’s the quality of fabrics, style of garments and how it’s all put together that makes the difference.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with colour, and yet there is something to be said for black!

” The best colour in the whole world, is the one that looks good, on you.”- Coco Chanel