I’ve always been, shall we say, particular about colour. I’ve been correcting people for as long as I can remember. My Mum often tells this story from when I was young and I schooled my elderly and unsuspecting Uncle Dennis when he tried to compliment me… “Nice green socks” he said, “They’re not GREEN!! They’re MINT green!” I retorted. I was two.
As a toddler it’s kinda cute, precocious but cute. As an adult however, you can’t really go around shouting at people when they get colours wrong… “What do you mean you don’t know the colours of the rainbow??” “How could you possibly not know that red and yellow make orange?” “Cerise is not the same as raspberry!? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?” Welcome to my inner dialogue, sorry not sorry and all that.
Being particular about colour is great when you work in design and it is definitely a useful life skill, but it also has its drawbacks… it probably takes me much longer than other people to get dressed in the morning… and then that feeling of HORROR when you walk out of the front door into daylight and realise your top does NOT actually match your nail varnish. Side note: all changing rooms should have daylight bulbs amiright?
I know it’s silly. I know most people won’t notice or don’t care. Which is fine. I don’t care about golf, or motorbikes, or gluten, or the torsion load of steel beams…
Along the way I’ve met people who feel the same (you know who you are!)… at school, at weddings, on the internet, in my own family (my Step Dad and I have had a long running argument about the colour purple), and I love that feeling of validation when you meet someone who doesn’t think it’s ridiculous to keep dyeing a pair of trousers until you reach the perfect shade of black or layer 3 different lipsticks to find the perfect pink…
So. There we have it (as my uncle Den would say), I’m a colour snob.
If you’re not, that’s cool, there’s no judgement here (well maybe a little…) but, if you are, I think you’ve come to the right place.
p.s. Can we talk about my outfit in that picture please. I will never be that cool again…
Hi fellow colour snob!
He he hi Laura! Glad you’re part of the team! 🙂
Colour is of course entirely dependent on the colour of light that falls upon something. And yes, purple is a mixture or red and blue with red predominant whereas mauve has more blue than red.
Ian, Léonie’s step Dad and erstwhile lighting designer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauve
I still get into arguments at cosmetic counters when the sales assistant insists on trying to sell me red lipstick that is too ‘cool in colour, or pink blushers that have too much blue in them – they tend to think I’m either colourblind or mad. But I JUST KNOW MY COLOURS, so there ✊✊✊
Yes you do babe!!