It’s not easy being green

It’s not easy being green

by | Aug 12, 2024

It’s August – that means a new birthstone! This time it’s the turn of peridot – which we’ve found has never been one of our best sellers. We think this is such a shame as we love its gorgeous green colour, however we know that like yellow it can be a difficult colour to wear. Like kermit the frog and Elphaba the witch, it seems it’s not easy being green.

 

Disco Earrings
Disco Earrings

It hasn’t alway been this way. The Egyptians LOVED green gemstones including peridot. Green was often associated with being wealthy – the Arnolfini portrait by Jan Van Eyk (pictured above) is all about this. That dress would not only have been completely lined with artic fox fur (really not ethical by todays standards), but made from highly expensive wool that was dyed a bold green – which was super expensive and laborious to create ( and involved working with lots of aged sheep wee yuck) .

Trends always seem to come around again – we’ve been seeing more of the colours that were considered difficult again –  it’s all about dopamine dressing – the practice of wearing colours that make you happy. Green is just perfect for that – it’s found everywhere in the natural world. Being out in nature is proven to boost your mood for hours after you’ve gone back inside. So we think it’s time to add a bit more green into our wardrobes.

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The New Black

by | Feb 5, 2018

I’m not even planning to discuss black, defined as the absence of colour. That’s not a colour, it’s not on my radar at all. I don’t wear black, (I don’t have a corporate wardrobe at all) and I don’t even use black stones very much.

But the new black, ah that’s different. Along with prison pink and greenery, by jove they’ve done it again! The new black isn’t black – it can be anything they tell you it should be!!!!!! At first it was quite simple to grasp…”NAVY IS THE NEW BLACK.” You can see the thinking behind that. Navy is a staple, a basic, a base. It’s useful and can do most of the things that black can do. It’s slimming, forgiving, smart, simple, a foil for other colours, wearable. It allowed the fashion industry to flog more stuff, all in the name of newness, of keeping up, of staying abreast, of staying in the game. But then it got seriously out of hand. “Grey is the new black.” Oh really? Ok, Grey can be quite dark so I can see where they’re coming from. But then all of a sudden Taupe was the new black. Really? Taupe? Hang on this isn’t just out of hand anymore, this is just downright silly. Grey can be many shades, as can Navy and these colours can do pretty much what black can, to maybe lesser degrees, so I can see where there coming from, but Taupe? Interestingly I don’t ever remember brown being badged as the new black. Maybe they did that in the seventies but forgot to give it the catchy tag line, so it went unnoticed as a fashion ploy.

 

 

 

The best one I ever heard was the hopefully tongue in cheek “ White is the new black”. That one made me laugh out loud, the sincere statement that something other than black can replace black. I can see what they’re trying to do, wean us off our collective obsession with black

White is the new black, although perhaps what they really mean is that the presence of colour replaces the absence of colour.

Now that might make sense. Maybe?

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Prison Pink / Baby Pink

by | Feb 5, 2018

As a child I really hated this colour, brought up as I was in a family that embraced the concept of feminism. When we grew up we were told we could do and be anything we wanted, I was a tomboy most of the time and I thought pink was for girls – and Barbie dolls, urghhh. Although Sindy was somehow a bit more gung- ho, mine had curly hair and most definitely did not have a pink wardrobe, or a boyfriend, let alone one called Ken. Independent and gutsy, pink was not for her.

As I’ve grown older and now have a daughter of my own I’ve finally been able to appreciate pink as a colour. It’s pretty, it’s uplifting and somehow simultaneously calming. It lights up the face and skin. My daughter was dressed in many colours as a baby, but never pink, but now she’s old enough to have a say, she regularly wears it from head to toe. I thought I would be horrified, but strangely I’m not.

 

Maybe that’s because I’ve managed to re-brand it in my head as Prison Pink – given it an edge, made it feel punk and cool. Now that I’ve managed to sell it to myself I love it. I first heard about prison pink a few years ago, and thought the concept was great – calm aggression with a spot of pastel décor, what a fantastic idea. And apparently it works, although small boys might baulk at the thought, those detained at her Madge’s pleasure don’t have a say, and they most definitely benefit from it as a result.

 

So does a necklace in prison pink have a calming effect? Could you wear it for exams? In interviews? On the plane? I’ve always thought most of the women I know are way too intellectual to wear pink – to want or need to be pretty rather than appear clever. We don’t need this colour, this badge of girliness. But it can also be so much more, as I explore colour theory, I find pink and other pastel colours too (Seriously? Pastels? Urghh!) speaking to me, calming and soothing me. They bring a strange feeling of peace and relaxation, that spreads across my chest from my hearstspace and gives me that internal “Ahhhhhhh”. Perhaps it’s not about the pretty, it’s about the feeling it gives, or maybe that’s what pretty was all along and I just missed the memo? Perhaps I’m just more comfortable in myself and I’ve outgrown the connotations that pink held in the past?

Who’d have thought it?

Lavastone and Rose Quartz Necklace
Rose Quartz, freshwater pearls and lavastone (pumice), handmade sterling silver clasp. Approx length 19.5″

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