The Seven Deadly Sins of Wearing Black

The Seven Deadly Sins of Wearing Black

Deadly Sin # 1 Wearing all black can make you look larger than what you actually are!
FACT : Black absorbs all the wavelengths of the colour spectrum. It is absence of light making it a solid and heavy colour.
Outcome : When attired all in black an illusion is created so the wearer appears physically bigger, heavier and carrying more weight than they actually are!

Deadly Sin # 2 Wearing all black can make you look even larger again!
FACT : Light appears to enlarge size within space.
Outcome : Those wearing all black are blissfully unaware that the play of light is creating an illusion that the wearer's dimensions are greater than they actually are!

Deadly Sin # 3 Just when you thought it was safe, even larger again!
BLACK : In an enclosed area white and light walls act as a backdrop for the person clad all in black.
Outcome : When indoors we are usually surrounded by lighter shades in décor. A large black silhouette is created by the wearer expanding their proportions and increasing the size to a further degree!

Deadly Sin # 4 Wearing black can make you look unhealthy!
FACT : Caucasian complexions are generally fair to medium. As black absorbs all light it drains colour from the face.
Outcome : A normally vibrant and healthy complexion can look pale and sickly! In the movies if the director wants the audience to believe the actress is ill or dying they will invariably dress them in unadorned black or a colour that is -wrong' for them.
For example in the Movie 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding Toula (Nia Vardalos) when she was 'Frump Girl" she wore warm muted colours that were not becoming on her. As Toula was transformed into the Greek beauty it coincided with the introduction of Cool and Rich colours which were very flattering and hence she looked more attractive.

Deadly Sin # 5 Wearing black can adversely affect your health?
FACT : Colour therapy harnesses the energies of light and all the colours of the spectrum to counter health problems and enhance vitality. Black is generally never used in colour therapy for healing!
Outcome : Those exposed to red light and black can be compromising their health as quoted in Theo Gimbels book Titled, The Colour Therapy workbook 'Red light and black contract all biochemical cells exposed to it. He states asthma sufferers should not wear red or black as this exasperates the condition. Other health conditions inadvertently affected by the wearing of black are migraine, high blood pressure and respiratory problems.
If research is to be believed that claims that 80% of the time women and men don black for evening wear, it then leaves it open to conjecture to question if wearing black can potentially excesaspate the effects of a hangover. It might be pertinent to wear the blue if a big night out celebrating is planned as blue biochemically expands the cells and potentially minimise the adverse affects of over indulgence.

Deadly Sin # 6 Wearing all black can undermine you!
FACT : Black's total absorption of all wavelengths of light is the absence of light. On a psychological level it has been described as negative, menacing and personifies darkness.
'Many people are afraid of the dark that carries a subliminal message of unsubstantiated fear."

Outcome : A person dressed all in black therefore not only appears bigger and heavier but also threatening and foreboding. This is sometimes why black is often called a -safe colour' as dark colours dominant and it evokes fear in others. For example security guards are generally in black as black is the colour alsoo associated with bikie gangs as they use the colour black to convey an unspoken message to evoke fear in others. It is not, therefore a good choice of colour to wear if you are hoping to make a good impression. Wearing black for a job interview or in the workplace in general is not advisable as it also exemplifies that the wearer is negative and insecure. Not a good choice of colour to wear if you work in public relations or sales.
Black is the colour many women reach for to wear on a first date as it also carries the psychological conation of allure and mystery and is a colour that personifies endless possibilities. Unbeknown to the amorous lady 'glamed up in black" (unless black is one of their colours) they are only not portraying themselves at their most beautiful, but they could be potentially scaring off Mr Right!

Deadly Sin # 7 Black is Aging!
FACT : When relating to the physical an individuals colouring is determined by assessing the colour of the person's hair, eyes, skintone. It is aesthetically pleasing to the human eye when we wear colours in clothing and cosmetics that have similar dominant colour characteristics as an individual's personal colouring.
Outcome: Many people believe being attired all in black is elegant and sophisticated. This statement has some merit as this is another physiological perception of black. For those who are slim with a darker complexion have dark hair and depth to their eyes as they share characteristics in common with black. It is indeed flattering to the wearer and reinforces this belief as there is congruency. For the rest of us however being clad all in black is doing us a disservice. Often when wearing black women will often apply an extra layer or darker shade of foundation, richer shades of eyeshadow or a brighter lipstick to offset the adverse effects black is having upon them without understanding exactly why they are doing this.

Only a minority of our population look great dressed all in black
I have been personally colour analysised women and men for over 25 years and have literally coded hundreds of people. I started with the four seasonal Colour Me Beautiful System by Carole Jackson whereby everyone was placed into four groups that depicted colours representative of the hues of the four seasons. Eg Warm earthy colours of rust's and gold's are considered autumn colours whereas the white of snow and clear deep blues were considered winter colours. For this system to work is dependent on the premise that we have a predominance of warmth or coolness in our colouring, warmth comprising of yellow which gives a feeling of warmth as in the sun or red which is representative of warmth in terms of fire eg red hair warm beige skintone and brown eyes. Your colouring was considered cool if you had a rosebeige skintone, ash tones to your hair and blue eyes. While this system had its merits and brought an awareness to the population of the importance of colour selection in terms of harmonious ensembles for a colour coordinated wardrobe, simplified hairdye colour selection and meant that cosmetics colours selected did not clash with each other.

Over the years I have worked mainly with groups of women colour coding and I discovered very quickly that you couldn't just place everyone neatly into four groups. We are a very diverse nation in terms of colouring and not only could I see that the lady I was colour coding knew she didn't look attractive in any one of the four seasonal groups I had placed her in so could all the others participating in the workshop, resulting in both the seasonal system and myself not being creditable. This was a fair conclusion as it is logical to assume that if one parent was cool colouring and the other parent warm colouring the study of genecology tells us that we inherit characteristics from both sides of the family this results in neutralising our colouring and we as a species over time have become more muted.

Disillusioned I was going to give up on personal colour coding as I found it limiting and incongruent but a feeling inside me resisted because on the rare occasion when the seasonal system did work to me something akin to magic happened and I saw a transformation in my clients. Not only did an understanding and wearing their colours made them look more attractive, a new found confidence ensured they become more certain about decision making in relation to colour selection in general. I preserved and studied the theory of colour and continued to use more diverse and interesting colours in my colour coding workshops. The four groups quickly expanded to six then eight to twelve and now there is fourteen. For further accuracy I introduced the effect contrast has on our colouring and designed my colour swatches to depict not only warmth and coolness of an individual's characteristics but lightness, depth and intensity.

Over the years I have discovered that it is not, the generally accepted belief, that temperature or undertone of warmth and coolness that has predominance of colouring in our society. It is he muted groups or colouring of low intensity in individuals that in terms of numbers far surpass the generally accepted premise that we are a society with a predominance of warm or cool in our overall colouring. Even though, to my understanding, the Four Seasonal system expanded their four groups to a 12 group colour system it is still biased and based on the belief that warmth or coolness is the first and most dominant characteristic in our personal colouring. In my research and experience of colour coding this simply is not true and is very misleading for the consumer who after being colour coded incorrectly and being informed they are predominantly warm or cool in their colouring finds the information incongruent.

Initially excited about being grouped into a 'Season" they soon become disillusioned and confused as innately people are drawn to the colours that are right for them. The chances of their colouring being muted or dusky is very high and they have been more than likely advised to select cool or warm colours which are closer to pure, clear colours the very opposite of which is harmonious to the general populations natural colouring and will tend to make them look less attractive than what they actually are.

Blink Test
To discover if your personal colour characteristics is compatible with wearing black (or any colour) you can do a simple three second blink test.

Select a black piece of clothing from your wardrobe (which everyone has) against your chest and near your face stand in front of the mirror and count to three. On opening your eyes if the first place your eyes are drawn to is the colour black this means the colour is wearing you and black is a colour that will detract from your beauty. If however when you first open your eyes you make eye contact in the mirror it is possible that black is a colour that is flattering on you. If you are unsure you can demonstrate the blink test in front of a friend for their opinion.

How to Wear Black
As Black absorbs light it can also diminish size and space. You can use this knowledge to your advantage. The above article is based on the premises that the wearer is dressed primarily in black, however black when worn correctly and/or combined with colours that enhances the wearers personal characteristics it can be used to balance body proportions creating a slimming effect and send a message of allure and mystery, making it a girls best friend.

Does my Bum look Big in This? Black worn in small amounts on the body you wish to minimise will create a slimming effect especially if lighter colours are used as contrast.

Eg. If you are small on the top half of the body and larger on the lower half of the body by donning a lighter coloured blouse with darker skirt or slacks will balance the body creating harmony and balance which is pleasing to the observer.If you just love being attired top to toe in black and feel good in it the aim is not to take away this feeling of pleasure but to minimise the unflattering effects wearing black is creating. As mostly the problems result by wearing black close to the face, you can eliminate any negative effects by wearing a V neck top or donning a scarf and jewellery to create a diversion or break in the line of colour so that black is not having a direct adverse effect on your personal colouring.

Know Your Colours
If you would like to ascertain if Black is your colour and find out a range of colours in one of the fourteen colour groups that are flattering on you go to the Australian Colour Swatch company's website for directions on how you can have your colours done in the revolutionary fourteen group colour coding system.

Image: even though the model is young and attractive and the black is being worn lower on her body it has still had the effect of draining colour from her face.

-By Wendy Alexander.
www.colourswatch.com.au