black black black and more black black black

[Mail-Moth]

the thing with colour is that they each kinda have a connotation of sorts that you may or may not want to associate with. they're more than just a superficial aesthetic as most of us who are familiar with visual arts know. i think Chinorlz's comment about wearing black because it's the colour of his soul isn't entirely inaccurate (so to speak) in that wearing an outfit that's all bright yellow as opposed to all black, for example says very different things about the person other than bad taste. kinda like how wearing a navy suit and a charcoal suit represents your character as a working professional differently.

I'm not for sticking to colours significations. That's too restrictive. And even in the case someone would, he may keep away from certain colours because of their connotations, but in the same time he would be attracted by some others for the same sort of reason.

Besides, and more important, colours do not work alone in an outfit : they are combined, and this combination produces another level of sense when compared to a "total bright yellow". Green and gray isn't green and red which isn't green and blue. And the moods created by those kinds of associations (if creating moods is the purpose, which it is far frow always being) may be deep and complex, even beyond the first intention of the one who dresses.

Compared to this "psychological" use of colours, a "full black" outfits, apart from the diverse justifications we are familiar with here (wether it be overgrown emo stuff, bringing attention to shapes and textures only, or playing with shades or black, black itself being seen as a set of "colours"), is likely to take another sense for me : a conscient refusal to express oneself - not in a rebellious, teenage way, but in a deeper manner, because for example, one may consider that there is no such thing as a resonance between moods and shades, that an human mind can't be reduced to a palette, and, thus, that aiming to express one's personnality using colours is empoverishing and pointless.

That's the way I would use total black myself, in fact.

[kbi]

I like the idea of black being silent. In a certain way a speechless statement towards repression of "shallowness" or better said loud and obvious expression within your environment. Negligence of colour and instead devotion to more introverted/emotional effect that needs experimental methods which downgrade the colour's rank in the process of creating a garment.

But of course that's total? utopia.

I'll try to get pictures next time I'm in the city galia! I think you'd like it.

[lotek01]

Hmm yes perhaps my example was a tad oversimplified but that's kind of the thing I was getting at - that people have their own perceptions of what a colour means by wearing it on his/her body. That there are pre-conceived notions of what they may represent is merely a factor due to use in commercial work or otherwise, not necessarily a decisive aspect.

Didn't mean to suggest that people subsequently dress in a colour-coded manner, but rather that in relation to the topic of this thread, that there is a reason why people may shy from certain colours in their wardrobe as opposed to what may be perceived as the "easy way out" of having everything in shades of black.

And like you suggested, there are plenty of reasons why people might use all-black outfits. The implication of anonymity and "nothingness" are some aspects it that attracts me, although it often has the opposite effect in a social context.

[Faust]

I like what you say, Mail-Moth!

[Fade to Black]

"Black is modest and arrogant at the same time"

"But above all black says this - 'I don´t bother you - don´t bother me'"

Yohji.

i love these

the section from the second quote i left in is basically what i live by

[Real Real]

I dont really wear black that often during the day - my black stuff tends to get worn when I am going somewhere at night. Most of my clothes are dark brown, blue, or gray, though I have been buying some brighter colored things recently (a fern green alpaca tweed blazer that makes me look like I just won the masters, for example).

[BECOMING-INTENSE]

I'm not for sticking to colours significations. That's too restrictive. And even in the case someone would, he may keep away from certain colours because of their connotations, but in the same time he would be attracted by some others for the same sort of reason.

Besides, and more important, colours do not work alone in an outfit : they are combined, and this combination produces another level of sense when compared to a "total bright yellow". Green and gray isn't green and red which isn't green and blue. And the moods created by those kinds of associations (if creating moods is the purpose, which it is far frow always being) may be deep and complex, even beyond the first intention of the one who dresses.

Compared to this "psychological" use of colours, a "full black" outfits, apart from the diverse justifications we are familiar with here (wether it be overgrown emo stuff, bringing attention to shapes and textures only, or playing with shades or black, black itself being seen as a set of "colours"), is likely to take another sense for me : a conscient refusal to express oneself - not in a rebellious, teenage way, but in a deeper manner, because for example, one may consider that there is no such thing as a resonance between moods and shades, that an human mind can't be reduced to a palette, and, thus, that aiming to express one's personnality using colours is empoverishing and pointless.

That's the way I would use total black myself, in fact.

I like this. Combinations, relations, connections. An Assemblage.
Connections(and coincidences) are probably what makes the self expressive.

[eat me]

I think for some people, the truth about black is much more trivial. When you want a colourful outfit, you don't wear one colour and everything else black. But you also don't shop for whole looks and many of them at a time. That's why when picking up a coloured garment you think 'hold on, what will I match this with' and think about your wardrobe, which mainly consists of black/earthy/muted. And then decide that it would be a waste to get something that you wouldn't get much use of, 'cause there is nothing to pair it with, so you put it back and get another black one instead.