Herban Sprawl

I was in Bang and Lily’s nail salon yesterday, having my feet attended to when a perfectly charming elderly lady struck up a conversation over the color of polish I had selected. She loved it. “What’s that called?” she asked.

“O’Hare and Nails,” I replied. “It’s one of the Chicago series of colors that they are phasing out. This might be the last bottle.”

“I always get the same one,” she mused. “Cotton Candy.”

“But that’s a nice neutral one, I think. I get neutrals on my fingers and colors on my toes.”

“She look good in red!” chimed in one of the technicians who’d seen me out with my new red cloche.

“Do you wear red?! Really?” The lady was getting really interested in this conversation. “Red is such a cheerful color!”

“I think so, too, but you have to be so careful because two red things look good together in one light, then you go outside and they clash.”

The lady said she likes black because it goes with everything. This led to my laughing that I hadn’t worn black until my niece nudged me and insisted I didn’t look all that bad in it. “But I do, unless I have on serious make-up!”

My technician was following this with a lot of interest. Her technician, who has done my feet and nails many times was amused. Mine asked, “You don’t like black?”

Okay, for the record, I like it only for the fact that it is proper for funerals, and black slacks or skirts can go with a lot of things. Beyond that, I’m just not crazy about black clothes. It’s too somber and, might I add, dreary. Black for bridesmaid dresses is, in my opinion, boring. It’s almost like those dresses weren’t important enough to select a good color.

Several years ago, I noticed that my niece’s closet was wall-to-wall black, but the truth is, she worked in retail and black is probably best in that line. She looks fine in black, but if you asked me to choose a color for her, that would not be it. I teased her about it at the time, but I really did understand that her age group was crazy for black. That’s when she insisted I didn’t look too bad in it.

I’ve since come to realize that people who stick to black often have what I call a black and white attitude about life. There are no shades of grey and no areas of ambivalence where one might shift about, changing one’s mind. I can’t imagine that way of thinking, but by golly, there are a lot of folks out there who only see things as black or white. They cannot conceive of grey areas, and if I were to expound on the shades of grey - the warm tones, the cool tones - I’d probably get some pretty strange looks!

Decorating with black and white is interesting, but ever notice how a magazine picture of one of those rooms looks so cold and clinical? Toss in a red cased glass vase with a spray of red flowers, though, and the room comes to life. In our case, a black and white bathroom gained a flock of flamingos. Never fails to elicit laughter for first time visitors.

I like color. I’m not particularly good with color, but I know what I like. I also know what I don’t like. But there are shades in between that are downright yummy. For example, orange. I will never pick something that is orange. But then there are the shades of orange like peach or pumpkin or bittersweet or the skin of a sweet potato that has brown scumbled through it. Those are neat.

When it comes to reds, GM is the king of red vehicles. My 1969 Pontiac was a most luscious shade of cool red…. and Bubba Doc used to have a candy apple red Buick convertible that was the stuff his teen-aged dreams were made of. The most striking Vettes were red. The other auto makers had red cars, but GM had the lock on THE reds. That, it turns out, is one of three things on which my father and I were ever in complete agreement!

I measure reds by that Pontiac. It’s caused many a saleslady to dissolve in giggles, which pleases me to no end. It’s always nice to bring a smile to someone whose feet and lower back are killing her. O’Hare and Nails is just such a shade of red and I’m going to be sad when that last bottle is gone. And wearing red is fun. That new hat of mine has honestly made heads turn. It’s cute and it’s bright. I see smiles when I wear it. And that was worth buying a new tube of lipstick to go with it!

Think of it: Rudolph with a foglight yellow nose? Nope. No way. N’uh-uh.

It’s the RamaHanaYulaChristmaKwan season and with the economy being such a downer, we need all the cheer we can get. Bring on the colors!