Are these socks red?
Alright, I’ve messed up and I have to come clean. I created a website, and two social media accounts called “Is This Shirt Red?” and I haven’t talked about the colourblind and clothing. I can understand your disappointment, and believe me, I’m disappointed in myself. This is by far the most common thing associated with colour blindness: putting on mismatched clothes. That's like the one thing I’m good at, and I haven’t written about it. So without further ado, let's get into it.
Colour coordination
I’m going to start this off by saying that I understand the idea of fashion and clothing has many layers to it, and many different styles that are all unique in some way. That being said I have been taught (by my mother) that colour coordination is everything. Something has always got to go with something else, and believe me she applies this to every aspect of her life. Quick side note she makes me move around drawers and closets, because she doesn’t like the feng shui, but then a week later changes it all back again! I have spent entire summers just moving around things for my mom, fully knowing that in 5 days' time it's going to move again. She also is constantly ordering new things for the house, so it's come to the point where all the delivery drivers in the local area know us on a first name basis. Anyway, I am getting side-tracked...
I believe that quite early on in my life my parents realised that I have terrible dress sense. Funnily enough that isn’t what caused them to get me tested, they just thought alright he can’t dress himself. And I will admit that for many years of my life my parents bought my clothes and laid them out for me every morning. I am not going to go into detail about how long they did this for, but I can now proudly say that I pick out my own clothes in the morning. I remember the rare occasions when my parents didn’t dress me and asked me to put some clothes on for a fancy dinner. I’d go upstairs, put on what I thought was a pretty solid outfit, come downstairs and immediately get sent back up again. Most of the time being laughed at, and my dad saying “Connor! You look like a circus clown!”
Growing up
Obviously my parents couldn’t dress me for the rest of my life, so I told them to back off a bit, saying I will find a way to manage. For any colourblind people reading this, who gets nervous in the morning staring into your wardrobe, I have the secret for you: just pick up anything at the top of the pile. Yep, that's all I do. I know that this isn’t a flawless technique, I say it works 7 out of 10 times,there are still days when I look outrageously colourful, but it takes away the stress of it all. For a lot of people who are colourblind there is a lot of stress and anxiety when it comes to clothes, as they don't know what they really look like and could be made fun of, especially when they are kids. Kids are mean. I know I have spent the better part of a morning staring into my closet thinking about how I am going to pull off this look, even if I don’t know what the look is!
So, what do my parents think about this top of the pile approach? In all honesty I think they have generally given up and lost hope when it comes to the fashion department. Nowadays when I come down looking stupid, they know that I’ve just hit a bad combination in the pile. I don’t think it's helped that some of the clothes I’ve bought are very bright and colourful (Exhibit A: My favourite sneakers below), but over the years I think they just got used to it. There are still times when we go out to some real high class places, when they tell me what to wear. Most of the time this just ends up with my parents arguing over what looks good on me and making me change constantly.
So, there we go, that's my blog on clothes and the colourblind. Again there are very serious ties to mental health here, with some colourblind people having social anxiety over what they wear, as there is always that sub-conscious fear that what they are wearing looks ridiculous. Many people, like me, have to find little ways to make themselves look presentable in the morning, so we don’t spend hours in the morning mulling over which pants go with which shirt. I hope you learned something and appreciate the effortless pleasure of getting dressed. Yes, it is the little things...
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