TEXTS FOR READING
COLOURS MAKE US FANCY AND MERRY!
Autumn brought a merry collage of many colours into our streets, which
became golden and red. The trees branches painted with the autumnal hue are visible
through the window panes. Why does this real profligacy of colours on the first cool days
make people put on dark coats and jackets?
Nature shows us a great variety of different shades. We can observe colourful reality in
the woods and meadows. The fields are a riot of colour. The brightness and sweet scent of
flowers attract the insects in nature. Why do people think that they can become more
attractive and elegant in black, which became the curse of the last century. It was
considered as a refined and official colour. Though nature associates it with the death
and misery.
Colours influence our psychology and our perception of the surrounding world. The shades
of the colours we wear, we make up with, and the patterns of the materials on our clothes
– are sending the information into our environment. Colours have a great effect on the
subconscious feelings of the people we deal with, telling them about us more than we do
with our verbal means. It happens in private and in business life. That’s why it’s
very important that the information your clothes implies correspond with what a person
intends to bring about himself.
From the psychological point of view black and grey colours are not colours at all, as
black is a denial of any colour (shadow, emptiness), and the grey is neutral and
colourless (like a fog). When grey or black is preferred – a person usually has a
negative attitude to life and a pessimistic view. More often, sane-minded, mental healthy
and well-balanced people feel distant to those colours, or even try to avoid them.
The neutrality of grey brings in boredom. Many heads of enterprises in business give their
preference to it. This proves that those people who have achieved a great success in life
become more significant not because of their unique talents, but due to the deep-seated
inferiority complexes which cause anxiety, discomposure and dissatisfaction. It doesn’t
mean that grey should be deleted from our life completely. No, but when it is everywhere
– it brings indifference to life, and fills it with languor and passivity.
Now let’s get back to our co-citizens’ favourite colour: black. Black symbolises the
border, that divides life from death. It is the line where life stops and death comes. So
it typifies the idea of destruction. The mourning clothes traditional in most nations
prove this point. Black means a complete capitulation. A person who gives a preference to
black – is trying to rebel against his destiny, against his life’s direction. Such a
rebellion is often thoughtless and imprudent. An addiction to the black influences not
only the character of a person and his relationships with the surrounding people but also
his appearance. Usually one looks older in black.
Many people are sure that a black costume is the only suitable thing for business meetings
as it brings elegance, chic and strictness of lines into a man’s look and adds
stylishness and mystique to a woman’s appearance.
But not all of us know that black does not suit so many people. It breaks the harmony of
the natural colouring of one’s look. It makes faces toneless and dull. So black is
problematic and not suitable for most of us. When the colours of the clothes and their
combination are not well-chosen and well-matched, it changes the visual perception of a
person. Black is a warning about danger, it is always something negative (black soul,
black magic, black envy, black market, black list, black despair).
People in black are special objects of psychologists’ researches. They either want to
show off with pressure on others, or they trample on their own inner ambitions, which
causes depression and stress.
The Western designers have understood those qualities of black. So they drop that colour
from their last (modern) collections. Black is not modern any more. It is becoming out of
fashion.
The Russian national costume excluded black. It means that it isn’t suitable for us
genetically. Our ancestors avoided it intuitively (they were wiser than we are). By the
way, all the crisis situations in Russia were dressed in drab clothes. The past years of
the black fashion have not brought prosperity and welfare to Russia. Black is levelled in
the mild climate of Spain and Italy where a revel of southern colours conquers its
darkness (gloom, blackness). The climate in the central and north-eastern part of Russia
is rather hard. The hues of nature are pretty calm in comparison with the south. The black
in Russia seems even gloomier, and carries more negative information. Probably it’s time
for us to stop complaining of our destiny and searching for somebody to blame – who is
guilty of all our problems. Isn’t it high time for us to follow nature’s brightness
– to take off the black clothes and change them for the colours that will make us
cheerful and confident.
Nature is wise. It gives us really great examples! The colours of our clothes will return
colour into our lives. Just let’s try!
Compiled by Svetlana Zaskoka