You’re Allowed to Wear Color Now

Open your closet. I’ll wait.

If yours looked anything like mine after I got out, it’s a sea of black, navy, gray and that particular shade of khaki that only exists in government offices and outlet malls. Everything matches everything, which sounds efficient until you realize it’s because nothing has any color at all. It’s a closet that could pass inspection. It is also, frankly, a little sad.

For years, our clothes were chosen for us. Uniforms, then the unofficial uniform of the woman who doesn’t want to stand out: dark pants, neutral top, a cardigan in a color best described as “beige, but tired.” We got very good at blending in. That was the point.

It isn’t the point anymore. Nobody is going to counsel you for wearing a mustard sweater. I checked.

Start small, like really small

You don’t have to show up to brunch in head-to-toe tangerine. If color feels like a lot, start where it’s easy to take back.

• Accessories first. A scarf, a bag, earrings, a pair of shoes. Things you can swap out without rethinking a whole outfit.
• Near your face. A colored top or a scarf near your face does more than colored pants ever will. This is where you’ll notice whether a shade makes you look rested or like you just came off a 24-hour shift.
• One piece at a time. Wear your usual navy pants and black shoes with one new color on top. Your brain gets used to it. So does everyone else.

Nobody is going to counsel you for wearing a mustard sweater. I checked.

Finding your colors without a consultant

You can pay someone to drape fabric on you and tell you you’re a “soft autumn,” and some women love that. But you can do a decent version at home with a mirror, daylight and a pile of whatever you own.

Hold different colors up under your chin near a window. Look at your skin, not the fabric. Some colors make the shadows under your eyes look deeper. Others make you look like you slept eight hours and drink water on purpose. Trust that second reaction.

A few general patterns that help a lot of people:

• If gold jewelry looks better on you than silver, warm colors (rust, olive, coral, camel, warm red) often work well.
• If silver wins, try cooler shades (cobalt, emerald, berry, true red, icy pink).
• If both look fine, congratulations, you get to wear almost anything, and I’m a little jealous.

And here’s the secret that took me too long to learn: as hair goes silver or lighter, colors that used to wash you out can suddenly work beautifully. Revisit things you wrote off at 30.

Colors that play well with a neutral closet

You already own a lot of black, navy and gray. Good news, those are excellent backdrops. Some combinations that are easy wins:

• Navy with camel, cream, coral, kelly green or mustard.
• Black with cobalt, red, hot pink or emerald.
• Gray with blush, lavender, burgundy or teal.
• Olive (yes, really, the civilian version) with rust, cream, denim or deep plum.

That last one gets a lot of side-eye from women who spent years in green. But a soft olive silk blouse is not your old field jacket. It’s allowed to be pretty.

Shop like you mean it

When you go shopping, give yourself a rule: you can’t buy anything black, navy or gray on this trip. It’s oddly freeing. You’ll walk past racks you never looked at before. You’ll pick up things and put them back. Eventually, you’ll find one thing that makes you stop in the mirror and go, “Oh. Huh.”

Buy that one.

Thrift and consignment stores are great for experimenting, because the stakes are low. If the fuchsia blazer turns out to be a mistake, it was a cheap mistake, and you can donate it right back.

Wear it anyway

The first few times you wear real color, you might feel a little conspicuous. That’s just the old training talking, the part of you that still thinks being noticed means being in trouble. It fades.

What you’ll notice instead is that people compliment you more. Strangers tell you they love your scarf. You catch yourself in a store window and actually like what you see. Maybe the boxes from your last move are still taped up in the garage, but your closet, at least, has finally been unpacked.