2017 – The year colors reappeared — Colors in Style By Kari

Happy 2018 everyone, it’s been more than a month since I last blogged. It has a reason, 2018 started kind of bad for me. 1 of January, I got what I thought was a cold, but as days went by I got worse and worse and I actually ended up in hospital due to my general condition was so bad. Only for one night, to take some tests and see if it was something else than the flu that made me so ill. To be in hospital was like be in heaven for a while, to receive such tender, loving care from the wonderful nurses was actually wonderful. And even if I didn’t get on my feet before 10 days after I got back from the hospital I still feel that the night being cared for and being fed properly made me a little better. It’s not to recommend to have the flu and pass it on to your spouse, if you’re both knocked out by the flu there’s no one there to take care of you,

2017 was a memorable year in many ways. In August two little baby girls was born 5 days apart and made me a very happy grandmother. They are just the cutest little darlings and even if they easily could be mistaken to be twins they are still very different. It’s funny how early our personality shines through, even a little baby who does nothing else than eat and sleep has a distinct personality already the first weeks of their life. Now at five months they really show their true colors, one is a little monkey, never sit still and she loves to be handled a little rough. The other one, is more relaxed, very talkative and when you look into her big, brown, beautiful eyes you see all the wisdom in the world. She likes to be handled a little more gently than her five days older cousin.

2017 ble et minneverdig år for meg på flere måter. I august kom to små prinsesser til verden og jeg ble verdens lykkeligste bestefarmor. Som alle bestemødre synes jeg at de er verdens skjønneste og selv om de er såpass like at mange lurer på om de er tvillinger så er de likevel veldig forskjellige. Det er virkelig påfallende hvor tidlig vi utvikler vår helt egen personlighet, selv en liten baby som ikke gjør annet enn å spise og sove har sin helt egen personlighet allerede bare noen dager gamle. Nå når de er fem måneder så skinner personligheten mer og mer igjennom. Den eldste er en liten apekatt, i konstant bevegelse og hun elsker å bli herjet med, hun smiler omtrent hele tiden og nysgjerrigheten lyser av henne. Den yngste er litt mer rolig og bedagelig anlagt, hun er veldig pratsom og når man ser inn i de store, brune øynene så ser man all verdens visdom. Smilene kommer litt sjeldnere, men når hun smiler så lyser hun opp et helt rom. Hun liker å bli behandlet litt mer forsiktig enn sin fem dager eldre kusine.

I could go on and one about my two little sweethearts, but I’ll better stop here. So what else made 2017 a memorable year? Well it was the year I discovered the capsule wardrobe concept and last, but not least the year I found my true colors. It has made such an impact on me and I find myself more and more interested in the topic. Using the right colors can make you a better version of yourself. After years in black colors has taken over my wardrobe and not just any colors, but my true colors. When I think back it all started in February when I bought the home knitted sweater in ochre and off white. Suddenly I got tons of compliments about how well I looked. I was attending a course at the time, and all 18 persons there complimented me, everyone from the 20 something shy young man to the 70 year old very energetic woman. I was so surprised and concluded it had to be the ochre color, as nothing else was different. I went home and dug out my color swatches from the color analysis I had in the 80’s to see if the ochre color was there, but no. Something was off, I never really fell to ease with the Spring colors given me back then, and you all know that black kind of took over the fashion world for years and years. We were literally dragged into a black fashion hole.

Jeg kunne holdt på i det uendelige om mine to små øyenstener, men nå skal jeg gå over til temaet. 2017 var også året jeg oppdaget konseptet kapselgarderobe eller basisgarderobe, noe jeg har skrevet om mange ganger før, og sist og ikke minst var det året jeg fant fargene mine. Det har vært så interessant og jeg blir mer og mer interessert i dette emnet. Bruker man de rette fargene så blir man rett og slett en bedre versjon av seg selv. Etter mange år i svart har nå fargene kommet inn i livet mitt igjen, og ikke hvilke som helst farger, men mine farger, de rette fargene. Egentlig begynte det i februar da jeg kjøpte en Fanakofte i oker og natur. Jeg gikk på et kurs da og en dag hadde jeg på meg Fanakoften. Jeg har aldri fått så mange komplimenter før, alle 18 på kurset fra den sjenerte unge mannen i 20 årene til den energiske eldre damen på rundt 70 ga meg komplimenter. Jeg skjønte ingenting, men fant ut at det måtte være okerfargen som gjorde utslaget for ellers var jo ingenting forandret fra uken før. Jeg gikk hjem og gravde frem fargeprøvene mine fra min fargeanalyse på 80 tallet, men okerfargen var ikke der. Her var det noe som ikke stemte, egentlig slo jeg meg aldri helt til ro med Vårfargene jeg fikk da, og som vi vet tok jo svart over hele moteindustrien i årevis. Vi ble bokstavelig talt dradd in i et svart motehull.

Just an example of how colors can either do you justice or drain you completly. These 2 pics was taken the same day. I have the same make up, it’s the same light conditions. So why do I look fresh on one photo and totally washed out on the second? It’s because of the colors. Black washes me out, look at my hair, this photo screams tired middle age woman in despeate need for a hair color.

I guess most of us has a lot of black in our wardrobes, we have been brainwashed to believe that black is the ultimate basic color, and that all of us should own a little black dress, a black blazer, black pants, skirts etc. What we haven’t been told is that black is a really difficult color to pull off for the majority of us, the same goes for pure white, actually that’s even less flattering on most of us than black is. I will talk more about colors and my experience with the color analysis in my next post, so stay tuned if you find it interesting.

Here I am in black and white, but this i a more cream white which is my kind of white. Even if the dress is mostly black I still think it works because of the colors of the birds in the pattern. I’ve always felt this dress is right for me even if it’s black. This dress is so versatile, my dream is to find a dress as versatile, but in my colors.

Jeg antar at de fleste oss har mye svart i garderoben, vi har rett og slett blitt hjernevasket til å tro at svart er den ultimate basisfargen og til å tro at vi alle bør ha den lille sorte kjolen i skapet, at vi bør ha en svart blazer, svart skjørt osv. Hva omtrent ingen har sagt noe om er at svart er en farge de færreste kler, det samme gjelder ren hvit, det er om mulig en enda verre farge for de fleste av oss enn svart. Jeg skal skrive mer om farger og om min erfaring med fargeanalyse i neste blogg.

Until next time

Kari