Shedding Skin

It’s not quite brown, it’s not quite grey, it’s not quite green, the only way I can describe the colour is “Background”. Today’s the day I give to charity the last of a particular type of garment that came to infect most of my wardrobe.

One day a couple of years ago I caught myself wearing not just this top but everything else, literally head to toe, in clothes the same colour as this; top, t-shirt, trousers, socks, even runners.

And, as I say, this colour is so indistinctive, so just, well like background, I felt that I’d been painting myself out of existence by wearing it.

Insidiously over the course of a few years all my clothes were becoming this colour (Pantone 4505 is the closest I can find). What had happened? Was it the laziness of men’s department store fashion or my own personal lack of taste? Either way that day I swore never to purchase anything in this nasty colour again, every garment I would buy from then on would be a proper colour, one that wasn’t afraid to be at least describable, that wasn’t afraid to say, here I am I’m Black and I’m proud! Or Blue and proud, whatever the case may be.

A few months ago I was on a stag weekend and one of the guys there was wearing “Background” head to toe just as I had. It was happening to him too. I wanted to say something to him but bit my tongue thinking; maybe it’s better for each man to realise this on his own, and deal with it themselves before they just disappear. Come to think of it I haven’t seen him since?!