Which colors we like to wear may say more about us than we realize. Colors can either hide or reveal parts of us: White is the combination of all colors and it allows all energy or light to shine through. When we wear white, we allow ourselves to shine and others to see us. In turn, when we wear black, we hide our energy, we keep it in, we stay small and invisible.
This has to do with the colors that are associated with the seven chakras; the colors we choose to wear may resonate with certain chakras and thereby enhance their brightness.
I find this fascinating, mostly because these processes generally occur unconsciously. I am naturally drawn to the colour emerald and now I wonder what that says about my energy. How does my aura look? Does this colour bring balance to me? Or does it mostly emphasize what’s already abundant and therefore mostly sustain my current ‘pattern’?
One can use this kind of knowledge to grow. Wearing and surrounding yourself with the colors of chakras that can use a boost can contribute to these chakras becoming more balanced. I suspect that this mostly works when a chakra is under-expressed or has too little energy, not the other way around, but I am not sure. (Check other sources if you wish, like this article.)
I decided to play with it! I will choose more bright colors for clothing in the near future; brighter than the usual black, grey and navy. I do like wearing colors, but I hardly ever wear white clothes, for example. That is mostly so because white fabric tends to be very see-through, which I perceive as difficult. However, if white can help me shine brighter, I may learn to manage the issue!
But there is more to clothing – I think clothing has many tricks. For example, people may prefer to wear neon colors so to distract others from the darker stuff that actually occurs behind the bright curtains. One can dress very professionally so to hide their insecurities about not actually being qualified enough.
Becoming conscious about these processes in us can help us learn about ourselves and grow. We can learn to see our patterns and overcome the underlying insecurities! We can heal ourselves and expand. If we wish and dare to go there, of course.
Maybe you don’t feel like using clothing for these purposes. That is totally fine. I am personally very interested in developing myself and I see possibilities for growth in everything. All difficulties we encounter are possibilities to grow! Every time we confront our inner problems we heal and grow and become more whole. We become more happy and peaceful. So, if you like clothes and dislike other clothes, be welcome to join me in this.
The main question here is this: Do you dress a certain way to hide your discomfort from yourself and others?
Earlier I already wrote that my clothes don’t have to represent anything; not a group of people I identify with and want to belong to. Or brands, for that matter. I don’t need others or myself to categorize me based on my appearance. For me this realizations helps: generally others accept me as I am, regardless of how exactly I look, and that is great. So there’s no need to impress others through my clothes. This already brings me some peace. In the end the person most important to you is you.
We have to wear clothes in our societies, so we get to make choices about it. Whether we like it or not, we have to get new clothes every now and then, because our old ones wear out. This allows and even requires us to choose what to wear. Not only that: we can choose what we want to express through our appearance! We can do this even though the opinions of others don’t really matter – we can do it for ourselves. We know that others don’t really judge us for our clothes, but mostly for our general appearance, which has much to do with our energy. This energy is influenced by how we perceive ourselves, how we allow ourselves to be, and, as we just learned, also by the colors we wear.
Wearing clothes that compliment who we are, can help us express ourselves fully. This can probably work in many ways. But here I want to dare you to think out of the box, out of the box you defined for yourself!
Which clothes you certainly do not wear? Which clothes are not in your box and in your wardrobe? Think of the clothes you have resistance against, the clothes of which you think they don’t fit your personality, or your ego and persona. Then you can ask yourself: which parts of my I do not express through my clothes or appearance?
These parts of you that you absolutely do not express, are still there. They reside in you. They are a part of you. You have resented these parts, these traits. Accepting and loving these parts of yourself will make you more whole. This is a very general statement, but here we look at how this works in clothing. I belief that making slight changes in clothing may help you express parts of you that were hidden.
I will give some examples:
- For me, allowing myself to only buy cheap clothes was associated with a belief that I was not worth having more expensive clothes. Earlier I could not allow myself to choose better quality, a better fit, prettier but mostly more expensive clothes. I felt as if I was not worth it. (Now I know that money is a sensitive subject. I do not dictate to buy expensive stuff. I only suggest you to explore what your beliefs are. I belief that exploring this stuff will in the end save you money on buying ‘useless’ stuff.)
- For me, feeling insecure about wearing skirts and dresses came forth of feeling insecure about my girlishness and femininity.
- Being hesitant towards wearing t-shirts and blouses had to do with me being insecure about appearing big; I was insecure about my shoulders looking wide and my belly looking too big. This has to do with general acceptance of my body, but also with my difficulty with taking up space. Embracing my shoulders and belly would mean embracing my ability to take up the space that is naturally mine to take up, to be as powerful as I am.
- Wearing wide clothes would hide my body. It would hide my true shape and my true size. I could hide beneath sweaters and feel safe. I would not have felt as safe wearing a white t-shirt.
- I also know plenty of women who dress in black so to hide themselves. I know women who aim to appear tough so to hide their vulnerability. I know women who, like me, learned to hide their femininity, who are at war with who they truly are. I know people who pretend to not care about their clothes and dress ‘hippie or hipster style’, but who may not dare to wear something more pretentious.
See? These processes may not be at play in everyone, but I bet there’s often more than meets the eye. 😉
So I dare you to play with it! What do you hide in your closet? 🙂
Last time I wrote about the capsule wardrobe. As far as I know, that system would tell you to keep the clothes you love to wear and to discard everything that does not work for you.
What I am telling you now is different: I dare you to explore why certain clothes do not work for you and to give them another chance. I dare you to get a little uncomfortable, so to learn that which clothes you wear does not really matter that much. Wearing items or styles you are not used to, can allow you to express yourself in new ways and to accept parts of yourself that you had not accepted before. You can expand your comfort zone. You will be perfectly fine.
However, for sustainability’s sake: be conscious about what you want to try and what not. Take your time to identify unexpressed parts of yourself and which clothing items may help you with accepting these parts. You may take little steps, so to keep it manageable for you and prevent you from making miss-buys after all. The 30 wears rule is great: commit to the new items you buy, commit to wearing them a certain amount of times! This will allow you to fully incorporate them into your comfort zone and style.
If you’re not ready to commit to # wears and do not dare to get new clothes for this experiment, you can also start by buying second-hand items or borrowing items from friends. That way, the investment and the impact (environmental, etc.) are much smaller, so you can feel more free to experiment.
I am for sure doing this experiment! If you are too, let me know how it goes. I am curious to learn if many people think about clothes this way.
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