Has the nation’s economic slump plunged your budget into the red? Then your clothes should be too. Or green. Or blue.
Just dress happy, advised Tricia Tunstall, founder and senior partner of Wicker Park women’s clothing store p.45.
“Why not have fun with fashion and brighten up your life a little bit?” she told RedEye.
This is sound advice for anyone who wants to stay on the cutting edge of fashion, according to Sunny Maffeo, color and design creative director at BASF, which engineers polymers, plastics and coatings for a number of industries.
Social and political events can have a tremendous influence over color schemes in fashion, interior design and even cars, according to Maffeo, who conducts color trend research for companies ranging from Victoria’s Secret to Motorola. Popular color trends not only reflect our continuously evolving national frame of mind, but they also play a role in determining our levels of comfort and, in turn, our behavior, color experts say.
One of the most stark examples of color expression, Maffeo said, came shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, when fashion designers bathed their clothing lines in cheery hues as a counterpoint to the sadness of the time.
“In comparison, this certainly seems frivolous, but it really set people to thinking,” she said. “Everything was reintroduced in all these bright, candy, gumdrop kind of colors.”
The notion that color is intertwined with our psyches is strong enough that nationally renowned color consultant Leatrice Eiseman has written seven books on the issue, including the recent “Color: Messages and Meanings.”
One example, Eiseman told RedEye, is the growing popularity of the color green in supermarket packaging and other products, a reflection of our “subliminal” preference for eco-friendly spending.
“No matter where you live in the world, you have the elements of nature around you, and you associate with that,” said Eiseman, who has studied color psychology for 30 years. “Like the blue of sky, the green of foliage.”
It’s those natural associations with different colors that affect our behavior. While color interactions can differ from person to person, Eiseman said, there are some common generalities. Most of us find green and blue soothing. We find red exciting or appetizing. Yellow is comforting and reminds us of sunlight.
“[Color] really does affect you,” said Michelle Quaranta, owner of Bucktown paint store Colori. “Especially in the dead of winter, you need color to make you happier.”
Quaranta, who playfully calls herself a “color therapist,” can find joy in something as simple as a vibrant mango salad — whipped up in her red-painted kitchen.
Jerry Kleiner, owner of West Loop restaurant Carnivale, hit at the very heart of color messaging when he designed the 35,000-square-foot, Latin-themed restaurant, in a potpourri of bright hues.
“It’s an explosion of color and life,” Kleiner said. “If you walk into Carnivale and you’re depressed, you’re going to leave happy.”
Color also plays a big role in feng shui, the belief that our environment — decor, placement of objects — can affect the way we feel and act.
Something as simple as hanging a refracting crystal near a light source can bring comfort to the darkest room, said Pam Kai Tollefson, owner of Feng Shui Design consulting company in Lakeview.
The rainbow colors that a crystal throws act “like acupuncture needles,” Tollefson said. “They stimulate anywhere you go in the house.”
The effort to harness the power of color has even crept into sports.
When former University of Iowa football coach Hayden Fry had the walls of the visitor’s locker room painted Pepto-Bismol pink 25 years ago, he wasn’t trying to be funny.
“He was a psychology major,” senior associate athletic director Jane Meyer told RedEye. “He knew the color pink was supposed to be comforting, soothing — not one of those colors that would get you fired up.”
When the university renovated Kinnick Stadium in 2006, officials chose to stick with the pink theme, and even expand on it. The walls, lockers, urinals and toilet partitions are now all pink.
Meyer said she is unaware of any complaints of a competitive advantage. She also confided that she personally doesn’t think there is much to Fry’s psychological tactic.
She might be on to something. The Hawkeyes are only 8-5 at Kinnick Stadium since the renovation.
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COLOR OF THE YEAR
Pantone Color Institute, a world color design leader, named “blue iris” its 2008 color of the year in fashion, cosmetics and home product trends. It was with a nod toward politics. “It’s a thoughtful, meditative color, appropriate for an election year,” said Leatrice Eiseman, Pantone’s executive director. The color shift already has hit Europe’s fashion runways. Vogue magazine’s Web site noted that Louis Vuitton’s spring 2008 collection is “cheery blue, from cap to carryall.” Pantone’s 2007 color of the year was “chili pepper red,” a trend that Eiseman said reflected a blending of the world’s cultures as well as Bono’s widespread (RED) initiative.
– Michael Hines
Painting pointers
Ben Rosenfield wasn’t too fired up about the vibe in his West Loop loft when he bought it two years ago.
With white walls that stretched as high as 22 feet in some places, his west-facing pad felt more like a blank canvas than a domestic masterpiece.
As the 27-year-old commercial real estate broker put it: “It was desperate for color.”
Rosenfield saw potential, but he was “clueless” about where to begin, so he turned to Michelle Quaranta, owner of Bucktown paint store Colori.
Rosenfield was typical of Colori’s customers, Quaranta said.
“They need a little bit of help and direction,” she said. “They just want to make sure what they’re doing is OK.”
Rosenfield’s living area now roars shades of red and green. The bathroom sparkles turquoise and tan. Even the heating ducts are painted to match the concrete ceiling.
“It went from stale to real comfortable,” he said. “It changed the whole atmosphere of my place.”
RedEye asked Quaranta to clear up some of the fears and misconceptions that often stump her customers. Here’s what she told us.
Dark paint colors alone do not make a room feel smaller. In fact, they can make a space cozy, elegant, even dramatic. When used with lighter colors, darks might create the sensation of a smaller room, but the most important factor is to have adequate lighting.
Yellow is not necessarily the best gender-neutral color for babies’ rooms. The right shade of blue can work in a girl’s room, and oranges and greens also are OK for either gender.
Red should be avoided in bedrooms. Though everyone responds differently to color, red, in general, is stimulating and can extend the time it takes someone to fall asleep.
Go ahead: Paint the ceiling! A good rule of thumb is to go a shade or two lighter than the walls, or paint it something dramatic, like a metallic hue.
– Michael Hines
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Color quiz
Color perceptions can’t be described in black and white. One person’s electric blue fantasy might be another’s nauseating childhood memory of a cotton candy overdose. With that in mind, RedEye tabbed Bucktown paint store owner Michelle Quaranta, national color consultant Leatrice Eiseman, Lakeview feng shui consultant Pam Kai Tollefson and Chicago restaurateur Jerry Kleiner for a little color association exercise.
Why is the dressing room for talk show guests called the green room?
Quaranta: So the guest will get used to being in the limelight.
Eiseman: The original concept was that green was found to have a relaxing effect on people, particularly performers.
Tollefson: Even if you are feeling a bit “green around the gills,” it won’t show in the green room.
Kleiner: Once you’re done with all that thick makeup that you put on everybody, all you see is green.
Describe Tom Cruise’s career using a color.
Quaranta: Major Tom by C2 Paint.
Eiseman: He’s into mystical scientology, which is attached to purple, so I think I would make it a red-purple.
Tollefson: Brown. It’s earthy, solid and stable, but not particularly exciting.
Kleiner: Blue. It’s like riding a wave. It’s got its ups and downs.
If green means go and red means stop, what does purple mean?
Quaranta: Only royalty may proceed.
Eiseman: Purple is mystical and thoughtful. It means you’ve got to think about it a little bit.
Tollefson: “Beam me up, Scotty.” Purple is part of the higher crown chakra colors. It is associated with the third eye and spirituality.
Kleiner: Purple means spring is in the air and change is in the air.
The RedEye office walls are painted red. What does that say about our work environment?
Quaranta: It’s passionate and exciting.
Eiseman: I applaud anybody who is brave enough to use that bright of a color. You’re a pretty vibrant group of people.
Tollefson: The place is on fire and full of energetic people who can be angry at times. Red is the color for fame and recognition.
Kleiner: The employees are overworked, underpaid, and they blend into the environment with their bloodshot eyes.
What color makes you happiest?
Quaranta: Mikonos by C2 Paint — an island on my “bucket list.”
Eiseman: The very warm custardy yellows. Yellow is the color most associated with sun. I live in Seattle, and we’re always looking for sunshine.
Tollefson: White. White is the color of inspiration and creativity.
Kleiner: Pink. It looks great and it makes you feel good. You walk into a pink room and you’ll be happy.
– Michael Hines
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MICHAEL HINES IS A REDEYE SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR
