Listen to me for a Secondary

HAPPY HALLOWEEN my ghouly, witchy, batty friends! I hope that your day is full of candy eating, spooky sighting, and letting go of any inhibitions and just going crazy (in the area of costumes…not in anything else. Don’t get too wild my children). Sadly I am not able to partake in any celebrations, as I have to go to class at the wretched time of 7-9:30 pm. It’s just dreadful. However, as I like to think of myself as a rather optimistic person–despite a certain cynicism that I can't seem to shake off–I thought that I could use this opportunity to my advantage and teach you all a lesson. This is not one of those “teach you lesson” things like when the bully on the playground teaches the scared kindergarteners a lesson by taking their lunch money and tying their shoelaces together. No, I want to actually teach you something because I find it fascinating. You see, the class I have tonight is called “Color and Design for Fashion”. In this class we learn all about the theory of color and what color is and what different color combinations are and pretty much everything about color. It is a lot more complicated than you would think. However, it is incredibly relevant because whether or not you are aware of it, color is all around us and has a profound impact on our lives. You’ve probably had an experience where you saw a color and it made you feel something. Like peaceful when you see a light blue, or happy when you see a bright yellow. There are individual colors, but then when you combine these colors a whole new world arises. Different color combinations mean different things. For example, when you see green and red together, most of us think of Christmas. Why do we think of Christmas? It’s a little silly really. It’s just two colors. A combination of two pigments. Nothing complicated. It’s not like they are images of the birth of Christ. Nevertheless, we see these colors and all of a sudden “Jingle Bells” is ringing in our heads.

Another example, today, Halloween, you may notice a large amount of orange, green, and purple together. Such as these Halloween m&m's

Or this little girl's Halloween witch costume

These could be strongly saturated (very vibrant, like they came straight off of the color wheel), they could be muted (more earthy tones), or they could be desaturated (darker or lighter by the addition of white or black). This color combination is called the “secondary color triad”. This is simply because it is a triad (three) made up of the secondary colors on the color wheel. 

Secondary colors are made when mixing two primary colors. Orange= red + yellow, Purple= blue + red, Green= blue + yellow. WOW! It’s like math! This is so exciting!

I’m not quite sure when or why or how these colors became associated with Halloween and fall time, however I do have a theory. Two actually. One, because these colors seem quite witchish. Orange for their wrinkled, old skin. Green for the toads they use in their spells.  Purple for their magical cloaks and the vapors that come off of their potions. Just watch Hocus Pocus and it will all become clear.

There is another reason though, as to why we these colors come into style every October-November. When I see these colors I automatically think of fall. That's because in autumn these secondary colors occur in nature. They may not appear exactly as they do on the color wheel, but instead we see them in muted forms. 

Orange is the color of pumpkins, falling leaves, the ground after the grass has begun to die, and most importantly, the color of pumpkin pie.

Green is the color of the leaves as they are changing, it isn't the vibrant green of spring but a duller green, a green that is beginning to turn brown. It is the color of green apples, the kind that make amazing apple pies.

Purple is the color of thistles, one of the only flowers that stay blooming through fall. Not to mention the purple foods that we eat at this time such as aubergines (eggplant), purple potatoes and red cabbage, at least I eat a lot of those foods at this time. And of course red pears! Which can be made into pie!

So essentially, these colors are the colors of PIE! and we eat pie in the fall and therefore these colors are fall colors.

Have a Happy Halloween

In honor of the day, I am wearing an outfit of secondary colors (pumpkin not included)
Green Sweater from Anthropologie
Shorts from Calvin Klein
Purple tights from Target
Orangish brown suede booties from Clarks

xoxo

Justice

Let the Witching Hour Commence

As October comes to an end it is time we turn our minds towards more celebratory things. Such as dressing up in costume, getting scared out of our minds, scaring others out of their minds, and eating enough candy to send ourselves into diabetic comas. YAY for Halloween! But what is the true meaning of Halloween? Is it teaching children to take candy from strangers? Or is it that dressing as a naughty anything, be it pirate, nurse, or astronaut, is not slutty on the 31st of October, even though it is on every other day? Sadly no. Halloween is much deeper than the depths of your candy basket and is a much older tradition than the group costumes that you and your buddies put on every year. "Halloween" is actually a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening" or "All Hallows' Eve" (because in Scots, the germanic language of lowland Scotland, the word "eve" is "even" and is contracted to "e'en" "All Hallows Even" soon turned into "Halloween"). While it may surprise you due to the number of wicked things we see on the night–witches, vampires, Miley Cyrus impersonators, etc.– this holiday actually began as a Holy day. It initiates the "triduum of Hallowmas", big words, I know, which is the time of the year dedicated to remembering the dead. That's right. It actually started as a Christian holiday, a great big feast to remember those people whom we loved and are now gone. What on earth does this have to do with the tomfoolery that we get up to now? I'm not sure. I think somewhere along the line the message of this day got a little confused. This probably has something to do with a communication error. Somehow or other "pray for the dead" got confused with "dress up and go crazy"...Well, anyway, some of what we do today has roots in the past. Trick-or-treating, for one, began in Scotland and Ireland with "guising", when children disguised in costume would go from door to door for food or coins on All Hallows Eve. When this turned into the giant candy gathering contest that it is today, I don't know. 
Another tradition that has survived over the ages comes in the form of hunched over old ladies with warts on their noses. Any guesses? 

That's right!! WITCHES!
Halloween was believed to be the day that spirits traveled the earth, and as spirits=dead people and dead people=scary, scary=witches and so it is follows that Halloween=witches. Logic. Based on this logical thinking, barns and homes would be blessed by priests to protect people and livestock from the evil effect of witches. Judging by the amount of pointy black hats I see in store windows, I would say that witches are just as prevalent for Halloween 2013 as they were for Halloween 1692. 
Let's take a quick look at some important witches for whom we can gain knowledge and costume inspiration. (disclaimer: this is a list of witches from mythology and literature. I am not claiming that these women are or were real. I am also not claiming that these are the most important ones, they are just the ones that I know and want to talk about)

Morgan le Fay
A powerful sorceress in the Arthurian legend. She uses her power of seduction to entrap her prey and attempt to overthrow her step-brother Arthur–talk about a dysfunctional family relationship. 

Morgan Le Fey by Anthony Frederick Sandys (1864)

Circe

From Homer's Odyssey. While she may seem perfectly normal and lovable, avoid eating anything she offers you or you may find yourself turned into a lion or a pig, doomed to spend eternity wandering around her mansion. 

Circe changing the companions of Ulysses into animals, an English mural from 1580

Abigail Williams

and all others associated with the Salem Witch trials. While Abigail may not have been guilty of casting spells, she was most certainly guilty of being a right tart, a young 

seductress, and a manipulating bully, characteristics of another kind of witch altogether. For more information on this subject, read or watch The Crucible. 

Winona Ryder as Abigail Williams

The White Witch

One of my particular favorites, capable of making it always winter and never Christmas, this woman is most certainly evil. 

Illustration from C. S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

The Wicked Witch of West

Terrifyingly green, beware of this woman, especially if you are a young girl from Kansas and wearing red slippers. But don't worry, if you have a bucket of water near by, you'll be fine.

Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz

Hermione Granger

Wickedly intelligent, scarily talented, and green in the world of magic, being born to a muggle family, this little smarty pants gives a good name to witches everywhere. Not to mention she is just too cute.

Emma Watson in the first Harry Potter

I could go on for days. But I don't have time for that. I just want you all to see how incredibly prevalent witches are. They are jumping out of books, prancing across screens, whirling on stages, glaring from paintings. They are everywhere. So while getting ready for you wild party this Thursday, or whenever you are choosing to celebrate Halloween this year, please don't forget these important members of Halloween history. While it may seem cliché, a good ol' witch costume never goes out of style. 

Now to the spooking and candy eating!

xoxo

Justice