Wednesday, December 09, 2015

Distressing Color(s)

The last NEW Distress color was introduced: Candied Apple!
Tim Holtz Distress November 

It's a lovely color from what I can divine over an internet connection. I can't really see much difference between this and Festive Berries (which is one of my favorite Distress colors...more later). Tim Holtz says it is more a true red. Hmm. Not sure. I think if this is a "better" version of Barn Door with less orange notes, I'll be using this red rather than that one. Overall, I don't need a lot of shades of red. It's just not a color I use very often.

So how did my predictions come out? Well, just like I predicted in my last Distress post...it's even. I did not predict another red, who needs it? But I haven't seen it in person and I think it's one of THOSE colors; a color you don't appreciate until you have it in your hands.
So the final tally:
Ranger: 5 (Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch, Ground Espresso, Lucky Clover, Candied Apple)
Wyvern: 5 (Fossilized Amber, Twisted Citron, Hickory Smoke, Wilted Violet, Carved Pumpkin)
Now here's a nice visual:
CA-Distress-New-Colors-Poster
WARNING: The following is a rant. I just need to get it out of my system. It is only my opinion.

More big news in the color world is the announcement of the Pantone Color of the Year: 2016. They picked two and I've seen a lot of posts and info on how it's very "baby like". The Color(s) of 2016 are Rose Quartz and Serenity.
 Lee_Eisemann Pantone Color of the Year 2016 ROSE QUARTZ & SERENITY
 As well as the above, Pantone is making a statement on gender equality, supposedly.

If we really want to make a statement on gender equality, how about we stop labeling "pink" for girls and "blue" for boys? How about Barbie being packaged in a green box rather than the eye-aching pink? How about some Transformers in pastel shades? Why can't Iron Man be in hot pink/silver armor and Tony Stark sport a pink tie and shoes? WHY is everything in the toy aisle PINK for GIRLS?!

How can you not see it when you walk into any toy store...you can see the toys for girls a mile away. It's the Pink Aisle and there are usually a couple of them. Have you seen the Legos for Girls? They are pink and light pastel shades...as if girls can't play with the red, blue, and green ones they make for everyone (read: boys). I always thought of Legos as a non-gender specific toy...until they came out with these different colored ones. Don't misunderstand my rant: I think Legos are GREAT for everyone...but why are the "pink" Legos marketed with the "friends" line and the "elves" line? Why aren't there pink Legos to build starships and cars? Granted you can make anything you want with Legos but they aren't MARKETED that way. Why is that?

Why do we still say girls play with "dolls" and boys play with "action figures"? They are pretty much the same thing, right? Boys make up stories for their action figures to play in just as girls do for their dolls. Think about Toy Donations around this time of year. A lot of my local "giving trees" ask you to pick a tag for an age range and a gender, like a 9-12 year old boy. Why can't we just pick an age range? Why is it still odd if a boy plays with a baby doll? Why are girls that play video games...weird? What difference should it be if the child is a boy or a girl? That is gender equality...when it just doesn't make a difference to ANYBODY if you're a male or a female...and that isn't happening...not even close.

Nice try, Pantone. But I highly doubt that one of the most stereotypical industries in the world will be swayed by a mere color statement. The fashion industry is not just about skinny, tall, beautiful women made up like dolls to sell designer, over priced clothing, but also about making young girls feel like that is the WAY WOMEN SHOULD BE. F*** THAT! The fashion industry glorifies an unattainable fantasy and clobbers women with it everyday. Why can't I feel good about going out in "public" in clothes that are comfortable and perhaps, out of "style"? Why do I feel that I can't go to a store in my sweatpants that are good enough for me to wear all day around the house when no one will see me? Why do I "think" wearing sweatpants in public means that I'm on welfare, have given up on life, or am just plain lazy? Because the fashion industry needs me to buy "real" clothes and designer brands and feed starving models. So they market to my fears; if you don't look like this or wear things like this, you're not cool, you're not in, you're not valuable. So F You!

Rant over.
But I might add that the Fashion Industry and Pantone are not all at fault. Women need to stop judging each other on these superficial imaginary qualities. Clothes should make you feel good and that doesn't necessarily translate to "pretty".

--Wy
"Sometimes the clothes do not make the man. Freedom!"  ---George Micheal, "Freedom '90"

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