'He watched these through the glass; the sky here was so different, he thought, from that other sky under which he had grown up. This one was constantly changing, was washed out; at times covered with curtains of rain, at times made of an attenuated blue that was gentle, like the surface of a milky sea; the sky of his boyhood had been high, and wide, empty and intensely blue, like lapis lazuli; filled with light, too; a great theatre for the sun.'
Alexander McCall-Smith, The Unbearable Lightness of Scones
It's no secret that i'm a bit of a fan of colour. But when it comes to talking about my favourite colours, there i can be a little stumped. My default answer used to be red, as back in my days of slavishly following 1930s fashion I used to wear a lot of red, but now I think that i've grown past it. I still love red - potent fire engine red, seductive crimsons, cheeky cherries - but i don't wear it that much anymore and I think i'm warming to some other colours. Green, purple, pink - all lovely in pastels and brights. Mint green especially is a favourite of mine. But when I really think about my favourite colour, and what I've started to tell people when they ask, is orange. Orange and Blue.
I've always loved orange, much maligned as it is. From the pinkest of corals right to when it burns and becomes darker, orange has been a colour that has pervaded my life. It's my father's favourite colour, he has about 20 orange shirts that are in constant rotation. It's the colour of my first party frock, a spotty frilly little thing worn to the first birthday party i ever attended (aged 1 and totally wicked, of course). And recently, after a brief hiatus, i've gotten right back into my love of orange. It's a powerful colour, my favourite shade is that smoky burnt orange that reminds me so much of the rugged australian landscape. Burnt orange is just... remarkable. It's more fascinating than a red, it is so earthy and sensual.
the opera house turned orange in sydney's 'apocalypse now' dust storm
Complain as i might about Australia, i do think there is an overwhelming amount of raw, natural beauty to be found in our country. Like burnt orange, a colour that is undeniably a strong part of us. It's in the sand, the earth, the rocks, the landmarks. It's streaked across faces and flung through the air. It's the colour of hard work and 'toil'. The colour of the bushfires that ravage our countryside. The colour of our harsh, unforgiving sun. I remember waking up in the middle of the year to find the city covered in orange dust. It had swept in from the central Australia on powerful winds and engulfed Sydney, turning everything orange. Despite my initial thoughts (i honestly believed that the sky had exploded or that there was a huge fire) the dust storm was actually rather beautiful. the city went quiet, there were hardly any people on the streets. there was no noise. i suppose dust storms are our snow storms - people retreat inside to let nature rage in all its glory.
Similarly, blue can claim a place in my heart because of its ties to thing that I love about Australia - the beach, the sky, the water, the freedom. Water, dark and deep, stretching out to a horizon, flawless and neverending, is one of my favourite sights in the whole world. You know that bit in Pirates of a Carribbean, when Captain Jack Sparrow explains the allure of ships and sailing? 'Not just the spanish Main, luv. The entire ocean. The entire world. Wherever we want to go, we'll go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs. But what a ship is... What the black pearl really is... is freedom.' Perhaps I was a Pirate in another life, but that sight of water, and sky and overpowering, infinite blue makes my heart soar.
Australian desert - flickr
Together blue and orange represent Australia more potently than green and gold, i think. Blue and Orange is what we are, desert and water and sky and land. Sure, blue could be any country's, but that same kind of blue. Not the flawless, sparkling blue of Australian water. Not that mighty azure blue of our sky that really is so different to that which stretches across other parts of the world. Although it may rain, it may pour, it may fog over occasionally, it always treats us at the end with a rainbow as if to say sorry for some indiscretion.
That's why i love orange and blue, because they are a great combination together. Like desert and sky, or sand and water, they go together perfectly. They balance out. The brightest of sherbert oranges looks amazing with a pastel blue dress, and burnt orange is striking against the darker teal shades. Coral goes perfectly with royal blue. At the beginning of this post I quoted from Alexander McCall-Smith, in his latest novel an Australian character reminisces about his past childhood where the sky was 'a great theatre for the sun'. I think that blue is a great theatre for orange, and vice versa. They bring out the best in each other - Orange's rich tonal varieties appear to their most potent when contrasted against blue and all her depth.
my friend and i at the beginning of this year - summer staples in summer colours.You may not remember, but wayyy back in march of this year I made a couple of purchases. It was these two things - a Richard Nicoll shirt dress in the most captivating of murky blues and a Mad Cortes bright orange silk shirt that set the tone for my wardrobe until about July. I had sort of forgotten about them until now, let these two great pieces that I wore in constant rotation, together, back then be lost. But when looking for clothes to take to New York I found them again, and am deeply back in love. It's like at the end of the Sex and the City movie when Miranda asks 'why did we ever stop drinking these?'. I don't know why I ever stopped wearing it, but i know such an oversight is never going to happen again.
And though it may not be boardshorts and a bonds singlet, or it may not be green and gold, i feel very Australian in this outfit. I might even wear it to Australia Day! Now that's a thought... Right now, though, all i can think about is this gorgeous yves saint laurent ring. It's a similar vein to the turquoise one we all fawned over last year, but slightly more. It's organic - i love the way the gold claws over the stone. And the colour of that burnt orange... My heart sings.
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