Mustard Yellow Is Pretty Great (Despite Its Name)

A Lesson In Finding Your Style

Photo by Cedric Stout in Cafe Baires

(If you want to skip the talk and go straight to shop)

Sweater
Belt
Jeans
Earrings
Shoes
Lip Color

As a kid, I despised this color.

It made me think of dusty houses and old ladies, for some reason. Combined with my mom’s inexplicable taste for this color, more specifically on me, I went out of my way to avoid any article of clothing with the dreaded MUSTARD YELLOW. The name is not delectable.

Then came college, and I once went shopping with my ex-boyfriend. We stopped in Banana Republic where I tried on a mustard yellow cardigan at his insistence, because ‘I’ve never seen you in this color.’ I begrudgingly nodded at myself in the warped mirror (why are dressing room mirrors designed to make you look your worst) and said, “not bad.” And promptly put the cardigan back on the rack.

I distinctly remember when I finally gave into the call of Mustard Yellow.

I was on set for a commercial. The stylist had brought in rows and rows of sweaters, all in varying colors, and had me try on a hundred outfits. The director settled on this yellow sweater. Oh for heavens’ sake, I thought, mentally throwing my hands in the air while I changed back into my own clothes. Of all the colors, they picked this one. Mustard Yellow was creeping up on me, and this time, I could not escape.

After two days of shooting, and seeing the gorgeous footage on the monitors, I was struck by this sweater. It was just so sophisticated. The color was both vivid and soft, eye-catching and pleasant. Worst of all, it looked great on me.

Here is a lesson in style.

If you want to know how something looks, you must try it on.

This is a lesson that I have avoided learning for as long as I could help it. Why? Because I hate trying clothes on. It’s an odd characteristic for a professional model. I love wearing clothes, I love styling clothes, and I love seeing new styles on me. But the actual act of pulling on clothes and getting prodded and tucked and buttoned… it’s equal to getting my eyelashes curled by a makeup artist.

Anyway, the most important thing to discovering your own style is to try it on. How it suits your skin tone, your hair color, and the way it brings out your eyes, all things that elevate a look from good to perfect for you, cannot be known until you actually wear the piece.

Don’t let a silly distaste for something prevent you from at least trying it.

Full disclosure: This is still the only mustard yellow piece I own.

That is a temporary fact of my life.