Green-eyed monster

For a long time in my childhood, green was the main colour featuring on my clothes. I think my parents liked the contrast with my fiery red hair, or maybe they just liked green. But then, at some point in the paranoia of my early teens, I was informed by some friends that my eyes were not green, as I had believed for my whole life, but in fact light brown. I was devestated. It felt like an integral part of my identity had been ripped out and deformed by careless hands.

And it was then that I stopped wearing green or brown. I decided that these two colours only made my eyes and hair murkier in shade, in comparison to the true vividity of a brown or green item of clothing. For the majority of my fashion-interested life, I did not allow a single new piece into my wardrobe of these two forbidden hues.

Brown, being the useful colour that it is, has slowly begin to creep its way into my outfits via shoes, bags or belts; any item which is not going to be sitting next to my hair. Green remained outlawed, unless it was part of a floral pattern on a dress or top, where it can rarely be avoided. But recently I have received a couple of beautiful gifts incorporating this shunned shade and realised that maybe, just maybe, it's not too bad.

Maybe it's helped that I don't care quite as much if somebody doesn't realise that my eyes are green. Maybe it's because I like the environmentally-friendly symbolism. Maybe it's because I've got a little bit older... I've even started to enjoy green tea!