“Women think of all the colors except the absence of color. I have said that black has it all. White, too. Their beauty is absolute. It is perfect harmony.” Coco Chanel
We live in a color filled world. There are currently over 2,000 colors identified in the Pantone Matching System. So it is interesting that white and black are two of the most popular, enduring and impactful of all the color choices. Black and white are opposites, yin and yang, push and pull to one another. Though they are both rooted in Egyptian antiquity, over time these two opposites have exchanged their cultural significance and contextual meanings.
The Egyptians called their white linen “woven moonlight” and ever since white has been associated with (sun) light, the Divine, purity and innocence. For the same Egyptians, the rich black mud of the Nile imbued black with the symbolism of fertility and wealth, but also with death. This interplay between life, death, fertility and innocence is the genesis of the dual nature expressed by black and white.
Thierry Mugler: Couturissime”, a retrospective exhibition that has been traveling internationally (shown in Montreal, Paris, Munich, Brooklyn, and other cities). The exhibition showcases Mugler’s haute couture from the 1970s through the 2000s, highlighting his dramatic silhouettes, sculptural tailoring, and futuristic visions.
As Western civilizations matured and developed from the Medieval, to the Renaissance, on to the Industrial Revolution and to our contemporary time, black and white continued to hold their original symbolic meanings but with subtle shifts. The connection of black with fertility and richness came to be associated with sin and death, while white’s association with purity was raised to a virtue. Thus black and white were in tension one to the other and used to express moral lessons of good vs evil in medieval Europe. Ironically, both black and white represented power, wealth and exclusivity. White was expensive to maintain and therefore only aristocrats, who did not work and who employed maids to keep the fabric clean, could afford to wear white clothing. Black dye was notoriously unstable and difficult to produce and therefore expensive. The expense elevated black as a representation of wealth and power during the Renaissance. In a rather weird twist, the clergy wore black as a sign of their worldly power and authority even as black still retained its association with sin. Black therefore also represented the afterlife as did white. But black promised a darker eternity in hell as a consequence of worldly sin, which only the clergy could mitigate! Both black and white found equally high status. That status was democratized by the Industrial Revolution and the discovery of synthetic dyes (read about the Yellow color) and the development of easy care fabrics.
In 1920 Coco Chanel introduced her “little black dress” and black instantly became the epitome of elegance and sophistication. Suddenly black was not just somber but chic. Black and white reached a parity. Each expressed authority, credulity and confidence. Today both black and white are used as a blank canvass for self expression.
Worn alone each can be rather stark and difficult to wear. Either will be enhanced when any of the 2,000 identified colors are added as accents or balance. The paradox is that the pairing of black and white are two of the most iconic and powerful color combinations. The combination never loses its “perfect harmony.”
Use this combination of “perfect harmony” to enhance your Purely Personal style and “have it all!”
