“Green grass grows where dry desert ends”. Og Mandingo
“You are either green and growing, or ripe and rotting”.
Frosty Westering
Green is all about ambiguity. Green is the “Janus,”two-faced color both embraced and reviled for its chameleon nature. One could say green suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder! It’s not just that its meaning has morphed over time and cultures, as have other colors, rather it has always represented opposite meanings simultaneously wherever it existed. As Kermit, the Frog quipped: “It’s not easy being green.”
Still, green is the second most popular color worldwide, behind blue. Green is the color of nature and, unless you live in a desert, it is the constant backdrop of daily life. With abundant sources of green in nature, it would seem to be a simple task to create a natural pigment*or dye** for art and textiles. But green was notoriously difficult to capture and produce. Ironically, the color of nature, health, fertility and life became the most poisonous and deadly in the quest to reproduce it for human uses.
At first, ancient civilizations (from the Indus Valley, Mesopotamia, China, Greeks and Romans, to Pre-Columbian and Native Americans) used natural sources to create green. Where available, malachite was finely ground and mixed with water to be used in paintings and decorative items. Also used were copper compounds acidified using vinegar to produce verdigris. Other more plant based sources often combined blue from indigo or woad, with yellow from tumeric or weld, to produce plant based greens. These were less successful as they had a tendency to fade and darken over time. However produced, green had both positive and negative associations. For example green was associated with fertility, growth, health, vitality, abundance and prosperity but, at the same time in all cultures and across time, green also symbolized decay, rot, disorder and death. It also represented jealousy, greed and sickness. From its beginning, green embodied a dual nature that has never disappeared.
It didn’t help that when green was finally “domesticated” by chemistry and synthetic dyes, it was through the use of a highly poisonous agent — arsenic! Synthetic dyes were accidentally discovered in 1814 by William Perkin(see Yellow blog), but the patent for arsenic based “Emerald Green (a.k.a “Paris Green”), was filed by Frederich Wilhelm von Homburg. Though the dangers of arsenic were well known, demand for a variety of stable greens was so great that the deadly aspect was willfully ignored by its inventor, the producers, sellers and the public! The pigments and dyes were infused into paints, wallpapers, fabrics and clothing and eagerly consumed. After untold thousands of illnesses and deaths (even Napoleon’s death has been attributed to the poisonous fumes from his green wallpaper), it was finally removed from production.
Greens today are made without toxic chemicals and seek to be environmentally responsible. Digital printing applies ink directly to fabric, avoiding both large vat dying and the use of toxic mordants to set the color. Even more fascinating is the emerging use of bacteria and yeast to produce vibrant greens and other colors. Because of advancements in science, chemistry and technology, there are approximately 120 variations of green in the Pantone Color System — blue has only about 80.
To keep your Purely Personal Style fresh and growing, here are a few tips to consider:
YOUR SKIN AND HAIR: Red hair or hair with red highlights do well with greens. Skin with cool undertones generally do well with bright, strong greens. The more subdued olive, sage, or forest green spectrum of greens work with warm skin undertones.
FORMAL: Intense Emerald or deep Forest Green hues can be especially sophisticated in velvet, satin or silk fabrics.
CASUAL: Mint, lime or pistachio express a fun, playful and lighthearted attitude.
MIX and MATCH: Pair green with neutrals like white/ivory, black, gray or beige. Or borrow from green’s neighbor on the color wheel, blue, and layer tones and tints.
GO BOLD: Red is opposite of green on the color wheel and when combined they make a strong impact. Experiment with shades of red like burgundy, coral or a lighter tint of pink.
ACCESSORIZE: Gold or bronze enhance and add warmth to deep greens, while silver accents the cooler hues of green. Or, use green as an accessory— bag, shoes or scarf. As always, combining textures of knits, silk, leather and suede add interest.
* Pigments are finely ground insoluble particles that are suspended in a medium (like paint, ink or cosmetics) They are resistant to fading.
**Dyes are soluble and penetrate fibers and materials using chemical bonding agents.
(mordants).They are vibrant but susceptible to fading. Different dyes and materials require many different processes. It is a complex science that requires chemists to be dyers and dyers to be chemists.
