On Tuesday I had the nicest compliment: a co-worker, a well-dressed young guy from India whose graceful manners make him a constant pleasure to work with, said, "I like your colors today. You have a very good dress sense."
(I was wearing a red skirt suit, a red-and-purple striped top, and purple tights. I mean, there were only two colors, but there was a lot of each of them. The compliment was, therefore, sort of surprising and deeply gratifying. Because I meant that outfit, but I'll admit it was eye-bending.)
Over the past several months my closet has become like a box of Crayolas.

Purple and yellow (aka fuck you, subtlety)
I've taken a "strict compliance" approach to Dressing Your Truth (because "strict" is generally a good descriptor for Type 4),

Sulfur and houndstooth--one of my few available prints and patterns to break up the huge color-blocks
and once I accepted the limitations on color1, texture2, design line3, and fabrication4, it's been amazing how brilliantly everything works together.

Apparently I like orange now
So yeah, nice outfits and all, but it's more than that, and there's a whole community of DYT-ers (mostly on Facebook) constantly trying to figure out and express what that "more" is.

Trenchant
For me, it's...
- bending "rules" of workplace, social milieu, city--even gender a little bit--to express something true about myself
- taking bits of style inspiration from across the Type 4 spectrum, from Adam Lambert to Anne Hathaway
- saying fuck you to age-based (and weight-based!) restrictions on clothes, hair and makeup
- feeling like it's okay to show myself to the world
- not being shocked to see a photograph of myself
- telegraphing clearly to the world what it can expect of me5

Accessories
Also? Packing for my next trip, whenever that might be, is going to be a breeze.

Waterproof
1. Black and white plus pure hues↩
2. Smooth--even shiny--firm and crisp.↩
3. Bold, straight, simple, clean, fitted↩
4. Structured, shaped, tailored ↩
5. Still, reflective, discriminating, demanding, logical, bold, and don't hug me, okay? So, basically, a Vulcan in really saturated colors.↩
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, where there are
Comments
How soon are you heading off on your new adventure? Can't wait to hear more about it!
Orange goes extremely well with dark chocolate brown. (Hermès colours!)