Just because you are colorblind doesn’t mean you should always stick to all-black fashion or use it as an excuse to be a bad dresser.
WHY BUYING CLOTHES IS FRUSTRATING FOR THE COLORBLIND
Shopping for clothing is one of the more problematic experiences for colorblind people. Naming color comes very naturally to most normal vision people and doesn’t require a lot of thought or effort. You take a look and you know what color it is. Sure, a shade of a color can sometimes require a small moment of contemplation. But you can tell: if it’s definitely blue, not purple.
Colorblind people however are not that good at naming colors or let's say distinguishing colors. Colors tend to lie closer to each other because of their narrowed color spectrum. That’s an issue because anyone shopping for clothing – online or in a store – has to decide on two very basic things. First: what color is this item? And second: does it look good with my other clothing?
I once had to ask an old lady whether the shoes I wanted were red or pink. They were pink which explained why they were marked down 80% OFF in the men's section.
Occasionally. I have a couple pairs of pants that are apparently green (I thought they were brown until someone told me) and I get the feeling that they don't go well with some of my clothes.
MANY COLORBLIND PEOPLE FEEL HELPLESS
I'm colorblind myself and I know all the unpleasant moments related to buying clothes: trying to understand the color, having to ask someone else in the store for some help. But frankly speaking, I was still shocked to see some of the responses, because it didn't cross my mind how much it affects our social life. We either have to stick to the ‘save’ boring white/grey/black or just constantly have to ask others for help. Let me share some of the comments with you, so you can see how much helpless people feel about this problem:
PEOPLE COMMENTS:
I just learned from an early age that sometimes people will think that what I'm wearing is silly, I just live with that.
When I was a kid, My mom always matched my clothes for me and now my wife is doing the same, so I'm sure I will not go wrong with matching outfits even sometimes I'm not sure that I'm wearing green or brown!
I just stick to safe colors and most of the time wearing black, grey, blue and white.
Marry someone with good color vision.
Color is a powerful form of communication and plays a vital role in our everyday life. As a colorblind person, you probably don't care about other people's color matching abilities, but for people with the normal vision, it does matter! If you have a very stylish girlfriend or wife, who always dresses up in bright colors, at times you find yourself doubting your style. Or maybe you will simply wish you were more stylish when you go out with your partner.
An OfficeTeam survey revealed that 80% of executives believe an employee’s clothing choices affect their chances of promotion. Even if you have your own business your appearance can definitely affect your sales. People trust others who dressed well.
So if you still have doubts about whether dressing well is important, ask your close friends today who they think will dress ‘stylish” among all your friends. I bet they will say the name of the person who experiments with colors.
FEW SUGGESTIONS TO HELP YOU BUY AND MATCH YOUR OUTFITS:
If you are comfortable with black and gray colors I would advise you to go ahead with these Neutrals. NEUTRALS - are black, white grey, navy or dark blue, and brown. These colors can be matched with any color in the world (red, green, blue, purple, orange, yellow, etc.)
Play with the shades. Same color, different shades. This is when you dress almost entirely in a single color. It can be a light blue T-shirt and jeans, or it can be all white or all brown. Light grey with a dark grey. What we are good at, is definitely shades, my friends.
If you wear suits, when you organize your wardrobe, you can attach each suit to the shirts that go well with that particular suit. Of course, this would mean that one shirt goes only with one suit, but if you are willing to put in effort, it will be worth your time.
JEANS - you can wear pretty much anything with a pair of jeans. Seriously any color! If you are out in the store, grab any t-shirt you like, it will match your jeans, no problem.
When you go shopping, bring someone with you, of course again, someone who is good with color matching. As a joke, we can say some people are more colorblind than we are.
CONCLUSION:
Mapping colors to your clothes is as much science as it is an art. You have to get a feeling of how the color actually looks. Asking for help: maybe it makes you feel helpless while people often give you a confused look as if you were joking.
A simple solution might be using mobile applications on your smartphone which can tell you the name of the color you are pointing to. And you can always sign up for the Colorblind Guide course where I teach colorblind people about color combination/matching and color schemes.
Right now we hope to get brands to follow the advice of the people and add a mark for each cloth on the label with the name of the color. This simple solution can help more than 300 million colorblind people all around the world.
Watch this video provided by COLORWILL, the world's first standard training system for colorblind people.
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Are There Currently Any Treatments for Color Blindness?
There are no preventative treatments as it's genetic. However colored filters, spectacles, and contact lenses have been introduced that can alter someone's color perception. They might allow the wearer to see a few more colors or colors nearer to how a person with normal color vision would see them, but it doesn't really solve the issue. Color blindness affects so many aspects of our life. You can learn some tips & tricks at this online training course designed for colorblind people. Click on the links below:
A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FOR PARENTS/CHILDREN k-12 Click Here
TIPS & TRICKS FOR TIPS & TRICKS +12 Click Here
COURSE FOR THE DESIGNERS & ARTISTS Click Here COURSE FOR THE CREATIVE Click Here
