After 29 full years of life on planet earth, a few months ago, I finally started wearing the color yellow. Why have I deprived myself of the happiest color for so long? Well, the answer is silly. It’s not because I’m so committed to wearing all-black like a chic New Yorker, or because I’m averse to the color in any way. The reason I never wore yellow is that… pause for really dramatic impact… my hair is yellow.
I’m aware this makes little sense, but regardless, I always felt my blonde hair paired with a yellow ensemble was just too matchy-matchy. When I was an editor at Teen Vogue, my co-worker and I used to write stories about how the color was “so hard to pull off” every time a celebrity would wear it. I would commend them, and move on with my day never once reaching for a brightly colored look myself.
That was until summer 2019—better known as “hot girl summer”—where everyone on my Instagram feed is embracing their best selves, no matter what they’re wearing or doing. Truthfully, though, it started in Hawaii when I picked up a cute yellow crop-top at a shop in Honolulu—the carefree sunkissed life drew me to the attention-grabbing hue, and, well, I’ve never looked back.
Then, I found a great sustainable brand called Lilt that made stretch corset style tops that I really wanted to try. Sure enough, the color I went for was marigold.
While I was at it, I figured why stop at ready-to-wear, let’s go for accessories, too. So, I tried yellow lucite hoops and yellow-lensed sunglasses on for size.
The verdict of my deep dive into a mellow-yellow lifestyle is that there is no hard thing to pull off, just the confidence to wear it. Standing out in a bright color may not be my thing all the time, but as I get older, I just keep caring less. One person’s style go-to is another one’s greatest fear and I can officially say, I’ve conquered mine.
Here are some of my favorite yellow pieces to shop now.
