# What color clothes do you buy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028 "2020-03-22T13:46:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/61 "2020-03-26T02:29:14Z")
About a third of my tshirts are trade show freebies, and most of them are black. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/62 "2020-03-26T02:51:00Z")
I have more **purple** shirts and \*\*purple \*\*ties than anything else, other than white-based or pinstriped/checked dress shirts. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/63 "2020-03-28T15:54:52Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > Mostly blue, green and purple and mostly in strong colors because I hate pastels. I do have one or two shirts in deep coral, though. I dislike red, pink, yellow and orange so they aren’t in my wardrobe except for a souvenir tee-shirt from OdySea Aquarium. > [@SmartAleq](#): > > Blue, green, purple end of the spectrum with a preference for jewel tones. Given a choice between a shirt in white or black it will more likely be white in spite of my tendency to spill things all over myself. I do like patterns but keep to the cool end of the spectrum with those too. Only real exception is that I don’t mind burgundy, especially now that my hair is almost pure silver. Wow. I could have said almost all of this. I am a warm spring and I love jewel tones. I love greens and blues, which bring out my green eyes; purple is my school color so I wear it despite being told my whole life that redheads shouldn’t wear purple. My go-to work outfit is pleat-front slacks and a twin set or a skirt with a tee and an open shirt, so neutral bottoms in black, navy, denim, or khaki and tops in the colors I love. **Kitap** , I don’t have the souvenir shirt but I do have the deep coral. I own a red shirt but I don’t wear it because I don’t want to look like I support the union. I do have 2 pale yellow with blue shirts, but I would never pay full-price for that. Orange in an abomination, and most pink is insipid. **SmartAleq,** my hair’s not white yet, but everything else you said could be me. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/64 "2020-03-28T20:19:54Z")
I’m drawn to greens, particularly olives. But since I buy all my clothes at thrift stores, style and fit usually take precedent over color. I like reds and blues, too. And corals. I don’t care for many neutrals or black, though my wardrobe currently contains a few beiges and a black tee shirt from a woman’s march a few years ago. And I don’t like bright, attention-drawing colors or pink. I also avoid whites because of the staining potential. However, I have one white shirt made of some sort of miracle fiber that has been shrugging stains off for years. Every time I drop something on it, which seems to be every time I wear it, I fear whatever magic that is woven in will come to it’s inevitable end. But, each time, the stain is gone in a wash or two. Amazing! Hope I haven’t jinxed myself now. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/65 "2020-03-28T22:27:05Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I’m a winter, so strongly saturated colors and jewel tones are my friends. My skin color is Mediterranean olive with green-gold undertones. I love the color yellow-green—in sunny foliage, say—, but it’s the one color I absolutely cannot wear, as **sunstone** noted above, because of the sallow effect with my skin tone. Yellow, orange, and yellowish-green are entirely excluded from my wardrobe. Complementarily, magenta looks best on me. Yeah, no yellows, oranges, or yellow-greens in my wardrobe. I’m an autumn, but if I weren’t dying my hair, I’d probably be a winter. My younger sister and I have almost identical coloring, but her hair is _au naturel_, and she’s a winter. Lilac is a good color for bringing out the color of my eyes (blue). I’d always get people commenting on my eyes when I wore a particular lilac-colored top. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/66 "2020-03-29T12:59:50Z")
Interesting that so many people choose colors that they believe look good on them. I choose colors based on how pretty they look to me. I have no real idea whether they “bring out my eyes” or “make me look sallow”. Now I kinda wonder. Also I thought that what season are you thing went out in the 1980’s. Boy have I been ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/67 "2020-04-11T07:41:35Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > This is also how I arrange my closet! My spouse thinks it is weird, but he can just stay out of my closet. I feel it would be an aesthetic loss not to arrange it that way. Going in order of electromagnetic frequency is what resonates with my mind. And rainbows are something I love. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/68 "2020-04-11T12:15:53Z")
I arrange my closet according to what I wore most recently, so I don’t wear the same things over and over to the neglect of others. Every blouse deserves its chance! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/69 "2020-04-11T12:46:22Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Every blouse deserves its chance! 😃 Peter Pan collars matter! ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/70 "2020-04-11T13:51:12Z")
I don’t think I’ve had a Peter Pan collar since 8th grade, but OK, if you insist! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/71 "2020-04-11T14:20:21Z")
Heh, I know nothing about fashion, but the idea that there is a Peter Pan collar just brightens my day. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/72 "2020-04-11T22:05:49Z")
I’m a blue person. But I’ve been branching out. Tan/gray dress shirts. Black/gray/tan t-shirts. Etc. ---
**Author:** ![NJ\_Kef\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b487fb/32.png) [@NJ\_Kef\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NJ_Kef_1)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/73 "2020-04-11T23:27:04Z")
I’m colorblind. I wear only dark solid colors like brown, green, black, gray, heather. Also, white undershirts, but more often black. I will not wear blue, yellow, or red. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Sean\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/74 "2020-04-12T13:25:12Z")
All of the shirts I wear in public are tie-dyed, and have been for years. Don’t particularly care what colours, although I do have a “thing” for oranges and greens. Some are very bright, some not so much, all stand out (which is not why I wear them). * * * “Stay the blazes home” - Stephen McNeil, Premier of Nova Scotia ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/75 "2020-04-13T12:59:11Z")
Why tie-dye, **Sean the Dog**? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/76 "2020-04-13T17:12:39Z")
Ask anyone who has met me. The answer is All of Them! Usually at the same time on one shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Sean\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/77 "2020-04-14T13:16:06Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Why tie-dye, **Sean the Dog**? Long story I’ll try to make real short: A few years ago I stumbled across some tie-dyed shirts while on vacation in another province. I just thought they were neat. Wore them to work for a joke, figured the guys would get a laugh out of them, and that would be the end of it. Had two very odd reactions to them, aside from the expected jokes. First, a LOT of people, including people I had never even seen before (it’s a large place), felt perfectly free to came up to me and tell me that they loved or hated my shirts, or that I was giving them flashbacks. I don’t think some of the people who “hated” them were joking. It was like I was running a big sociology experiment. Fortunately, no dress code. Second, the shirts spoke to me, and I’m not quite sure why. Part of it is remembering the hippies on TV when I was very little and thinking they looked like a nice and friendly and happy group of people – like people I could fit in with, being a shy person even then – and wanting to be and look like them. (I was three or four, didn’t know anything about war or drugs or “tune in, turn on, drop out”, and still have no interest in any of that.) Now I look like what I wanted to be, and people seem to understand that, which helps me be that. Maybe it’s because I got tired of wearing dark clothes all the time, doing anything not to stand out, as I’ve done since high school. Not goth or anything like that, just hiding in the background. Still don’t want to stand out so much, but care way less. Maybe it’s just because I like seeing something bright on a daily basis. Whatever reason (D, all of the above…), they became my go-to shirts… … and for fun I bought tie-dye shirts for the whole shop a couple of years ago, and inadvertently started tie-dye Tuesday. If I could figure out how to post pics here, I’d show you the whole bunch of us. It’s a nice, fun, harmless thing to be known for. * * * “Stay the blazes home” - Stephen McNeil, Premier of Nova Scotia ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/78 "2020-04-14T13:59:28Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I arrange my closet according to what I wore most recently, so I don’t wear the same things over and over to the neglect of others. Every blouse deserves its chance! 😃 I use more of a library system. Clothes are arranged by type. Short sleeve blouses, long sleeve blouses, jeans, slacks, skirts, dresses, misc. Things move around seasonally. I have an unfortunate stubbornness about getting rid of some clothes I don’t wear. We have given away much of our worldly possessions in the last year, but much-loved clothes stay. Since the Biggest Loser: Coronavirus Edition is continuing, it’s good that I have smaller size clothes to wear when I will need them. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028/79 "2020-04-14T14:54:18Z")
> [@Sean\_the\_Dog](#): > > It’s a nice, fun, harmless thing to be known for. Agreed. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-clothes-do-you-buy/850028.md?page=3)