Am I the only one who has noticed how often the news readers on TV1 wear black? It is summer and surely they could be bright and cheery to match the temperatures.

I have to wear black all year round in my job and always feel drab in the summer - so maybe that's why I notice it on TV.

Haha I agree Ali. I love colour and almost never wear black unless its a jersey or trousers.
I've told my husband and kids that I don't want a black funeral either unless people really feel that is their colour.

I never realised how prevalent black was in both my own and the female NZ wardrobe until hubby George brought it to my attention. In Romania, the only time black is seen is when ladies are in mourning and that can be up to 12 months. Whereas we appear to embrace black. I now try and avoid it and go for bright colours wherever possible. And if a top is subdued, I try and utilise bright accessories to offset it.

Irene I only realised how prevalent black is in NZ wardrobes when I returned after living in Sydney for 8 years.
I was surprised how little we embraced colour - that was 21 years ago though. It seemed then that there were so many black clad women wearing clompy shoes - such as Minnie Coper made. I don't suit black so have never worn much of it, I have to try hard not to have a completely orange wardrobe.

It annoyed me a lot when I would go shopping for a garment and finding they only had them in black. No wonder black is so prevalent. I do own some black but love colour.

helen Wrote:
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> Irene I only realised how prevalent black is in NZ
> wardrobes when I returned after living in Sydney
> for 8 years.
> I was surprised how little we embraced colour -
> that was 21 years ago though. It seemed then that
> there were so many black clad women wearing clompy
> shoes - such as Minnie Coper made. I don't suit
> black so have never worn much of it, I have to try
> hard not to have a completely orange wardrobe.

Helen, your comment brought a smile to my face. I am one of those women who only bought Minnie Cooper shoes till Sandy closed down the business. Those shoes were incredibly well made. Clompy? Yes, some of them but oh so comfortable. Miss being able to buy her shoes.

I just had to google as I have never heard of Minnie Cooper shoes? I see there is a minniecooper.co.nz website with a store in Avondale. Is that one and the same?

Irene Field Wrote:
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> I just had to google as I have never heard of
> Minnie Cooper shoes? I see there is a
> minniecooper.co.nz website with a store in
> Avondale. Is that one and the same?

Yes, Irene it is. She closed down her shoe manufacturing business and her shops in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and nowadays just sells lovely slippers and a very limited choice of shoes that are manufactured in China I believe. I just loved the 'clompy' ones because I have difficult feet. I bought so many of her shoes that I think they'll see me out!

Black slims people down and on television they are made to look bigger so i guess that is why.

Oh Minnie Cooper shoes! Hadn't thought of them in years. I used to have several pairs of her clompers too, back in the mid 90s. Loved them to bits. I did giggle at your orange wardrobe comment, Helen I come from a family who all embrace beautiful colours in their clothing, but I struggle as I'm overweight and feel often they make me look even bigger.

I agree about the general lack of colour in women's wardrobes, although it is definitely better than it used to be. What frustrates me is trying to find clothes in colours for boys. There is just nothing, all blue, grey and black. My youngest son, now 13, wore a lot of girls shorts and jeans when he was younger because they came in colours. As long as they didn't have sparkles on the pockets you'd never know they were girls. Macpac offers decent colours, but they have a very limited range and are rather expensive when kids grow out of things so quickly.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2019 01:09AM by Jenna.

I never wear black is it makes me look like a zombie, but it's annoyingly hard to get colours, particularly in the winter. That's my real bugbear - if it's all gloomy and grey outside, why do people want to wear gloomy colours as well?

I’m living in Melbourne and I don’t know if it’s more prevalent here, but it seems everyone wears black.
I’m all for colours, the brighter the better, but I’m really over this drab black clothing.

I wish we could change our national colours to something more colourful and less threatening than black. You only have to jump into your car and drive a short distance to realise how angry people are here.

I agree could be a better colour for national colours than black