Le Pays des Couleurs


Le pays des couleurs /The Land of Colours was a childrens’ book my daughter got for her French lessons when she was a litte girl. There the grey earth was gradually occupied by colours, the green frog, the yellow butterfly, the red rose. In a sari shop in India I feel like entering this magic country. I prefer living in colour said David Hockney and moved from his native Bradford in England to sunny and colourful California.

So do I. I like black and white, grey and maroon every now and then, but I somewhat pity Parisian girls who seem to think they have to wear black and grey exclusively as a sort of fashion code. We forget that we also wore colourful suits and dresses not long ago. Even the men did. Look at 18th and 19th century paintings with their silk in gorgeous pistachio green, dove blue and pastel pink.

Francois Boucher, Madame de Pompadour, © Alte Pinakothek, München, info@pinakothek.de

Wherever Indians live there is colour. I sample Sari shops from Durban and Singapore to Mumbai and Chennai and I am in awe of Indian women in the rural areas. They are working their land, carrying heavy loads and tending to their house work in radiant saris which always look as if washed and ironed that same day.
The cleaning woman at the apartment of the family I stayed with in Mumbai did all the cleaning with her bright green sari. 
Further South in Kochi another symphony of green brightened up by vivid yellow at the beach close to the Chinese fishing nets while the ladies on a street of Mumbai proudly showed off their rainbow of colours.













Even modest Muslim attire needn't be subued. All Malaysian ladies love to play with colours be it a kaftan and scarf or a ballroom dress for a Chinese wedding in a stately mansion. 
The riot of colour that is Mexico overwhelmed me. While Indian colours are softened by their silken sheen and their intricate patterns Mexican colours are bold. The fiercest red, the brightest yellow, the loudest green are combined to an unbelievably intense mix. The same bold colours you find in nature. A designer couldn't have invented a more stunning combination of colours as nature adorned the tucan who had breakfast with us in the courtyard of our hotel in Mérida: bright blue claws vying for attention with the yellow and green of the beak.   





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