The Queen of Green

A tidal wave of green is filling global runways, crashing onto our formerly neutral sands with acid shades of lime, cool mint, bright emerald, pistachio, and definitely cresting with kelly. I'm not a fan of fashion trends and try to ignore them whenever possible, but sometimes a wave like this washes over everything such that we see something with fresh eyes. That happened to me.

The Ibu team still mocks me, remembering design meetings from only a few years ago when I declared: NO green. It didn't interest me at all, and I saw no need to dabble in its safe and tepid waters when we had bolder palettes to claim.

So, imagine their surprise when I introduced this idea last summer—a stunning hand-embroidery accomplished by women in Pakistan for this spring—in, yep, kelly, the Queen of Green. After two years of life in neutral, with health and safety the constant (sometimes only) question, green bursts on the scene now as a sign of LIFE, new life, growth, fertility, fecundity, harmony with nature, hope! 

While some greens are used to soothe and quiet children at school (I remember those dreadful walls so well), the current rage for green leans into exuberance, utter aliveness. While some associate dark green with envy, this queen springs from the heart center chakra, where those in India teach us love is seated.  

So… maybe I was unfair to fashion trends. Now, I have to allow that trends have a role in washing our eyes, in letting us see discarded things newly. I was unfair to green… and now… besotted. It's good to turn around and see something you thought meh… become mesmerizing. 

It makes me wonder what else I don't see—what else I have dismissed—that just sits in the compost pile, waiting to emerge and bloom.  

All the Best,
SHW