The teen fashion department at Target is right in front of the door as I walk in. I enjoy seeing, at the change of seasons, what the new, trendy fashions and colors are. Some of the things I like; some of the things I don’t like at all. Some of the things wouldn’t have mattered how my teen-aged self felt about them; I would never ever have been allowed out of the house in them. I guess what goes around does come around, but some of it is coming around much shorter and skimpier than it used to be.

I imagine the students in a fashion merchandizing class learn about fabric colors that are always well-liked and reliable, and those other, accessory-type colors that come and go each season. When I was growing up, green and blue was a color combination that was considered “clashing.” In other words, don’t wear them together.

I tried to Google that “blue and green” issue and got a couple of sites that mentioned an adage that “blue and green should not be seen, unless a color’s in between.” I guess that’s either a source or a confirmation of the caveat that blue and green clothes, fashions, and home decor, were discouraged.

Here’s why I remember it so well. Mother sewed for us, and as we were choosing patterns and fabrics one summer, getting ready for the new school year’s sewing, I chose navy for a jumper. At the fabric store, bolts of fabric were arranged so that the shopper could see the combinations that were suggested to go together. The “companion fabric” for the navy had a navy blue background with baby blue and lime green circles printed on it. Obviously it was “in” and “appropriate” and “fashionable,” or it wouldn’t have been in the New! fabric section. Mother bought the necessary yardage for the blouse I would wear with the jumper. “But,” she said, “This is hard for me to sew. When I was taking Home Economics, I learned that green and blue don’t go together.”

Something else that didn’t go together, but was also on the same fabric shelf, was bright pink and orange. My, oh, my!! Those colors should never be in the same outfit. Oh. the Mod days of the sixties, when life was changing so much that previously taboo color combinations were now all the rage. (Lots of other things that had previously been taboo became much more tolerated/acceptable/embraced, in the 60’s , but that’s someone else’s story.)

I’ve thought, over the years, about that odd restriction of color combinations. We have in the family now, two fine arts majors. April finds foreign the very idea of a home or room color scheme. “You get the things you like. And you put them in a room.” She doesn’t let artificial restrictions decide for her what will and what won’t be a part of the decor. Whenever I might bring up the subject with Jeremy, as in “I like this blue pillow but I don’t think it looks good with that other blue pillow,” he says, dryly, “All colors look good together, Mom.”

Pause where you are, and ponder the wonders of God.

Job 37:14b (The Voice)

I sat out on my porch a few evenings ago, reading. Rain had cooled the air a little, and a bit of a breeze made me hold the pages down. The trees are now fully leafed out and sky above them was bright and blue. I looked at that sky and those trees and thought, “How could anyone, ever, think that blue and green don’t go together.”