Continuing yesterday's conversation on minimalism today I wanted to feature a different kind of minimalist look. Colors can be quite lovely but black can be undeniably easy and chic. It goes with every season, you don't have to worry about getting it dirty (unlike white) and it can make you feel either hidden or bold.
When I think of all black the first thing that always comes to mind is the editors attending the runway shows in New York. For them all black is seen as non-distracting, un-biased and it makes them invisible so they can focus on the shows. If you've read Suzy Menkes' article on The Circus of Fashion for T magazine this week (and if you haven't and your a blogger or in the fashion industry you should right now) she reminisces on how attending the shows used to be.
"We were once described as “black crows” — us fashion folk gathered outside an abandoned, crumbling downtown building in a uniform of Comme des Garçons or Yohji Yamamoto. 'Whose funeral is it?' passers-by would whisper with a mix of hushed caring and ghoulish inquiry...."
Within our culture we have made the representation of crows to be a negative thing meaning death or doom is near and thus their black color has fall victim to this as well. I think back on Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven and cringe at the idea of being watched intensely by such a mysterious creature; then I think of Hitchcock's The Birds and cringe even more at the idea of being eaten alive by such a thing. To say the least crows and ravens have gotten a bad rep in Western society and it's quite a shame because if you take the time to analyze them they are really quite intelligent and powerful creatures.
Crows are very sly and deceptive but can live in almost any environment and survive any situation. They are an omen of change as they have no sense of time, therefore being able to see in the past, present and future simultaneously. Only recently and mostly in Europe is the crow seen as a bad omen while in many other cultures the crow has been regarded as a supreme being by guiding and protecting human civilization. These cultures consider the crow to be extremely wise and a representation of creation as black is the color of night, giving birth to light of a new day.
So what do you think, could black become your new minimalist uniform or will you stick to basic white and spend all day worrying about whether you have a dirt stain on your ass? I hope that at the least I have changed your opinion on crows, even if you still prefer minimalist white over minimalist black. I for one am going to be on the hunt for a taxidermy crow in the meantime.