The Summer of Yellow
Yellow is the color of summer 2017. It is a powerful and optimistic color, the antidote to the other powerful color that is red.
Red is still fiery and stunning and provocative and all the things that red is known for, but this year, red has also been co-opted by the Tr*mp administration. I know, it’s devastating.
A few weeks ago, a friend’s boyfriend, without much thought at the time, got dressed up to a wedding in a simple black suit with a white dress shirt and a red tie. It wasn’t until he got to the ceremony that his friends gave him a hard time for dressing in the official Tr*mp uniform. Makes sense. When Melania dresses all-red next to her demonic prez husband with his red tie, it sends me to a hellish mental place: how red was used for communist and swastika flags, et al. And on that note, I don’t think I can even look at a red baseball cap without thinking about those “Make America Great Again” hats. (Sorry about your trademark look, Fred Durst.)
Yellow, on the other hand, is all sorts of hopeful: it’s cheery, bright, friendly. Yellow reminds us of the sun. It reminds us of smiley faces. It’s also extreme, almost to the point that it could be considered polarizing in people’s wardrobes. It’s quite a phenomenon then, that yellow has become the wildly popular (and unexpected) hue that’s been embraced by a lot of women this year.
But! I have a few theories why, and it all begins with Beyoncé’s iconic tiered dress from the Lemonade visual album. I don’t need to recall to you what happens in “Hold Up”, but damn, that fucking yellow. With that baseball bat. With that rage. When life hands you lemons, you make a Lemonade yellow dress. If you understand the fashion calendar at all, it would totally make sense that this dress, debuted by Queen B in April 2016, could easily influence a collection of yellow summer dresses in 2017.
Also: In December 2016, a movie called La La Land starring Emma Stone and Ryan the Goosling was released to a ton of acclaim (even though the movie itself was embarrassing and shameful to the “musical” genre). In the movie, during one of the most pivotal scenes (the “falling in love” dance sequence, obvs), Emma Stone wears what would become the film’s defining look—it even makes its way onto the damn movie poster: a modest yellow dress with black and white brogue shoes. She is a struggling actress. She’s vulnerable. She’s looking for love. She’s in sunny Los Angeles. She’s very positive. She wears…yellow. I mean, it’s genius.
In March 2017, a certain live-action remake of a Disney classic also made its way to the silver screen. Cue Mrs. Potts:
Again! Much yellow. Totes my opinion but Belle has, and always will be, one of the coolest Disney princesses because she’s a total nerd. (But, to be fair, she also already happens to be really pretty so her “makeover” only consists of putting on a rich-lady gown :-/) Anyway, I think we all remember that this yellow dress is basically why she and the Beast fell in love. This movie’s timing couldn’t have been more perfect because March is when winter finally melts into spring. It’s when dress season is back. Everyone was probably dying to get their yellow on.
At this point in time, both Emma Stone and Emma Watson had been wearing a series of yellow dresses for their respective movie premieres. Beyoncé’s yellow dress already had its moment as a clever Halloween costume, too.
Yellow blew the fuck up. Also, as it turned out, yellow looked pretty great on everyone—and especially Mahershala Ali. Here is a perfect image from a perfect GQ photoshoot from February 2017. Moonlight up my life!
^^^ Hannah Giorgis is 200% correct.
I don’t have a good way to end this post other than to say that I’m very much down with yellow, as trendy as it’s become. Yellow is the new millennial pink. Actually, it’s a million times better than millennial pink. Millennial pink feels very much reserved for “the Cool Girls of Instagram” to me. But yellow! Yellow is for everyone.
