I Recently Rekindled My Past Romance With All Black Outfits: It's Complicated

For years (yes, literal years) I’ve been resisting the precedent urge to wear black: I’ve thought of it as a form of defiance against the 12-year-old emo kid that will always be buried deep… deep inside of me.

Nevertheless, she hasn’t been easy to keep below surface level as of late, because black is exactly what I’ve been itching to drape myself in, almost overwhelmingly—I know, “everyone looks great in all black,” and it used to be cool as hell to wear it; it very well might have been the coolest thing to wear. That being said, times have changed.

Black and neutrals are losing their momentum, being replaced with bright, loud, and evocatively “happy” colors and prints, and with the black hole, but also wonderfully trend-informant world that is Instagram, I’ve been able to revel in this seemingly abrupt shift in the color palette of my thumb-scrolling, and I’m not the only one that’s noticed.

Harling Ross of Man Repeller wrote a responsive and indulgent piece on the recent plummet of all-black outfits on Instagram timelines.

“Black, once the pinnacle of cool (particularly in fashion circles), has been eclipsed by an endless stream of candied hues that clamored (successfully) for this seat of saturated acclaim. Millennial pink, Gen-Z yellow, melodramatic purple and Miranda Hobbes green made for great headlines and even greater Instagram fodder.”

—Is Black The New Millennial Pink? I’m Only Kind Of Kidding via Man Repeller

So, I was in a bit of a stand-off with the state of my closet now. Wearing all black feels very long-term committal—a lifestyle, many could argue. I imagine this is due to the uniformity omitted by said ensemble.

After sitting and contemplating the qualities of what I had thought was the downfall of the color wheel’s darkest shade, I asked a large group their opinion on the matter— literally every single person replied that the outfit choice is a go-to: described as being timeless and chic. I was mildly surprised, but it took only seconds for me to come to what should have been the otherwise obvious conclusion that black is not “out,” it simply politely fell into the background, resting comfortably in its self righteousness and permanence. Black is like that one childhood best friend that we can go weeks, months, or even years without seeing, but once the two of us get together, it’s like no time has even passed.