There's Green, and Then There's Green...

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The photo showed a beautiful deep, rich, abundantly alive pine green. But when the socks arrived, it looked like one of the super-fit guys in the company’s videos had gone hiking in them for two weeks and then sent along his dirty socks. Not that the socks were actually dirty, mind you. It was just that the color was disappointingly dingy.

It is not surprising, really, as fashion trends in the past decade have strongly favored muted, washed out, subtle versions of colors. It is a reflection of the times in which we are living. The trend started with the 2008 recession with grays and grayed colors becoming all the rage for home interiors as well as clothing. 

So why green socks? Well, here I was on the first day of fall 2020: we had reached the very sad milestone of 200,000 deaths in the US due to the coronavirus, with an ideologically divided country in the midst of a contentious election, the south of the country flooded and the western coast on fire. Just a week before, with fires a mere 12 miles from my home, I was among the thousands on alert for evacuation. (Today, finally, the fires are contained enough that all evacuation orders in our county have been rescinded.)

So, when the rains came and brought back clean, breathable air, I found myself craving the simple pleasure of a warm pair of socks, and a rich, healing green felt like just the thing. But the dingy color of the socks that arrived at my door was too reminiscent of the dirty, smoky air that had surrounded us to meet the need of the moment, even if the socks might have been very warm. Disappointed, I returned them.

Talk about color power, right? Being in the right Color Zone really matters!