There’s something about color that sets my heart on fire.

The way that they play on one another, aid one another, evoke emotions and evoke memories never fail to inspire me.

As I recall the somewhat the pastel nostalgia of my 80s childhood and the somber grunge-tinged tones of my 90s teen years, I am happy to currently have a wardrobe saturated with teals and deep pinks and lively purples.

This is precisely why on my list of books to read this spring is Victoria Finlay’s Color: A Natural History of the Palette. Because no matter what avenues I take in life, they all seem to go back to color…my memories take shape from a certain shade of green or I walk through the city noticing the way hues bounce off one another or I keep experimenting to find the shade of brownish-blondish hair dye that closest emulates the color I naturally had the summer of 1984.

This return to color can be partially blamed on London circa 2004. I would walk around the city and take in all the wardrobes being shown off around Kingsland Road or the way that boat hulls would reflect in the Thames or how the sari shops in Whitechapel would display their fabric so it was most pleasing to the eye.

One day I walked into a fire hazard of a fabric shop on Brick Lane. There was only a small walkway free in a store which was stacked to the ceiling with silks and cottons and rayons and wools and fun fur. On all sides I was met with nothing but color and more color, like nothing I had ever experienced before. Less like an explosion and more like a sort of baptism. It was like being in one of those kaleidoscopes you probably had as a kid that when you spun it created myriad designs with a quick spin of your hand.

England didn’t teach me how to properly drink tea or how to spell correctly or how to perfect my already well-developed sense of irony. England taught me that color is to be enjoyed and toyed with and used wisely instead of cautiously. It is a lesson I am most grateful for back home.

As I search through my yarns for that one special slub shade of blue, my eyes meet colors that radiate warmth and creativity and beauty. I can’t even begin to believe how I overlooked its presence for so long. While January may be a month of hibernation or quiet nights or few parties, that doesn’t mean that we should forget what good a little color may bring.

The mixtape badge in the picture is from demoderby. The scarf is from the $1 bin at my local charity shop.