Interviews: Is Basic Black Best?

The colours we choose to wear in certain situations can influence the outcome, according to a new psychologist-backed study, with black apparently the best colour to sport if you want to nail a job interview...

The report suggests that those who wear silver on a night out have the best time and blue is the colour to wear if you want to smash a gym session. When it comes to careers it seems that black is the colour to choose, with 43 percent saying they landed a job after wearing black for an interview, and a further 41 percent saying the best presentation or business meeting of their life was when they were wearing a black outfit.

If, like us, you read the paragraph above and immediately questioned the validity and veracity of all this, there are actual cultural and scientific factors at play here. Read on...

The study of 2,000 Britons by vaping brand blu, alongside leading UK psychologist Dr Becky Spelman, explored how the colours and hues we wear affect our lives. Spelman says: “The research has revealed some fascinating insight into the colours we should wear to make the very best of different situations and also how we are judged by the colours we choose to wear.

"A whole range of psychological, cultural and historical reasons feed into how and why we react to certain colours. For example, all over the world, the colour red tends to be associated with strong emotions such as anger and passion. This is easy to understand because red is the colour of blood, with associations of anger.

"However, other colour associations can vary wildly depending on the cultural and the historical context. In Britain and in most other European countries, black is the colour associated with mourning, but in China, the relevant colour is white. Today, the colour pink is associated with baby girls, and the colour blue with baby boys, but in the past pink was actually seen as a boy's colour.

“Associations with colour can also be intensely personal. We might associate a particular colour with a specific experience and the emotions associated with it - and we might not even have a conscious memory of how we formed the association, which may have happened in very early childhood.”

Almost half of Britons routinely judge people by the colours they wear, with almost a quarter thinking people who wear white are pretentious, while the majority said men who wear pink are confident. People who wear a lot of gold and silver are seen as being brash and garish, though almost a quarter say it’s a sign they are glamorous.

To come across as ‘classic’, the best colour to wear is blue, and to give out a quirky vibe, slip on something purple. If you want to be seen as a serious person, most Brits think you should dress head-to-toe in black. Those who wear orange are retro, according to popular opinion, however some believe those who wear orange have a sinister streak.

Spelman continues, “An awareness of the cultural and psychological factors at play when it comes to colour helps us to get to know ourselves better and also gives us a way to communicate. Through the clothing and accessories we choose we can use colour to communicate, without words, a range of messages and emotions."

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