Turquoise will forever be linked for Grassroots Futures with a Sunbeam hairdryer purchased for me when I was allowed a $100 shopping spree as a graduation from grade school and no, you aficionados of kitsch, I don’t still have it. Even Pantone now pushing turquoise as the color of 2010 associates the hue with cheesy package tours to the Caribbean and souvenir jewelry from New Mexico. A Google search reminds me that Pantone was touting turquoise as a hot color for spring of 2005. Yes, I spotted turquoise as a comer mostly in oversize “designer” bags in my usual haunts, but the jewelry has not had an up tick here. (Richard Timperio, owner of the Sideshow Gallery, right down the block from the nydesignroom, flashes turquoise as a bow to hippy nostalgia, having lived in New Mexico back in the day, and wears it well, but otherwise the semi-precious stone is in scant evidence.) I saw some wonderful red satin party dresses in the show windows along the high-rent strip of Atlantic Avenue. Nonetheless, my advice, readers, is to be pragmatic. Leave the red dress bit to the American Heart Association and Wear Red Day (it’s February 5 in case you didn’t know?), or you could maybe wear it again on Valentines. During this cost-conscious holiday season, direct your dreams of being the belle of the Christmas ball in heart-stopping red satin to something a bit more practical like the shades-of-gray sheaths and shifts GGrippo is whipping up. Save the one-off glamour for make up and accessories. So far his palette is winning the popularity contest against my tan and brown prediction for the winter. My consolation prize is the brown, beige, and leopard custom-made leggings GGrippo gave me to keep the winter chill away. http://www.goredforwomen.org/national_wear_red_day.aspx http://www.sideshowgallery.com/ http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/pantone.aspx?pg=20260&ca=10 http://www.pantone.com/pages/MYP_mypantone/mypInfo.aspx?ca=75&pg=20706
