I Dressed Like Lydia Deetz for Years. Then Colour Found Me.

Growing up, I wanted to be Lydia Deetz.

Not the haunted house. Just the look: the black clothes, the expression of someone who had peered beyond the veil and found it underwhelming.

So I dressed in black. Maybe a little grey, on a daring day. I wrote dark poetry, in black gel pen, obviously, because I had standards.

Then I grew up, and my home grew up with me. Neutral walls, neutral everything, except a few prints and paintings, the only places colour was allowed to stay. Black was easy. Black went with everything, including more black.

How I started seeing colour

Drawing changed that. Not overnight.

Hand-drawn line art by Daniella Girgenti: A school of fish in many colours, swimming in the same direction.

The lines came first. Black ink, loose and looping, which suited me fine. The colour came later, soft, sitting just behind the line.

And somewhere along the way, something shifted, slowly enough that I didn’t notice it happening, the way you don’t notice the leaves turning until one morning the whole street is orange, and I realized I was reaching for soft coral and pale teal and a particular yellow-green without hesitating, as if I’d always known those colours were mine.

Somewhere, teenage me is horrified.

Lydia would understand, though. Even she ended up in a red dress. Admittedly, it was for a wedding to a ghost, but still.

How colour can affect your mood

Here’s the surprising part for a former poet of the void: colour does seem to change how people feel. Just not as neatly as the internet would like.

Researchers have studied colour and emotion for decades, and the findings are mixed. Some associations come up again and again, but they shift from person to person and culture to culture. A colour that calms you might put someone else on edge.

A few patterns are still worth knowing:

• Warm colours like red, orange, coral and yellow are often linked with energy and warmth. They pull a room in closer, like a friend who sits right next to you on the couch.

• Cool colours like blue and teal are often linked with calm. They step back and give a room some air.

• Greens are often associated with nature and rest. Think of them as a houseplant that never needs watering.

• Soft, muted colours are colour with the volume turned down. They’re a good starting point for recovering goths. (Ask me how I know.)

The best test is still your own reaction. If a colour makes you feel something, that counts.

How to find your colours

I found mine through my mom.

She loves pinks and oranges, the ones that look like they came from the earth.

Mine turned out to be softer. Gentle tones that sit quietly beside each other instead of competing, which is a funny place to land for someone who spent her teens dressed for a funeral.

Same instinct, different palette. I think that’s how it usually goes.

If you’re still looking for yours, start here:

• Look at the people you love. Notice the colours they wear and keep around them. You might borrow theirs, or realize yours are something else entirely.

• Notice what you already reach for. Check your camera roll, your saved pins and the one thing in your closet that isn’t black. Patterns show up fast.

• Test it small first. Live with a card, a print or a scarf for a week before you commit to anything bigger.

• Make it work with black. If you’re a recovering goth, choose colours that look good next to black. They’ll get along with everything you already own.

How to add colour to a neutral home (without betraying your inner goth)

You don’t need to repaint or give up black. You just need a way in.

• Start with one piece of art. In a neutral room, one print with colour in it becomes the first thing your eye lands on.

• Let colour sit behind the line. Art with black linework and soft colour behind it is a compromise even Lydia could live with.

• Repeat one colour. Pick a colour from a print and echo it once nearby, so the room feels connected rather than busy.

• Keep your black. Colour tends to look brighter next to it, so your black wardrobe and dark frames can make colour work harder.

• Start on paper. A card on a shelf or a print propped against the wall is easy to move if you lose your nerve.

I still own a lot of black. I’m not a monster.

But most of it lives in the ink now. The rest of the page keeps getting brighter.

– Daniella