To the editor:

Why wear black?

The fashion industry dictates what we wear. I don’t know where they got the authority to tell us what to wear. And they came up with the color black being so fashionable.

Black is not a color. Early in school or maybe even in kindergarten, we learned that blue, red and yellow were the primary colors. All other colors were derived from mixing of the three primary colors. No matter how you mix them, you will never come up with black.

There are basically three times or places that warrant the wearing of black. 1) It has been commonplace to wear black for funerals 2) A person who works in a dirty environment might want to wear black to help hide the dirt they must endure from their job 3) The other reason might be to hide the person’s less-than-lean physical condition.

Some business places tend to have their employees wear a uniform color to help identify who is an employee. Two such local places come to mind. The management of both places has chosen black for the color of their employee’s attire. Some medical offices have also chosen a uniform dress code for their employees. However, most of them wear a different color each day of the week. And colorful they are. Their colors are uplifting for their patients.

So for once, let us not succumb to the fashion industry, but brighten up our life and the lives of others with color in our dress code.

Colors are uplifting and say “hello” to one another.

But what does black say?

Phil Cordes

Seymour