When’s the last time you wore your favourite colour (not the “safe” one, the real one)? The one you loved back in elementary school?
In today’s show, we're diving into how colour (or the lack of it) shows up in our homes, our wardrobes, our brands, and what it really says about us deep-down.
From the "White Cube" trap of curating ourselves into invisibility, to why adding a pop of unexpected red might just change your life, this conversation is a full permission slip to reclaim the boldness you've been told to tone down.
It will inspire you to stop playing it so damn safe, and to start showing up in your business and life in full colour.
Take a moment and look around wherever you're listening from. Really see your surroundings, not just passing your eyes over them like you do every day.
Chances are the dominant colours around you are grey, beige, white — maybe a little navy blue if we're feeling wild. Our cities are washed in concrete and steel. Our homes are rental-friendly eggshell and cream. Our clothes are neutral and versatile.
This isn't random! It’s the result of a broader societal obsession with safety, minimalism, and blending in.
In interior design, neutrals have long been favoured because they're seen as versatile and inoffensive. No one's gonna hate beige — you'll find it in every millennial home (mine included). It goes with everything and offends no one.
It's a reflection of how unstable and temporary everything has started to feel.
So many of us are living in rental homes, working freelance gigs, entertaining the idea of becoming digital nomads. We don't know how long we'll be in this place or what our future will look like. So we keep it neutral, sellable, and easy to pack up. We detach ourselves and our personalities from the objects we own and the spaces we live in.
When you rent a home, the walls are beige not because the landlord is obsessed with earth tones, but because they want that space to be as appealing to as many people as possible. It's a practical decision.
You won't be put off because it doesn't clash with your personality — because there's no personality. That's the point. It's not for anyone specifically, so it can be for everyone.
If you listened to last week's episode, this is the real-world version of the white cube. The belief that by removing all context, all personality, you'll somehow create the perfect blank canvas. But in practice, these spaces end up feeling impersonal at best and uninspired at worst.
Now let's zoom out from our homes and into our closets.
There's a long-standing association between neutral tones and sophistication in fashion. Think the LBD (little black dress), the camel trench coat, the crisp white shirt. These pieces are classics for a reason — they're safe and work in a variety of settings.
But they're also code for what's acceptable, especially for women.
Studies looking into the relationship between colour and perceptions of professionalism have found that darker, more conservative colours like black, navy, and grey are often linked to higher ratings of competence, credibility, and authority.
It's a narrative we've been fed over and over again.
No one expects a female CEO to turn up in bright orange or hot pink or (god forbid) a glittery two-piece set. However, if a man shows up in coloured socks, he's the king of the world.
Women in particular have been conditioned to believe that if we want to be taken seriously, we should tone it down. It's a cage — kind of like dressing for your body type or according to your colour analysis.
These rules might work for someone, but if they're keeping you from expressing yourself and you're editing yourself because of them, that's a no for me!
Somewhere along the line, we were taught that colour is childish, frivolous, a liability in business. That seriously cool people wear black. That important, mature people keep it neutral.
So we stop ourselves from choosing colour the same way we stop ourselves from speaking our minds. Because we've been taught to think about our choices through the lens of what other people might say about us.
Look, I'm not saying neutrals are evil or that you need to burn your black trousers and start dressing like a unicorn.
But what I am saying is that these colour choices we make — whether it's the paint on our walls, the blazer we wear to a client meeting, or the background we use on our website — aren't as neutral as we think. They signal things like safety, order, control. They say: I won't rock the boat. I'll fit in. You can trust me to play by the rules.
That bright pink blazer might make you feel bold and visible and powerful. That cobalt blue on your homepage might evoke trust and spark curiosity. That's the very nature of colour — it's emotional, it's psychological.
It’s why we now have the dopamine dressing trend, which is quite simply dressing for joy and wearing colours that boost your mood. It's a form of self-expression and finding creativity in your outfits instead of conforming to what's traditional or practical.
Then there's the unexpected red theory you might've heard of on TikTok. The general idea is that adding any amount of red to a room where it doesn't automatically belong makes it better. Red is known for grabbing and holding our attention — not random at all when you think about how we associate red with things important to notice like warning labels or stop signs.
These trends show a collective yearning for spaces and styles that actually reflect our personality, individuality, and emotions. We're not just decorating our homes or updating our wardrobes — we're looking for ways to make a statement about who we are and how we want to feel.
There's this author I really love called Ingrid Fetell Lee who wrote an article that stopped me in my scroll years ago and put exact words to a feeling I'd been having for such a long time. The article is called “Scared of too much color in your life? Learn to let go of your fear — and find more joy.”
It's a beautiful piece about why we've learned to fear colour and how choosing colour is actually choosing joy, and how colour is a source of human connection and emotion and magic.
I don't know about you, but I'm done shrinking myself to fit into someone else's idea of what a serious business looks like.
That was the whole point of starting my own business. And somehow, along the line, using colour ended up turning into a form of rebellion.
Because it's not just about colour. It's about standing up for yourself and using colour as a tool to convey your values and connect more deeply with your audience.
Besides, colour is just plain fun.
Up to 90% of a first impression is based on how someone recognises colour. Hence, the advice to wear a red dress on a first date or why so many brands have a signature color. Color is emotion, feeling, psychology, strategy — and it's fascinating.
Did you know red has been proven to make you hungrier? Makes sense when you think of McDonald's and KFC and Burger King, right? Or that most banks and insurance companies use blue as their main brand color because it conveys trust and calm and reliability?
Or that while we often see white as a symbol of peace and lightness, it actually represents death and mourning in Japan? (Just goes to show how important it is to understand your audience and their cultural context when you're building a brand.)
Colour communicates emotion faster than almost anything else in your brand. Because before someone reads a single word of copy, before they watch your reel, before they even understand what you do, they're already forming an impression based on what they see. And colours are a huge part of it because they're the very first thing we see.
And when you start showing up in your brand with colours that reflect who you are — with all the texture and nuance of your personality — you become more memorable.
And the best part is when you start showing up for your brand in a way that reflects your actual self, you start feeling more confident about it too. And that confidence typically translates into very palpable results.
If all this talk about colour is stirring something up in you, but you're still unsure where to begin, let me start by saying: you don't need to walk out the door tomorrow looking like a rainbow.
(Although if you do, please send me a photo because I would love to see it.)
This isn't about throwing out every beige jumper you own or painting your entire home in hot pink overnight. You don't even have to go out and get a bright orange couch like I did.
Even though we've said some things about neutrals today — namely grey, beige, and white — they're colours too (fun fact: white is technically the sum of all colours). And even I have neutral-toned clothes and home decor items. I make it a point of including some neutrals into my clients' brand identities because they're a great foundation to build upon.
So how can you start building that confidence little by little and inviting more colour into your world?
As online brand owners, chances are you're already (or should be) showcasing your brand through IRL snippets of your life that give your personality its spotlight moment. So put on some on-brand outfits or your brand uniform. Have fun styling up a tiny corner of your house to film content in. Customise your emojis in the DMs to incorporate your brand theme. Pick a brighter shade for your next launch that gets associated with a specific offer, then sprinkle it through social media posts, website highlights, newsletters, CTA buttons.
The options are really endless and only limited by your imagination.
Life's too short for beige and worrying about which one of your choices will offend the least people.
And hey, if you're ready to go full-on Technicolor and get your All Access ticket to a full-scope rebrand, then The Extravaganza is your next move. This is my signature done-for-you experience for bold and daring service providers where I handle everything — brand strategy, design, website, marketing assets — so you can step into the spotlight with visuals that demand attention and are ready to sell from day one.
My job is to make you impossible to ignore.
I hope to see you with a bit more colour around you in the next show!
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✦ THE EXTRAVAGANZA: Create your industry-leading first impression.
✦ Read the “Scared of too much color in your life? Learn to let go of your fear — and find more joy” article by Ingrid Fetell Lee
✦ Say hey on Instagram
✦ Get my Uncaged emails
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This episode was co-produced with Adrienne Cruz.
Over the last 5 years as a Brand & Marketing Designer, I’ve helped freaks like us design their unconventional brands so they can step onto the main stage & own their weird. Because if you wanted to be, look or sound like everyone else, you wouldn’t be where you are today. Now it’s your turn.
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