The Color of Money

Woman. 9/22/09

At first glance, one sees one basic item of clothing in an innocuous green. But take a closer look, and you realize that one item leads to another – the subtlety was in the delicate balance of shades. Green yet not green.

So yes, it was green. Green everywhere but in all different shades and hues, and varying textures.

Given the warm weather that had enveloped NYC in this first week of Fall, the boots were a clear calling card of someone ready for cooler climes. Green boots which were just the kind you’d expect in early Fall. Not tall at all, reaching just to her lower calf. The green? A pea green that wasn’t unlike a rich split pea soup from one of NYC’s fabled restaurants. The textured leather added another dimension and somehow was able to soften the look of the boot. There was a zipper on the back of each boot from heel to top – dark green in color. On the lower sides of each boot, a double helix stitch pattern in a dark green thread. No socks were visible on her legs.

In keeping with the early Fall theme, she had on a pair of skorts. Ending just at knee level, the skort was actually a seersucker fabric obscured by the dark olive green background color finished with thin bankers stripes done in a light green. One could also see empty belt loops at the waistline.

Perhaps to no surprise, she was wearing long sleeves on this day as well. This was green in all its glory. A clear green like Astro Turf in the night stadium when viewed on HD. It was your basic cotton wide scoop neck top. There was a skinny black strap visible on her left shoulder which turned out to be the black camisole she had on underneath.

Her handbag was aquamarine. Not a surprise really. It had a Coach leather brand tag attached to one of the handles. One the front of the bag was a pocket with a gold buckle though it wasn’t readily apparent if it was for functional access to the pocket or for pure aesthetics. Since the bag was open, you could see that the interior had a multi-colored striped lining.

The rest of her was actually refreshingly simple. Her hair was tied up in a loose bun. And on each earlobe was a thin long gold chain which was holding a single white pearl. Her right ring finger had a simple gold wedding band.

She was reading a thick hardcover book. With it open, you could see a purple Post-it that she had used to mark something on a previous page. The title and author on the front cover was obscured by a rather large paper library tag – in large font, it was marked Baruch College Inter-library Loan.