My first sign of spring? A peach-colored OCBD

Even for those who profess no particular interest in clothing, its practical value is relatively uncontroversial. It covers our bodies, ensuring we aren’t completely naked, standing embarrassed in the middle of the road. It keeps us warm, preventing us from dying in the middle of a snowbank in January.

And most people will concede that clothing reflects our culture and history. No, there isn’t much history in the pair of sweatpants, but there is in the Oxford shirt or the necktie.

A peach OCBD is one of the most peculiar shirts. It is, indeed, very close to pink. But it isn’t pink. It just isn’t at all.

But clothing has another function that is worth considering: helping us reflect the season. Clothes help us feel time.

I know that sounds strange, esoteric, or overblown, but it isn’t.

Christmas in July?

Think about red and green. What comes to mind when you think about those distinct colors together? Is it the Fourth of July? Is it the beach? Is it St. Patrick’s Day? No, of course not. You think of Christmas. Red and green make you think of falling snow and Christmas trees.

Would you feel comfortable wearing this combination in any other month? Probably not. But in December it feels just right. It elevates the season. These two wintery colors help you feel time in an acute way. With red and green in December, you embody the season in sartorial form.

Spring incarnate

We experience the same thing in spring, too. It’s not red and green, trees and snow, of course. It’s pastels. It’s light greens and violets. It’s peaches, sunny yellows, and the lightest blues imaginable on poplin button-downs. It’s these colors that feel like spring incarnate.

They are the colors of the blooming flowers and waking world. They remind us of new life. They are the colors of the living earth brought forward by the blessed sun. These colors are colors for finally coming outside and breathing easy without chattering teeth for the first time in half a year.

A light green OCBD. Can this be worn in October? No. It’s way too fresh for the rotting leaves and darkening days. What about violet? Can it be worn in November? No. Never. Purple is a year-round color, that’s true. A deep purple is regal and works quite well in the darkness of winter. It’s practically like a royal navy. But a violet OCBD? That effervescent shade that reminds us of a young tulip growing from the ground? No.

Peach power

Peach? Isn’t that like red or pink? Can’t that be worn year-round? Again, no. It cannot. A peach OCBD is one of the most peculiar shirts. It is, indeed, very close to pink. But it isn’t pink. It just isn’t at all. It is peach and nothing else. And peach just cannot be worn when it’s cold. Can you imagine a peach sitting in the snow? No. You can’t imagine a peach OCBD under a red and black Mackinaw jacket, either. It’s wrong.

These things are so delicate and nuanced. I realize that for the uninitiated, this can sound too detailed or blown out of proportion. But once you think for just a few minutes about these shades and their intimate relationship with time and season, you realize that they can only be — truly be — in spring.

Yes, they can be worn in summer too, but it is spring when they come rushing out of our closets for the first time. It is spring when we realize just what they mean.

Feeling time

Is this just about color and shade? Is this just aesthetics without any other meaning? Is there a bigger takeaway? Of course there is. Aesthetics, when properly understood, always hold something deeper.

What does it mean to feel the season? How do we feel time? Has our modern world lessened our perception of time and season? These days we have incredible climate control. AC and heat keep our houses at the perfect temperature all year long.

This, while deeply appreciated, has eroded some feeling of time and season. Reliable heat has lessened the need for the wool sweater or tweed sport coat. Wonderful AC has lessened the need for madras or linen.

As we have moved away from an agrarian society and toward a world where we can get any fruit we want from anywhere in the world any day of the week no matter the season, we have also moved away from the land and feeling time in the land.

Unless we are farmers, we no longer feel the harvest seasons in the same way. We no longer realize — deeply realize — that food doesn’t grow all year. Modern society, for better or worse, has led to us feeling the seasons (and time) less than our ancestors did.

Intimate knowledge

Clothes are wonderful because they allow us a return to time. They give us the chance to reflect, embody, and feel time in an intimate way. Clothes are, after all, one of the most intimate items we own. They are on our bodies, against our skin. To be able to feel time and season in such an intimate way is a gift in our era of disorienting time suspension.

Spring is about new life. Thawing after the cold. Sun after the snow. Lightness after darkness. We shouldn’t resist that. It’s our gift after surviving winter. We should wear peach, violet, and light green. We should embrace spring and all its meaning. When we embrace this sunny joy in our clothing, it radiates out into other aspects of our lives as well.

Spring is about joy, so let us feel joy.