Beige Beauty

Venidress dress (similar)
Sezane sandals (similar)
Ellen James bag
Anine Bing sunglasses
Vintage scarf (similar)
Madewell rings
& Other Stories earrings
Location: Manitoba Legislative Building -Winnipeg, Manitoba

Last year, in our first months back home, I observed that Winnipeg is beige. I meant that literally – when I look outside the windows of my fourteenth-floor apartment, all of the buildings that surround it are tan-toned. My own apartment building, in fact, is a similar hue. The beige shades of Winnipeg are not soft and buttery like the cream hues of Paris; they are decidedly sandy and frankly, a bit bland, because they are less an aesthetic choice and more a practical one. Beige, after all, is relatively easy to keep clean.

What I didn’t know, when I remarked on the colours of my hometown, was that within months, beige would very improbably become this season’s black. I didn’t, even for an instant, imagine I would soon be hunting for the perfect sand-coloured sweater and wishing I owned more brown shoes. Suddenly, the beige tones I have long regarded as drab became undeniably chic.

No one is more puzzled by the return of beige clothing than I am. After all, the advent of the zip-off cargo pant made all light brown shades the antithesis of chic. But I am particularly perplexed because, while I am an avowed neutral lover, I have mostly avoided brown tones in my wardrobe, apart from my beloved camel coat and a few pairs of brown leather shoes from Sezane – but suddenly, this year, I want all of the safari-shade things. Many of my pin boards look like Abercrombie and Fitch advertisements circa 1992. “Those could all almost be photos of you,” Ian remarked the other day while looking through one, officially confirming that my obsession with all that is beige has reached record levels.

And we couldn’t live in a better place for it. Everywhere I turn in Winnipeg, my current favourite colour is there. If 2018 is the year of beige, we are spending it in the city of beige. And if you love the trend like I do, the effect is undeniably eye-catching.

Reality is, trends come and go. This season’s it colour will be long forgotten by next year, while the colours of my hometown will remain unchanged. I will undoubtedly go back to thinking of the city as a somewhat drab place that was probably pretty once, long before I knew it. But for now, I love all the beige.