Orange is my colour

I'm drawn to orange like I’m drawn to the sun

It all started with the orange trousers I bought in Seville after my relationship ended. I was meant to be in Italy to meet his family but instead joined my own family’s holiday last minute.

The brightness of the trousers drew me in. It was shortly after that I began to notice the influence the colour orange was having on me.

Perhaps it makes sense it started in Seville. Seville is a type of orange. One that is too bitter to eat alone.

Is orange the only colour that’s named after a fruit? Or was the fruit named after the orange? Why isn’t a strawberry called a red? Or a grape a green?

Is orange the only colour that doesn’t show up on our bodies? We have green and purple veins, whites of our eyes, red blood, yellow urine and silver strands of hair. It only shows up as not natural when a fake tan has gone too far.

By focusing on the colour orange, I’m copying Maggie Nelson’s Bluets. My writing has been craving a structure for a while and I loved Bluets, but knew that blue is not my colour.

While blue is the colour of the ocean and the sky, orange is the sun just after sunrise and before sunset. In nature, orange is less abundant than green and blue, but it makes its presence known when it pops out. I spotted a mushroom in the woods in Sweden with an orange edge.

Blue was the colour of Maggie’s depression and orange is my shining out of it.

To write about my fixation on the colour orange came to me while I was on a bright orange bus in Vietnam in January this year. Orange whispered to me that it was going to be my colour.

Except, the colour orange doesn’t whisper. It stands out and makes itself known. Staring out the bus window, the orange bus company dominated the streets.

Orange embodies who I want to be. It’s bright, optimistic and vibrant. I want to be noticed and have happiness that’s at a greater depth than the lightness of yellow. I want to be more scarce and precious than the colour of the sun that shines all day. I want to pop up, shine and then depart.

Once I decided orange was my colour I saw it everywhere and had to have it. On New Year’s Eve in Bangkok, I bought an orange bow with white dots and wore it with my orange trousers. I bought orange sunglasses at a mall in Ho Chi Minh City. They were on sale, unlike the same style in black.

My nails were painted orange and I wore an orange life jacket on the Mekong River. The colour orange kept me safe. In case of an accident, I could easily be seen.

I bought an orange suitcase and an SPF that had an orange logo. I want to travel more and being in the land where the monks wore orange was the most positive start to the year I’ve ever had. Its effects have been far more powerful than anything else I’ve tried.

Orange is the colour my electrolytes turn my water. Because as well as travelling more, I want to be more hydrated. My orange water lifts me up in the morning so I can face the day ahead. It’s made a big difference.

I was cold and it was dark and I was tired and I didn’t want to go to an event alone. I passed a vintage shop and saw an orange jumper on a mannequin and went in. I bought it and my mood transformed. I descended the steps into a crowded room of people and instantly saw a friendly face with a group I could join.

I’m drawn to orange like I’m drawn to the sun. The colour is minding me. I want more of it around me and more of its vibe.

The name of this Substack has changed, but its colour orange hasn’t. I wanted my book cover to be orange, but I never told anyone that. It was a time in my life when I was afraid to speak up about a lot of things. A time of shrinking. I wore a lot of black.

I started a new work project that will take me to the place one of my parents, and so half of me is from. I’ll be going into the sun and shores of the Mediterranean. After joining, I noticed the brand’s company colours are orange and knew it was all connected.

My recruitment business’ colours are green and orange. My work from writing to recruitment requires boldness. Orange will be my guide.

Orange is the colour of fire and while I constantly breathe and do yoga to keep calm, that fire will always be in me. My fire just needs a purpose so it fuels my passion and doesn’t get restless or burn out of control.

Orange has a strength that yellow doesn’t quite have. The orange animals, like tigers, are powerful and stand out. They don’t need to camouflage and hide and neither do I.

Red is intense and I love it. In my book, I talk about how red was the colour of the most intense relationship I ever had. Orange is a more mature version of that colour. It’s a little warmer and wiser. Like the relationship I now have with myself.

Orange is linked to enlightenment in Eastern cultures. Their monks look far less austere in their orange colours than the Catholic monks of the religion I grew up with. And while I may not have reached enlightenment, by increasing the orange in my life, I can feel more light in me.

It’s the colour that says: Look at me. I’ve arrived.

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Congratulations Nicola 🎉

tiffphilippou

A post shared by @tiffphilippou

Alongside orange, I also love yellow and pink, which were the colours of

Nicola Slawson

’s stunning book cover and her incredible book launch outfit. Click the pic above for more photos.

It was such a special event celebrating a book that beautifully and sensitively captures the experience of being single in today’s world and it’s a powerful reminder to not sit in the waiting room of your life.

There are also little quotes from me sprinkled throughout, which was such an honour! Huge congratulations, Nicola. You can order her book in the UK and the US.

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I wrote a darker post last time which was about my time on the jury for a rape case at the Old Bailey. There’s been something about stepping more into my light that’s allowed me to face some of the darkness within and this essay has been living in me for a while now. Click below to read:

Have You Reached a Verdict?

Thank you for reading.

With love,

Tiff x