Canadian Fashion - where is the colour at?

My French teacher is from Morocco and has worked and traveled all over the world. She loves her life in Toronto and has even started to get used to the January snowfall. What she doesn’t understand is why Canadians choose to wear such depressing colours? When is the last time you saw someone wearing clothing that wasn’t Grey? Brown? Black? or Beige?

I tried to defend my fellow citizens by explaining that we don’t really have shops that carry the bright oranges, yellows etc that are commonly seen in Africa and parts of Europe. She disagreed. From pink to purple to bright green, Canadian stores are full of bright coats, shoes and hats for the season. She was right. Zara and H&M, Forever 21 and Club Monaco, all have bright colours on display that the shopper cannot miss.

So why the drab clothing? I made the argument that professionally, Canadians may feel grey, black, white etc are more appropriate for the workplace. True, but then how do Europeans pull it off? Incorporating some colour into your wardrobe, doesn’t decrease your professionalism. A purple scarf or yellow gloves, doesn’t make you trashy. She is right. Why don’t we brighten up our lives by introducing some colour into our closets? After all, I am getting pretty tired of the slush and the clouds and the grey of the season. I could totally go for a pink coat right about now