It dawned on me on the Thursday morning, a realisation that if sudden action was not taken, the following day would be a disaster.
I no longer owned a purple coloured shirt, and tomorrow was Wear It Purple Day.
My schedule for the Friday was filled with Wear It Purple Day events, the day that sends a message to LGBTIQA+ youth that it’s okay to be yourself.
I’d forgotten that months earlier in an enthusiastic wardrobe clean out I’d jettisoned the purple shirt that had served me well for so many years. Now I had nothing.
Thursday night was late night shopping so I headed to the largest shopping centre I could find in search of a new purple shirt. As I walked through the David Jones menswear department I look around and could see every other colour in the spectrum – but nothing that was purple.
Purple is not in fashion. If somewhere in the world a top designer was including purple in their latest collections it was yet to filter down like a cerulean coloured sweater to the stores I frequent.
There was nothing in Big W either. A succession of smaller stores also were devoid of anything in a purple hue. Then finally in K-Mart I found one slightly too large t-shirt, I stared at it. Was it purple enough?
I asked a woman passing by, “Is this purple?”
“More a periwinkle blue,” she answered. “But it could pass for purple-ish.”
I pondered it. No – it was not going to work, I was going to be standing in a succession of events where everyone was going to be wearing purple. I’d look like a Smurf in a room filled with Barney the Dinosaur.
I tried more stores still drawing a blank. I changed tack, I’ll accessorise. I bought some purple earrings and a new purple phone case. Maybe I could find a hat… I could not.
Then in Myer I found it. A rack filled with purple coloured polo shirts. Heavens above, please have my size.
I headed to the change rooms. It fitted and I breathed a sign of relief.
As I walked out of the cubicle, a man exited the change room opposite, in his hand he held an identical purple polo shirt. We looked into each others eyes, no words were said, but we knew we’d been on the same quest.
Like a Hobbit trying to get rid of ring, Dante’s pilgrim making it to paradise, or Harold and Kumar finally finding White Castle -it has been an epic journey.
And the moral of the story, if you head to the Wear It Purple site you can order a t-shirt or other paraphernalia for Wear It Purple Day on the 30th August 2024. Mine just arrived in the mail – I’m all set.
The theme this year is “Your Passion, Your Pride.”
