Nobody is born afraid of color. It’s taught, and July 2026 DomaChroma Magazine is about unlearning it. You were born with five senses and the neural hardwiring to use them. Vision, hearing, smell, touch, taste. They exist to teach you the big lessons, pleasure and pain, health and danger, delight and disgust.
Then other people get involved. We rewire ourselves to please them, to blend in, and to conform. We learn to dismiss what we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. We trade our own desires for the small reward of approval, and our self-trust takes the hit.
Science knows better. So does marketing. You don’t buy grey apples. You don’t buy beige carrots. And yet from the moment you can make your own decisions, you’re flooded with beige interiors, grey clothing, and a “classic” neutral lifestyle. We’re told bright, bold color is something to fear, even when our brains light up with joy. That friction makes us feel bad about ourselves. It hurts. There’s even a name for it. Chromophobia.
The five color maximalists I interviewed for the July 2026 issue of DomaChroma recognize this fear, and they’re fighting it by exposing us to bright, bold colors, over and over, until we remember that we love it.
Sasha Jardine, founder of the Canadian outerwear brand SteMargScot, puts it plainly: “When we’re children, we don’t question whether we’re ‘allowed’ to wear colour. Somewhere along the way, many of us start dressing by the rules instead of by joy.”
Erick Millán, a designer and founder of House of Color, says a room loses harmony “when fear enters the process. Harmony comes from confidence, not restraint.”
Judith Bradl, a fashion stylist, PR consultant, and brand ambassador, played dress-up in bright clothes as a child, and detoured through a minimalist phase that “never truly felt like me.” She calls her return to color, “rediscovering a part of myself that has always been there.”
Emily Polner, the maximalist fashion writer behind “The Emsider,” built her bold style as a teenager on Tumblr and never let anyone talk her out of it. Her message? “Don’t let fear of how others will perceive you hold you back from living your best life.”
And my favorite color expert and writer, Daniela Araya, says her clients have plenty of taste. What they carry is fear of judgment. So she un-teaches it, gently, like a color therapist. “The reward always outweighs the risk, I promise!”
That’s my mission too. Please stop neutralizing yourself. There are depths of happiness in you, and they’re easy to reach. Be honest about your love of color. Surround yourself with color. Live in color. Watch your horizons stretch in colorful ways you never expected.
Your favorite color has been waiting since childhood. Go get it back.
¡Viva La Revolución Del Color!
Pamela Gold
Founder | Editor in Chief
DomaChroma Magazine