The rule arrives before the woman does
You didn't choose the rule. It was already in the room when you got there, in your mother's hand steering you away from the mustard yellow kurta, in the tailor who said "madam, this orange will make you look very dark," in the aunty at the wedding who told your cousin that white was inauspicious and red was only for brides. By the time you were old enough to shop alone, you had already learned to reach for the safe colours. Navy. Black. Maroon. Colours that kept their head down.The logic behind most of these rules is skin tone. Specifically, the idea that certain colours "suit" fair skin and others "don't suit" darker skin. This is not a neutral observation about contrast ratios. It is a value system dressed as aesthetic advice. When a shopkeeper tells a woman with deep brown skin that she should avoid yellow, he is not talking about fashion. He is repeating a hierarchy that has been profitable to maintain.
