The mystery of unmatched garments

Warning: I think this post is going to be a little lengthy post.

A few years back when my uncle got married, he purchased dresses for all the relatives. He took most of the relatives to dress showrooms and let them select the dress. Even then, as always, a few relatives are not satisfied with their own selection. One of my grandma asked another grandma (both distant relatives) whether they can exchange their sarees. The latter refused saying she liked the green saree and cant exchange. The funny part is, on the marriage day the green saree actually turned out to be gray saree. She was shocked to see that she had actually took a gray saree thinking that it is green. We all made fun of her saying that she is wearing the uniform of sanitory workers (No offence). So how does green turned to gray?

Have you ever wondered why an apple looks red? Does it emits red light? The skin of the apple has some natural pigments that has a character to absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect certain other wavelengths. So a red apple absorbs wavelengths corresponding to blue and green and reflects wavelength corresponding to red when white light falls on it. You would have learnt in school that white light is a mixture of Red, Green and Blue. An apple will look red only in white light. Assume a situation, a tray of apple in your bed room with a blue night lamp. Will the apple look red or blue? It will appear gray or black as the pigment in the skin of the apple absorbs blue and reflect nothing. Be careful while wearing socks in your bedroom under night lamp. You can wear a blue sock and a black sock under red lamp thinking that you are wearing a pair of black socks.

Next time when you go to a textile showroom watch the lights. In most places there wont be white lights. Just like a jewellery shop where all the lights will be yellow to make the gold jewels more attractive. Shop owners use slightly coloured lamps to make the dress materials shining. When you select matching blouse, two garments match under that light but when you go home you will see variations. It is similar to the sock example where two colours that are no where near match in a particular light. However the variation here will be only minimal; but large enough for you to visit the shop again.

In my grandma's case, I assume that she took the gray saree under a greenish light. So Girls, next time when you go to select matching blouse take more care. It may spoil your mood before a function and Boys, it may spoil the surprise gift to your girlfriend.