It’s funny which little comments people make to you over the years that stick with you and end up affecting things you do later on.

This morning I unpacked a box of clothes I just bought — a process I absolutely cannot go through without thinking of my friend Aundrea. Her comments have played a role in pretty much every piece of clothing I have purchased since early 2006.

We went to grad school together, and I walked into class one day wearing this shirt with orange stripes on the sleeves:

Aundrea practically gave me a Nobel Prize in fashion for the dose of color, and used the opportunity to inform me that my wardrobe was extremely boring. She had a point. It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that 90 percent of my shirts at the time were either navy blue, grey, grey with navy blue, or navy blue with grey.

For a while her influence was more direct in my mind. I would see a shirt I liked and think, “Ok, this the color I would get, but Aundrea would tell me to get that one.”

I think I more routinely expand my horizons today, and can report that none of the shirts I just got are navy blue or grey. Now if only I could bring back the bright yellow shoes I used to have.