I love color. The color of the cornflower blue summer sky with puffy white clouds floating by; the butter yellow aspen leaves against the hunter green of a Colorado evergreen; all shades and hues of white and cream and gray on a snowy day; the explosion of pastels, raspberry peonies, ocean blue delphiniums, antique gold forsythia and the chartruese of the growing grass in Springtime and then there's the salmon pink trench coat with the multicolor silk grosgrain belt that Brenda wears when she shows up at the crime scene, judging from the Facebook comments you either love it or hate it!!! And for all you super fans out there, when did Brenda last wear this coat? In fact the only time she wore this coat was in Season 1 on a date with Fritz when the in-love couple got a little bit hot and heavy in the front seat of his SUV and as she tumbled out of the truck into the crime scene at Griffith Park, Brenda shown like a beacon of light in the dark of night, exactly what I wanted for the evocative scene of the squad walking up the back lit hill. This salmon pink that you either love or hate was the defining color for this episode.

As the squad now moves from an L.A. summer (episodes 1-10) our stories now are set in late autumn, this is reflected in the detectives browns and rusts and when Brenda removes the "love/hate" trench coat she is resplendent in a vintage Irene jacket in all shades and hues of browns, done up in a Chinoiserie print, a very rare and hard to find Irene...a print, so when I saw it on ebay I SNAPPED it up, I paired it with a JCPenney American Living brown jersey swingy skirt.

Day 2 in the story was important, because as I read the script Brenda had to be tough as nails, but when I read that in the script I immediately wanted to dress her just the opposite, which to me meant Brenda, uber sexy in an autumn red Pure Collection cashmere short sleeved cardigan and Irene taupe wool pencil skirt, nothing better than seeing that striking silhouette and then seeing Brenda intimidate the suspects and take off running down the halls of the Police Administration Building holding the super tight skirt up above her knees and sprinting to stop the underage killer then screeching to a halt in the nick of time. Pure, classic, colorful Brenda Leigh Johnson.

Now back to the Facebook comments for a moment ... the salmon trench coat brought both kudos and thumbs down and even Raydor's severe blue coat and suit and heels were subjects of negative comments from a lady that said no "real" lady cops dress like this -- well, I disagree. Yes, this is t.v. and we are creating an un-real reality, but truly, for 7 seasons I have created characters that at their core and on their exterior are about the "realest" cops on t.v. Brenda is a quirky character that even though this southern gal has lived in oh-so-trendy L.A. for 7 years she never quite got the SoCal fashion gene, but Raydor prescribes to the unwritten rules of the LAPD. Female Cop professional, her shoes are 2 1/2 inch heels, her suits are tailored yes, but not super trendy and not out of place and never too too of the minute. So, go ahead, criticize, praise, be negative, enjoy the colors, the patterns, the ugly this or the hideous that, the gorgeous that or the fabulous this ... at least you're watching, engaging and whether you realize it or not that salmon trench coat subliminally informed your subconscious understanding of the show as well as the salmon print in Flynn's tie, the salmon stripe in Gabriel's suit, even the salmon tank under Sharon Raydor's Day 2 suit ... ahhhhh color, I love it!