When I first started paddling, I was told that if your gear all matched, you looked as if you bought it all at the same time, and were therefore a noob and a poser. My paddling skills have always made me look like a noob and a poser, but my gear has almost always been mismatched. Except for this one time when my boat and most of my gear had some kind of purple on it. Savage Fury boat, Lotus pfd, I forget the helmet company and watershoe brand… but I once wore and paddled in a color-coordinated fashion. It had to end. Nothing to do but buy new gear and trade the boat. And thus I got a black and aqua RPM, a red pfd, dug a non-purple helmet out of the closet (always a good idea), kept my greenish paddle with the red duct tape on it, and found a blue rashguard shirt that was very cheap.