Fig. reminders of someone or something; a thing that is reminiscent of someone or something. When I met Jim's mother, I thought "shades of Aunt Mary." "Shades of grade school," said Jack as the university lecturer rebuked him for being late.
something that you say when someone or something makes you think of another person or thing We visited the university campus and had a few drinks in the bar. Shades of my student days.
A reminder of a person or situation in the past. For example, He really played a fine game for a fifty-year-old-shades of his high school triumphs, or They found themselves alone on the beach-shades of their childhood summers together. [Mid-1800s]