The Pantone Color Institute is the paragon of all things colour! As the leading authority on forecasting global trends it produces a Fashion Trends Report twice a year, featuring the top ten stand out colours for the Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer seasons. They know their stuff!
Orange has certainly become the new black and features in both the AW20 and SS21 Collections and yet it’s not a colour that many of us turn to easily. Perhaps that’s about to change?
AW20 features a vibrant, clear, bright orange named ‘Exuberance’ and is described as “A good natured and expansive orange shade, Exuberance conveys a message of spontaneity and happiness.” Well, we could all do with some of that right now.
Exuberance works beautifully for those with a warm skin tone, namely those that have been analysed with high levels of contrast and are within the Spring seasonal classification or are diagnosed as having Autumn seasonal or Warm tonal colour palettes.
Orange is again forecast to trend in SS21 fashions, this time with two shades of orange in the colour palettes. Firstly, a slightly more subdued ‘Marigold’ – “Marigold is a comforting golden orange infused yellow that lends a warming presence” and a deeper, rich ‘Orange Ochre’ – “This earthy orange transcends the seasons.”
I’m often asked how to wear orange. It’s such a bold colour and can be overpowering. Intimidating even. But is a beautiful hue when worn with confidence!
To tone down the bold tones of orange, consider teaming it with neutrals such as beige, warm white, grey or black but be mindful of wearing black near your face if you are anything other than a high contrast Winter seasonal colour palette. Black will age you unless you have a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ complexion.
Using the colour wheel as inspiration, blue is opposite orange on the colour wheel and creates a harmonious, complementary colour combination. Shades of orange and shades of blue combine to give options for baby blue, cobalt blue, true orange and peach. For a triadic combination we look to the three colours placed evenly around the colour wheel and see that means orange, purple and green. Wow! That’s an amazing fusion. For something more subtle we can look either side of orange and create an analogous grouping of orange, red, pink or orange, red, yellow. For the warm Autumn palettes putting nature together in shades of orange and green also works well.
If you love orange but it’s not a colour you’d opt to wear, then an accent colour of orange introduced through accessories is particularly effective. This has the effect of creating a splash of contrasting colour to blocks of colour or prints in the same harmonious colours mentioned above – blue, purple, red, grey, warm white, black, navy, pink or green. Infiltrate an orange bag, scarf, shoes or jewellery (gold based rather than cooler silver) to add an interesting pop of colour. Using accessories, particularly scarves or statement jewellery worn close to the face enables orange to be accessible to those with cooler skin tones for whom orange, as a warm colour, is not wholly flattering. The colour worn closest to your face which reflects light onto your face is the most important colour to flatter your natural colourings so a scarf in your best colours creates opportunity to wear colours that don’t feature in your diagnosed seasonal colour palette.
A colour analysis is the best and only way to have true clarity on the best colours for you to wear and will diagnose a seasonal or tonal colour palette of 30+ colours for you to choose from. Giving consideration to your personal preferences, your personality , your style and lifestyle will also be contributing factors when the diagnosis is made.
Book an online colour analysis with me and you’ll never look back, because once you know, you know!
