Colour Blocking: From The Catwalk To Your Wardrobe

Can you block it? Yes you can...

Published on9th March 2017 at 12.48pm

We’ll let you into a secret. While the Grazia fashion desk may extol the virtues of new season trends, our personal approach to dressing tends not to be so obviously trend-led.

Of course, there might be the one (or three!) key items (see The Elevators) but it is usually teamed with judiciously selected - and rather understated - pieces. Which essentially means a lot of black, navy and grey. Except this season.

This spring, the fash-community is changing tack. Everyone is now, shock, horror, wearing colour. And no, we don’t mean a pop of colour here and there. The new bold, irreverent way to wear colour is not only odd, it is top-to-toe, extreme-ends-of-the-Pantone-spectrum bonkers. Blame the Balenciaga designer, Demna Gvasalia, (aka the most influential designer alive right now) for rewriting the rules of colours that supposedly go together. He sent his models down the catwalk in a cacophony of strangely contrasting – but compelling - numbers. Think red mini-dress with electric blue thigh high boots, a high-neck sugary pink dress with shiny purple spandex, an 80’s style ruched top in bright purple with chocolate brown leggings… You get the picture. Celine’s designer Phoebe Philo, a woman with an innate ability to anticipate what every woman wants to wear, made the idea of combining a lime green top, burgundy skirt and red boots a very welcome proposition.

Such is the sway of these deliciously eye-popping confections that even Victoria Beckham, a woman known for her more or less colour-free aesthetic, has been unable to resist. So if you want to make sure your delve into this brave new colour-blocking universe doesn’t get lost in translation, just look to VB. Her blue shirt and orange trouser combo alone is a spot-on lesson in runway-to-reality dressing.