Ronelda Rhode-Fielies
The fashion and colours for autumn/winter 2016 are amazing, and so I have identified six key colour palettes and added their complementing colours for you to mix and match when shopping.
* Terrain – earth tones palette: Brown is making a major comeback, in hues like prune and warmer tones like cognac and coppertone. Both camel and toffee are key outerwear colours this season. Marigold yellow and red rust add a spice component.
* Olive shifts into a darker shade this season with grey undertones. Olive combinations are best suited with marigold as an accent or flax as a neutral.
* Coppertone offers the richest shade of brown. A favourite combination fuses coppertone with plum and dark chocolate.
* Frontier draws in neutrals which are darker, with blue playing an integral role, ranging from a mid-steel blue to teal-inspired diver and navy as a base colour. Wheat is offered as the khaki of the season, and it’s in almost every window display, as is rich plum. Grey hues include dark charcoal and a mid-tone of slate.
* Dark chocolate is certainly the deepest brown, leveraged highly in outerwear. Pair the dark hue with reds like burgundy and scarlet.
* In the brights palette, red continues to play the most important role with a vibrant shade of scarlet red, while other warm brights include sunshine yellow and red orange. On the cooler side, blue remains relevant, while a similar intensity is channeled with midnight purple.
Red remains highly influential, paired with neutrals like biscuit or soft ceramic blue.
* Mystery – jewel tones palette: This sets the tone for this season’s jewel tones. The reds remain the most powerful, led by burgundy, the most important colour in the jewel tone palette. Cyan becomes increasingly popular to teal tones, while forest adds a dose of green. Indigo is presented as a jewel alternative to navy, with purple represented by eggplant and metallic bronze balancing out the palette.
* In the midtones palette blues play a key role, starting with a vibrant azure hue and extending to light periwinkle and baby blue, which works well with camel. Warm colours are represented by tangerine orange and citrine yellow. Purples like light lilac and violet orchid are included in the palette.
* In the pastel palette, which includes ceramic pink, lavender grey and biscuit, beige tones also play a role, as do rose taupe and foundation. Ivory presents an off-white option, while dust grey rounds out the palette.
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If you have fashion-related questions for Ronelda or think you have a talent for putting together trendy outfits, you can email your queries, comments – or pictures – to fashionfundi@inl.co.za
* This column will appear once a month.
