or: Fifty Shades of Red
Spring this year has been a slow and rather chilly affair; and with no “special occasions” on my agenda, I’ve not been feeling much need or inspiration to go shopping for new clothes – until this week, when Summer decided it was time to make an appearance after all. Then all of a sudden when I opened my wardrobe, it mysteriously turned out to contain almost only winter colours; especially in the tops and cardigans section. Or else odd colours that did not seem to go with anything else I owned…
I’ve probably complained about this before; but it’s an enigma to me what secret world council is behind the changes of fashion colour schemes from one year to another. It doesn’t matter which store you visit, or which brand you look at – setting out to match, for example, a certain shade of pink or red bought two or three years ago often proves to be next to impossible!
However, as it turned out, I had some luck this week (or year) in actually finding some things to match two cherry (?) red items bought last summer.
This is the skirt and top from last year. Actually I did not really buy those two on the same occasion or with the purpose of wearing them together – but they turned out to be of exactly identical dye although different material.
Earlier this spring (as perhaps one or two of you with an eye for these things might remember) I bought a “pink” handbag on sale. This, rather to my surprise, turned out to go better with the cherry red than with other shades of pink in my wardrobe.
And even better with some new items bought this week - a button-less long cardigan, and a cotton blouse:
(The back of the cardigan)
Before you faint from the colour shock, perhaps I’d better add that I doubt I’ll ever wear all the red items together (from top to toe). More likely I’ll be mixing them with white, grey, beige, black and/or dark blue.
I also bought this sleeveless long top, and a pair of shoes (flat, soft and comfortable).
I think the cardigan will also go quite nicely with this (also sleeveless) dress from last summer, even if the red “belt” on that is a slightly different shade of red:
Now all I need is the right weather to show them off in!
10 comments:
they are all beautiful and black is my favorite color and red is my second, that means i like every single one of these... i agree about the color thing and i think the designers do that to make people buy more clothes... and i find it odd that every year when we walk into a clothing store, there is one color that is every where, and also that color is in all the stores. then the next year they choose another one... marketing extremes.
Love that shade of red and mixed with the black, grey and white it looks even better. Believe it or not there actually is some kind of council or committee that determines what the color of year will be. Pantone a company that deals in color and is involved in the color production of most fabrics has a committee that meets twice a year in Europe to determine the color of the year. They meet in a white room. This year's color is a wine-red called Marsala.
It's lovely, Monica, and I can only congratulate you on those finds! Before I scrolled down the post to reach the picture with the top trimmed with black and the black sun hat, one of my first thoughts had been "it would look great with black". Grey and white are excellent for mixing with this colour; not so sure about beige and dark blue.
Such a cheerful shade!
Thanks Janet - very educational :) I looked up Pantone and read a bit more about it. I don't think I've seen that Marsala colour in the shops here yet - but I guess we'll be seeing that in autumn, then... Ouch. Remains to be seen whether it can be matched with my other wine-reds...!
Yes, it is cheerful; and with my hair naturally "fading" + having to be a bit careful with the sun, and thinking of the two red items already in my wardrobe, it seemed like a good choice for the season. Having more items that can be matched in various ways does make it easier. Btw with dark blue I'm thinking really dark - like in that partly striped dress in the last picture. That is a very dark blue rather than black, even though it might (perhaps) look black in the photo. Even close up IRL it's almost difficult to tell (until you put it next to something really black!) (And similarly, the 'beige' I was thinking of are light hues which some might call offwhite, cream, linen.)
Thanks Sandra, and yes that's how I feel in the stores too. Certain colours totally dominate and others seem to have become non-existent. :) I guess Janet provides some of the explanation in her comment below!
I love those colours...I hope you get to show them off soon.
I meant to comment when I first read this post but couldn't think of anything original to say. I still can't! Anyway I like the colours (for you - they'd look a bit avant guarde on me) and I approve of the colours you will be matching them with. I was going to add grey but I've just checked and you already have that as an option. So long as you don't choose yellow!
Thanks Virginia. Of course as soon as I'd been shopping the weather began to cool off again...
Glad to have your approval, Graham. ;) And I think I can almost promise I won't be wearing those reds with yellow.,,
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