Pantone Colour of the Year 2011

An Introduction to Colour

Honeysuckle. Probably doesn’t mean much to many. Well it should, and it shouldn’t – for use of a contradictory and baffling statement.

You will recall (that sounded a bit threatening) how the spring/summer season of our previous year appeared to be a wash with shades of turquoise in a more gleeful attempt to cheer us all up (seeing as we didn’t have money or women to do that for us).

You will also in your early years, against a will of dignity, vaguely remember being sported around Safeways (yes, it still existed – unfortunately), in some hideous denim get up known in archaism as dungarees.

The two are one in the same. The reason you were lumbered with the choice was because you didn’t have a say in it (sort of made obvious by the word ‘lumbered’). You may have managed to escape the dungarees but you haven’t managed to escape being nudged towards an expected colour for your summer wardrobe.

Pantone Colour of the Year

I never begrudged turquoise, we never had a spat and I still occasionally invite him round for drinks (but never after dark). I actually thought it was a great colour for the season. I got to be chased by bees longingly for 5 months of the year; but it led to a rare occasion, looking good while running away flapping – like a masculinity diminishing serendipity.

I even covered the colour trend last year and made some awful jokes about the colour cataloguing system, which in hindsight now, just made me look like a geek.

So you’re probably wondering what arching shrubs or twining vines have to do with fashion – or this article even. Frankly seeing as I just got “arching shrubs or twining vines” off Wikipedia – so am I.

The honeysuckle I am in reference to is the honeysuckle that will take up residency in your wardrobe for an extended stay as it is named Pantone colour of the year.

Any prospect involving this colour and actually having to wear it, at first, seems daunting. But you know what they say about real men – they just get on with it.

Any insightful chap with an intuitive mind will see that well, yes, this colour is actually going to work.

Colour of the Year on Lookbook:

Colour Of The Year Pieces

You should bear in mind that even though the specific pantone colour honey suckle is chosen as colour of the year, it does not mean clothing has to be exactly this shade. This is the base colour and tone can be varied so it edges more on the pastel side or even darker and more vivid. Check out some of the current pieces available below which are honey suckle inspired:

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How to Wear: Colour of the Year

Spring/summer 2011 is going to leave you nothing but shunned if you lack the ability to step out of an imaginary box (sort of along the same context as this imaginary line people keep mentioning you crossing). It’s no wonder then that the staple trends for the season revolve around the ability to carry off such colours; and if you can’t, best stick to the anti-trend and hope the fashion snobs don’t snub you in the street.

• One variant way to put this colour to use is to pair it with other bright colours to show an all-out tirade on confidence.
• For every notch you want to tone the look down, throw in more monochrome pieces. If in the end the occasion only calls upon your chinos for colour, pick up the slack with a few colour pop accessories elsewhere.
• When dabbling in colour, neon tones such as yellow are harsh on the skin. If your sun exposure has been somewhat limited, keep intense hues away from the face to avoid being washed out… where did you go?
• Mixing vivid colour with pastels will make it look like you can’t make up your mind, and as a man, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do.

Further reading:

• Alex Woodhall on The Spring/Summer Essential: Coloured Trousers.
• Kieron Marchese on The Spring/Summer Anti Trend.
• Grant ford on Breaking the Suit.
• Tom Bloomfield on How to Wear the Right Colours for Your Skin Tone & How to Integrate Colour into Your Wardrobe.

Keep an eye out for Matt Allinson’s 101-guide to colour [coming this week] this season for clues on what to wear with what, and how to pull off even the most unlikely of combos.

Colour of the Year: Lookbook

The Sign Off

What originally seems limited in options – limited as far as a definitive choice goes – actually ends up being almost limitless. The only limits you have are your personal own. The colour of the year never claims to be the be all end all of a B&Q colour swatch, and even to that it rarely asks for biblical recognition.

Man has been acquainted with speeding cameras for some year now. It’s up to him how little or how large he takes notice of them; It’s up to him how much he decides to tread on the wrong side of caution or sensibility by. The same is said, in the same truth, with any trend. In either case, we can’t promise you won’t be ticketed in some fashion.

Now you can see why I became led to the contradictory statement of the opening line. There’s no real cohesion in this article (if you’ll excuse me shunning myself) just a myriad of possibilities and choices.

I’d say that’s a bit better, wouldn’t you?
L x