Fashion in Colour

Humans can see many more colours than animals can. This unique ability connects us. This partly explains our love for art and fashion. Experiencing colour arouses emotions. We see colours through our eyes, but they acquire meaning in our brain. 

Colours in fashion are not just colours. They are bearers of meaning. Those meanings are given to colours by society. And those meanings shift between different cultures and periods. Colour in fashion therefore works like a code, whose meaning we don’t always know (anymore). The challenge, of course, is to crack these codes. We can tell many stories about the symbolism of colour in fashion: in the here and now, in the past, and in distant lands.

Current fashions are a riot of colour. Is this mere coincidence? As the legendary fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli once said: ‘In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous’. She was crazy about ‘shocking pink’, just one of the vibrant colours that have dominated recent fashion collections. In times of crisis, when things look black, bright colours help to lift our spirits. Because colour not only evokes emotions, it also connects, inspires and gives hope.