Vibrant yellow or soothing ecru? Both embody designer fashions

Associated Press

MOVING with STYLE: Eye-popping bright colors or natural neutrals are featured in this season’s fashions, such as this dress from Donna Karan’s collection that combines a fluid fabric and a shape that enhances the body.

Fashion covers the spectrum with bright colors and natural neutrals.

NEW YORK (AP) — The fashion world is showering shoppers with two distinct color palettes this season: juicy, fruity brights that are eye-popping and peppy, or natural neutrals that aim to tap into our eco-consciousness and worldly tastes.

There is no mushy middle, though, with nary a dusty pink in sight.

The fashion world is hoping that the infusion of lively colors helps bring consumers into stores.

“There is a true psychology to wearing color,” says InStyle fashion director Hal Rubenstein. “It really can change your mood. ... Not to be too Pollyanna, if you wear something that’s mood brightening, it could have an effect on the people around you. It can enhance your environment.”

After that initial jolt, shoppers are offered the more soothing shades of sand and ecru for the warmer weather.

When he unveiled his candy-colored collection on the runway, Michael Kors explained that his prescription for a population fretting over the war, the economy and the election was to put them in something “delicious.”

But Francisco Costa, designer at Calvin Klein, made the case for serenity, taking his inspiration from somber Dutch painter Wim Schuhmacher and the Hutterites of Montana, who lead a very sparse existence.

“Fashion always braces extremes and counterpoints,” says Gregg Andrews, Nordstrom fashion director. “The newness is the shocking hues and the neutrals, and I think it’s the combination of the two that look extremely sophisticated.”

Favorite colors

Andrews’ choice as the No. 1 shade for the season is a vibrant yellow. It works well on its own, in a print — either a trend-right pop-art geometric or painterly floral — or in a colorblocking pattern.

Other favorites are bright cobalt and a pink that he nicknamed “highlighter pink.” He describes it as “less purple than magenta and deeper than hot pink.”

Designer Lisa Perry has made saturated colors her trademark. On the day of a recent interview and photo shoot, she wore a colorblocked shift dress with diagonal swaths of turquoise, green and royal blue.

Yes, she is extreme in her color choices, Perry says, but she doubts people who claim they can’t wear brights have ever tried them. There is a color out there for each person, she promises.

Her advice to color novices is to start out with turquoise, among the most flattering shades of the color wheel for all skin types. From there, progress to yellow and then pink.

Stephanie Solomon, Bloomingdale’s fashion director, has worn her new pink dress by Perry. “Every time I wear it, I feel 10 years younger. I never receive more compliments than when I wear this dress.”

She was drawn to the hue for the same reasons as everyone else. “It’s something I haven’t owned in a while and brights make us happy. ... You probably own enough black. If you’re looking at the perfect yellow dress in front of you, you should buy it.”

Solomon is talking mostly about knee-length or shorter dresses — or maybe a simple cardigan, handbag or shoe. Anything more than that can overwhelm some women because then the garment, not you, is making the fashion statement, she says.

Simple is key

A simple shape is key to the look, advises InStyle’s Rubenstein.

“If you’re going to wear a color that’s going to turn a head, the dress can’t be overdone, over-draped or over-embellished,” he says. “You need to find it in a fluid fabric and a shape that enhances the body.”

As a wise buy, though, bright colors have their limitations. Solomon knows she can’t wear her new pink dress as often as she’d wear a more subdued one — otherwise she risks being known as the lady in the pink dress.

That’s where the neutrals come in.

Enter the neutrals

Mixing a vivid color with something from the tan family gives the same high-low effect as mixing a designer piece with a basic, explains Nordstrom’s Andrews, and the result is an outfit that’s sophisticated and chic that will last beyond this season.

There can be something luxurious about earth tones, says Paul Overfield, design director at Cole Haan, which recently launched its woven-leather Genevieve accessories collection.

Technology has allowed for many more leather finishing techniques that make neutrals exciting. The brand is now burnishing, aging, washing and even throwing salt on its leathers to get the texture right, according to Overfield.

“I think accessories always go back to the earth tones. If you’re desperate to cheer yourself up, you go to the brights, but when you think about having something on your body all day long, you’ll go toward the neutrals.”