Pantone’s Spring 2015 colour report & ready-to-wear runways
By Sophie Isbister, Life & Style Editor
New York Fashion Week, which took place September 4 to 11, is a colourful event—a fertile breeding ground for fashion trend-maker Pantone Colour Institute to come up with its yearly Fashion Colour Report. In addition to determining the colour of the year sometime in December, Pantone releases a yearly fall report based on the colours they see at fashion weeks—hues they think will be highly featured in the following spring.
The Spring 2015 colour report, titled En PleinAir, differs from 2014’s trends in its muted subtleties. While 2014 was all about boldness, encapsulated in its colour of the year Radiant Orchid, fashion in 2015 is taking a back-to-nature approach with airy pastels and rich earthen tones. You’ll be seeing colours such as Lucite Green and Strawberry Ice everywhere from haute couture to fast-fashion stores, but it all starts on New York’s runways, with names like Coach, BCBG Max Azria, and Kate Spade incorporating these fresh yet earthy hues.
Pantone’s Executive Director Leatrice Eisman spoke about how the colour report reflects cultural trends, stating that “Many feel compelled to be connected around the clock because we are afraid we’ll miss something important. There is a growing movement to step out and create ‘quiet zones’ to disconnect from technology and unwind, giving ourselves time to stop and be still.”
The report’s colours, Eisman continues, “follow the same minimalistic, ‘en plein air’ theme, taking a cue from nature rather than being reinvented or mechanically manipulated.”
These trends were fully evident at New York Fashion Week: take, for example, BCBG Max Azria’s stunning collection of flowing earth-toned gowns. Pieces in this collection combine different shades of Pantone’s Toasted Almond, as well as their suite of airy blues like Aquamarine. Ethereal, gauzy, and light, BCBG’s collection both borrowed from nature and celebrated classic femininity while staying firmly on-trend.
Toasted Almond also appeared on Kate Spade’s runway, along with the rest of the beige neutrals from Pantone’s report; the chic line is known for their bold clothes for women, and the separates in their Spring 2015 ready-to-wear marry their no-nonsense style with the seasonal flair of freshness.
Even the cutting-edge Coach, led by designer Stuart Vevers, got into the en plein air theme in their own unique way, showcasing a Lucite Green miniskirt with an outrageous fun-fur coat in a frosty, natural blue. Coach’s audacious creativity brings a lively spark to Pantone’s colour report—proving that these are not your mother’s pastels.
