Katie PlummerWhen it comes round to the Spring/Summer season you can expect a flash of light colours across the catwalks, and 2013 is taking this trend on the chin. The pastel trend is an easy one to cover, as you can embrace the style through your whole outfit, or through a touch of soft coloured accessories. We tend to see the introduction of bright colours and colour blocking with the warmer season hits, but again like last year, we’re seeing more of an interest into pastel colours and lighter palettes. Today we revisit this trend from our last article on Pastel Colours last year, and look at how we can take influence from this SS13 trend, highlighting images for inspiration and product picks to help you establish this trend.
The Catwalk
The SS13 catwalk trends from Milan, Paris and London were bursting with not only bright but lighter shades of blue, yellow, pink and green which caught on between designers and have trickled down to the high-street. In Paris, Six Lee took the look into a different league with a collection of tailored shorts, structured blazers and sleeveless shirts to name a few; all in an array of ice-cream colours. Six Lee mixed pastels with pastels to create a colour block effect as well as combining them with light grey tweeds to create a more contemporary style when it comes to the formal look.
As Six Lee, the Hong Kong born designer says himself: “We’re all together, looking at the world in colour” and this season those colours are pastels.
In Stores
As we enter the summer seasons, we think of Factors to consider when choosing a clothing manufacturer for your fashion line, the darker shades of clothes are replaced with lighter versions of the latest summer cuts. One shop that has embraced this this year is AllSaints. The pastel invasion is unexpected of the high-street brand, which have a specific brand identity of all things dark and rustic. The fact that AllSaints have embarked upon a new journey of colour, against their traditional spread of black and grey emphasizes the popularity of this trend this season.
The store have redesigned some of their most well known and best sold items with pastel shades. This includes their crew, scoop and tonic t-shirts as well as polo shirts, which helps men to keep on trend this spring/summer.
However, if you think this trend is the one for you, and you have the confidence to experiment more so than just a t-shirt, you can look to implement pastel colours through different layers. This trend can be worn as a statement and it can also be worn subtly. If you wanted to implement this trend subtly into your style this coming spring/summer season, you could look to neutralise your pastel colours by layering with a neutral tone. White works extremely well as it draws the attention towards the pastel colour but doesn’t create too much of a statement. On the other hand, if you wanted to use this trend to create a statement, you could look towards colour blocking pastel colours. Here are some images for inspiration.
Clothing
The clothing you wear should always be your main focus when it comes to implementing a given trend with full effect. Of course, the clothing we wear is the main fundamental of your overall style, and it’s going to be the main focus to the people judging your style. If you want to wear this trend to create a statement, look to implement pastel colours as the top layer. So think about utilizing it through a blazer, a lightweight jumper, a shirt or shorts. Think carefully about the colours you’re combining and make sure they compliment each other. On the other hand, to rock this trend subtly you can look to utilize pastels through accessories or complimenting layers such as t-shirts, polo shirts and shirts that are layered.
Shoes
You shouldn’t exclude footwear from this trend either, and the high-street is brimming with both casual and formal styles which correspond with spring/summer 13. If you like something more causal, Topman have a great pastel brown pair, which would look great with jeans in the day. Whilst Office has something a little smarter and multi-tonal that would work well pastel coloured trousers.
Accessories
The pastel style is one that can easily be worn and adjusted to your personal style, as well as being formal or casual. Depending on your taste, some might think a whole pastel suit is a little too much, so why not bring your suit up to date with a light coloured tie? Pink and lilac are perfect pastels which would accompany any shirt well, although if you’re feeling brave enough, you could always team with a lighter coloured shirt. Not only can you introduce pastels into your look through ties, you can also look towards pocket squares, neckerchiefs, socks, bow ties and lightweight scarves. Here are some accessories to think about.
Pastels can be worked into your style really easily, whether it’s an accessory or head to toe. It has been all over the catwalk and now featuring in high-street stores so there is no excuse not to be on trend this season.