Orange is not only fruit!

I met this stunning young woman at the bus stop. I like to see how Arabic women interpret their strict dress code and still make an outfit their own. This lady wears three shades of orange with a traditional black dress – her headscarf, her bag and her super orange shoes. Doesn’t she look lovely?

The only thing I have made in orange is two cushion covers in some Roland Mouret tangerine wool. Very beautiful but hardly accomplished. Unfortunately orange is the one colour I really can’t wear. It is has conotations of youth, dynamism, energy and fun. It is not surprising that when we designed our logo at work we went for orange. Or is it? Why not serious, trustworthy navy blue? Or inoffensive green? Orange can be associated with immaturity and frivolity – but that was a risk we were prepared to take.

And here is Danielle wearing a lovely shade of orange, which really suits her cool-deep colouring.

Here are the types of orange that will work best with your complexion. Orange is basically red plus yellow – one of the secondary colours made up of two primaries. It is the only secondary that has no blue in it, and for that reason it is not a first choice colour for cooler complexions, unless they are fairly deep.  You can add blue to orange but then it becomes brown (brown is made by mixing the primary with its opposite complementary colour). For everyone else there is a great orange out there for you.