Honey Yellow (left) is a warm, more subdued golden yellow tone, making it ideal for autumn and winter. It looks good as a contrast to Purple Heart as does warm olive.

Honey Yellow is the foundation tone for all the camel coats this autumn.
Near Right – Knitwear in honey yellow.
Centre Right – Tuleh Brocade Coat -

Easy cocoon shaped coats in classic neutral colours can be regarded as investment coats. The camel coat style far right is from Hobbs Autumn Winter 2009.  Hobbs Camel Hair Barton coat – £249.  Such loose styles are great for accommodating layers of knitwear in winter.

//
// ˚

BURNT SIENNA

Left – Burnt Sienna – PANTONE 17-1544.

Burnt Sienna is a deepened, earthy shade of orange.  One reason that it’s so popular this season is because it is reminiscent of an autumn sunset

Burnt Sienna paired hue with Nomad or Rapture Rose gives a different twist.

Near Right – Matthew Williamson fashion design. Wonderful use of Burnt Sienna in a luxurious boyfriend cardigan accessorized with a fur cowl and skinny belts.

Centre Right – Here fashion designer Matthew Williamson, renowned for great knitwear pieces has combined honey yellow, burnt sienna with the Pantone AW 09 neutrals of Iron, Crème Brûlée and Nomad to create a tasteful modern Joseph’s Technicolor Dream coat.

Centre Right – This coat also by Matthew Williams, has been imported into the high street.  Coat far right and from Wallis Collection Autumn 2009 – Burnt orange graduated coat £85, €130 – Wallis.

Conclusion of  Autumn 2009 Fashion Colour Trends

On this page I have concentrated on the range of colours for autumn / winter 2009.  Each year the industry leader Pantone produce not only colour charts, but a list of the top 10 most popular tones.  Two colours that stand out this season are Majolica blue and American beauty. You have been reading an original Autumn Winter Fashion Trends 2009-10 article by Pauline Weston Thomas only for publication on www.fashion-era.com ©

• Top Fashion Colours for Autumn 2009
• Regal Purple Tones
• Reds – American Beauty Pinks
• Warm Olive – Acid Green Tones
• Majolica Blue
• Classic Neutral Tones – Iron and Crème Brulee
• Golden Tones – Honey Yellow
• Burnt Sienna

Top Fashion Colours for Autumn 2009

When Pantone released its top ten colours for Autumn 2009, they suggested that designers had favoured hues of a thoughtful palette which was practical, yet attractive to consumers.

Pantone’s top 10 autumn 2009 colours for women are:

1. American Beauty – PANTONE 19-1759
2. Purple Heart – PANTONE 18-3520
3. Honey Yellow – PANTONE 16-1143
4. Iron – PANTONE 18-1306
5. Crème Brûlée – PANTONE 13-1006
6. Nomad – PANTONE 16-1212
7. Burnt Sienna – PANTONE 17-1544
8. Rapture Rose – PANTONE 17-1929
9. Warm Olive – PANTONE 15-0646
10. Majolica Blue – PANTONE 19-4125

Pantone provide an industry standard for colours.  They are also a world leader in fashion colour forecasting. These are the their top ten colours selected from a survey of the designers of New York Fashion Week. The result is a an important collection of colour inspiration and colour philosophy.

The moodboard above right highlights the hues of the main Pantone colour chart for Autumn fashion 2009.  I will review more of these colourful garments below, and also in other fashion-era.com trend pages.

Vibrant colour grabs the consumers’ eyes, and, according to the executive director of Pantone Colour Institute, entices them to buy. Indeed most of us are attracted to exiting colours rather than the utilitarian grey or beige.  You are reading an original article on fashion colour trends for Autumn 2009 by Pauline Weston Thomas only for publication on www.fashion-era.com ©

Regal Purple Tones
PURPLE HEART

Purple Heart implies a sense of refinement and sensuality, adding an air of creativity and excitement to the top ten colours.  Purple heart mixes really well with either warm olive or honey yellow. Think of the crocus and you’ll recall how the colour mix that nature gives us is so perfect.

Near left – Purple Heart (Pantone PANTONE 18-3520).

The check coat/jeans outfit and colourful bags below right are from Boden. The purple dress is a good buy from the JL Collection at John Lewis. These bag, belt and shoe accessories would set you on the right colour trends for Autumn Winter 2009.

All the items are easy to purchase online, details below.  Purple hues have been in fashion for a few years, but now every tone from richest aubergine to softest mauve is making itself felt in the retail fashion sector.

Top Left – Faith Footwear – Autumn Winter 2009 Purple Flat Shoe.
Centre Left – Oasis Purple Buckle Suede Stretch Belt – £25.
Lower Left – Red Herring Piped Island Platform £35/€54 – Debenhams Autumn/Winter 2009 Women’s Accessories.
Centre – JL Collection – Tailored Purple Dress £75 JL at John Lewis AW 2009.
Top Right – PURPLE, RED, GREEN Bags from Boden.
Lower Right – George at ASDA – AW09 – George Women Bow Ankle Boot £15.

Shoes, especially evening shoes, are trimmed with roses.  Both day bags and evening bags have flourishing 3D roses. In fact, roses are sprouting elsewhere, you can see them as corsage roses and hair ornament roses.

Purple, pink and tones within this range remain two of the most important block bright colours of the Autumn 2009 Winter 2010 season.  This bag illustrates how well the Pantone colours can be combined. Far Right – Bag from House of Fraser – Multi-coloured ‘Butterfly’ Bag Bracher Emden – £310.

Near Right – Foil animal print bangle £2.00 due in store beg August from the Primark Autumn 2009 Collection.  Also at Penneys Ireland.  You are reading an original article on key fashion colours for 2009 by Pauline Weston Thomas only for publication on www.fashion-era.com ©

For centuries individuals or societies have used clothes and other body adornment as a form of nonverbal communication to indicate occupation, rank, gender, sexual availability, locality, class, wealth and group affiliation. Fashion is a form of free speech.  It not only embraces clothing, but also accessories, jewellery, hairstyles, beauty and body art. What we wear and how and when we wear it, provides others with a shorthand to subtly read the surface of a social situation.

Fashion as a Sign System

Fashion is a language of signs, symbols and iconography that non-verbally communicate meanings about individuals and groups.  Fashion in all its forms from a tattooed and pierced navel, to the newest hairstyle, is the best form of iconography we have to express individual identity.  It enables us to make ourselves understood with rapid comprehension by the onlooker.

Fashion as a Barometer of Cultural Changes

How we perceive the beauty or ugliness of our bodies is dependant on cultural attitudes to physiognomy.  The accepted beautiful female form that Rubens painted is subliminally undesirable nowadays, if we are to be thought beautiful in a way that the majority accepts in the 21^st century.

Today an inability to refashion and reshape our bodies whilst constantly monitoring the cultural ideal leaves us failing the fashion test.  Those that pass the fashion test invariably spend their lives absorbed in a circle of diet, exercise, cosmetic surgery and other regimes.  This includes the rigors of shopping in search of the ultimate garb.

The Need for Tribal Belonging

Our reluctance to give ourselves a regular makeover through diet, exercise, and consistently conscious use of specific dress styles infers that we have the personality flaws of a weak willed human.  We become in the eyes of fashion aficionados somewhat inadequate and imperfect in the fashion stakes.  Thus we strive to keep a culturally satisfying appearance so that we feel better, whereas in fact we are striving to stay in the tribe, whatever type of tribe that may be.

Group affiliation is our prime concern with regard to fashion.  As long as some group similarity is identified within the group, our personal fashion whether current or dated can belong to any tribe. It is the sense of belonging marked by how we fashion ourselves that gives us the tribal connection. You are reading an original ‘Theory of Fashion Clothing’, fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at www.fashion-era.com ©.

The Best Jeans: Flat Behind

The key to going from flat to flattering is finding a pair of jeans with some Lycra or spandex for lift, wide-set back pockets to break up the turf back there, and embellished stitching to define roundness. Most important, stay away from stiff denim — it will
flatten your backside like a pancake!

Alison says, “These jeans are snug in all the right places — instead of feeling self-
conscious, I feel sexy and totally comfortable.”

Sweater, Isaac Mizrahi for Target, $23. Jeans, Bisou Bisou for JCPenney, $58. Heels, Enzo Angiolini, $89.

The Best Jeans: Bubble Behind

Women with the coveted “bubble behind” have a not-so-coveted challenge: to find jeans that fit their derriere but don’t gape at the waist. Jeans with a high waist and/or a contoured seam above the back pockets (instead of dipping, it should crest upward toward the waist) are most likely to hold in your curves. Also, choose a pair with some stretch for a sag-free fit.

Jillian says, “These are pretty hip-looking, without being something I’d be embarrassed to wear to work.”

From left: Twinset, Coldwater Creek, $98. Jeans, Old Navy, $25. Heels, model’s own. Sweater, J.Crew, $158. Jeans, Victoria’s Secret catalog, $60. Wedges, Colin Stuart, $48. Cardigan, Boden, $128. Shirt, Vineyard Vines, $98. Jeans, Mavi, $88. Heels, model’s own. 

The Best Jeans: No Behind

The trick to creating a backside where there really isn’t one is to wear jeans with eye-catching posterior details, like flap or button pockets and multicolored designer stitching, which help give the illusion of a little junk in the trunk. Nana says, “These are so comfortable, and I love that my rear didn’t get lost in them!”

From left: Top, ParkVogel, $202. Jeans, American Eagle Outfitters, $50. Heels, model’s own. Sweater, La Redoute, $30. Jeans, Paige Premium Denim, $169. Sandals, model’s own. Shrug, Votre Nom Paris, $202. Tank, Vince, $40. Jeans, Hudson, $196. Heels, Enzo Angiolini, $98.

The Best Jeans: Triangle Behind

A triangle behind (widest where your hips meet the thighs) is in need of some balance. The ideal pair of jeans is one made of a heavyweight denim with only a little stretch, to help round out the bottom of your derriere. Also, strategically placed pockets — ones that are on a diagonal or set high toward the waist — keep eyes focused on the center of your butt and not on your outer thighs to achieve balance.

Melanie says, “I love the silhouette of the skinny jean — I found them to be quite flattering on my petite frame.”

From left: Top, Little Joe by Gail Elliott, $207. Jeans, Levi’s, $40. Heels, Calvin Klein, $130. Turtleneck, Isaac Mizrahi for Target, $20. Jeans, Lane Bryant, $60. Shoes, Jane & Justine, $80.

The Best Jeans: Wide Behind

Rule No. 1 for making a wide posterior look great: Avoid wide-leg jeans, which cling to your widest point and nowhere else. Straight-leg or boot-cut shapes — with closely set pockets that draw eyes to the center — are better because they don’t use too much fabric. Instead, they skim your curves, highlighting your best assets.

Lesley says, “These fit me perfectly around the waist and weren’t super low-cut — and they were easy to jump in!”

From left: Sweater, Lily McNeal, $210. Jeans, Paper Denim & Cloth, $98. Flats, Payless, $18. Cardigan, J.Crew, $158. Jeans, Lee, $44. Flats, Delman, $275.

The Best Jeans: Low Behind

Ladies with low rear ends need a little lift. Look for slim-fit jeans — they give the illusion of a higher rear because they make legs look longer and sleeker. But avoid jeans with no back pockets — without distracting details, the jeans will make your posterior look lower (and bigger!) than it actually is.

Alyssa says, “I never knew my behind could be so perky and my legs could look so long!”

Sweater, Boden, $68. Jeans, Gap, $58. Heels, Klub Nico, $145.