Fall 2018 Colour Forecast
The future of gender neutral and its effect on the Fall/Winter 2018-19 colour palette
What is so exciting is that this is prominent even in kidswear – which is typically much more gender stereotypical in color than adult palettes. The old cliché of blue for boys and pink for girls is being diminished as the stereotypical barriers typically associated with gender are being broken down. This is all down to a rise in the level of trend awareness that exists today, and is mirroring a huge shift currently happening within the adult market.
Conventional boundaries across society as a whole are blurring, as attitudes towards age, gender and race are becoming a secondary factor in leading style decisions. What this means for Fall 2018 color is a much more evenly spread variation of hues across the palette for all age ranges and genders.
One colour range in particular that has really influenced this shift is nude tones. Nudes have been dominating the colour spectrum over the last few season’s, as brands such as Yeezy have embraced wider variants of the colour and have gained huge amounts of mainstream exposure.
The Yeezy Effect
Popular celebrity-turned-designers such as Kanye with his Yeezy brand and Adidas Yeezy Boost sneakers, gain huge amounts of online attention so a lot of what they do tends to catch on very quickly! By applying nudes to basic unisex products and a range of jersey casuals and athleisure wear, nude palettes have been made much more relatable – and this is now having a huge knock-on effect across all genders and ages. Women are taking advantage of the nude spectrum and are embracing being able to find true nudes to suit their individual skin tone, whilst men are becoming much more accepting towards wearing fashion-forward variations of the color for casual lounge and outerwear. And, as the grown-ups become more accepting towards color, so does their perception of color appropriation towards dressing their children – leading to a huge rise in demand for neutral-colored kidswear!
This general acceptance towards color is making a big impact on the way seasonal palettes are developing. For Autumn 2018, an array of neutralised tones are evolving to offer the perfect basis for gender-neutral color usage. Subtle tints of color such as blue and red are infusing neutral shades and adding warmth and versatility to the palette. And, for a more fashion-forward approach, brighter variations such as coral are highlighting a much more experimental mindset.
Even classic brights are following in a similar way as key shades such as white, blue, green and red are being reinvented to make a big impact across all the seasonal palettes. Bolder and brasher accents are offering a playful touch to adult palettes as colors are injected with white for an intensely bright and intriguing approach. Within a summer palette this wouldn’t be so unusual, but for the winter season the contrast created against darker hues is really exciting!
Of course, each market will apply color usage differently, but the versatility offered across new season color means the consumer can be much more experimental with colors that they may not have ever considered before.
