The Business of Colour

Last month, in New York City, I attended the first showing for the Fall 2012 fabric season, at what is called Premiere Vision.  Some of the biggest mills where there showcasing their pre-Fall 2012 swatches.  The real kick off happens at Premiere Vision in Paris in September for Fall 2012 (and February 2013 for Spring 2014) and then three days later in Milan (followed by Sao Paolo and Hong Kong). 

Above, the colours for S/S 2012 (do not have permission to post F/W 2012)

As I walked in the old Altman building, where the venue was held, I was immediately greeted by some of the salesmen from the Italian mills Zaharoff does business with.  Between the two huge rooms was a smaller room, on the bare wall, twenty squares of different colours, the colours of the season – “honeysuckle” “coral” “lime”.  These are what will trickle down over the next couple of years into other sectors of the economy besides clothing, from furniture to automobiles. 

“It’s not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean.” – Miranda Priestly

In “The Devil Wears Prada”, Miranda was telling Andy about the colour of her “cerulean” (shade of blue) sweater.  “It’s not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean.” And then Miranda goes on to talk about how it trickles down from couture to the bins of Casual Corner – and the countless jobs and millions of dollars in commerce involved.  She is absolutely correct.

Fashion touches just about everything in the world around us, from colours and patterns, textures and silhouettes.   The Pantone colour guide came about in 1962.  The late 1970s gave rise to the designer, the likes of Giorgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Calvin Klein, Valentino and Gianni Versace.  The brown hues of Calvin Klein in the late 70s to the early 80s defined an era.  Versace was one of the pioneers in fabric, demanding from the Italian mills more and more intricate fabrics, brighter hues. 

 Pantone announces “Honeysuckle” Colour of the Year 2011 (2010’s? Turqouise)

It’s not just by chance when one season you see all pink and then the next, well, honeysuckle.  The yarns the mills work with have to be dyed, those dyes are made by global conglomerates.  The mills use these dyes for their fabrics, which designers choose for their collections and, finally, into stores all over the world.