In this lecture we spoke of how colours say things to people and convey historical and contemporary ideas throughout time; it being a form of communication in the world.
If we were wanting to see what 'the colour' of the season was, we were taught to just look around in shops. To find out the story of each store. Not every brand/shop will have the exact same colour palette, but they may have the same colour concept. Most of the time Pantone create colour reports:
New York Report:
London Report:
Colour Palettes Throughout History
In the 1920s to early 1930s colours were bright, unnatural and 'modern' colours. Usually they were used to contrast against black and white to show structure and form of the body. Today's fashion uses this palette to show a sporty and youthful look; Balmain has been a user of this pattern.
To the right is an image of the 2015 Balmain x H&M collection (featuring Kendall Jenner, Jourdan Dunn and Gigi Hadid) The pieces themselves are much like the 1920s style, but with a modern twist. Both use colour for structure and form; to enhance the youthful look of the collection, they used these particular models in a subway cart in order to convey the urban and modern take on the use of this particular palette.
The history of art during this decade shows more examples of the colour pattern. Sonia Delaunay (illustrations seen to the right) shows perfectly how the decade used the colours for structure. These muted colours, in this image, are a part of another part of the decades colour trend. The Bloomsbury group used these pastel tones to create a bohemian, subtle and intellectual feeling. This style is still used today.
In the 1960s they returned to the bright and bold palette, post World War Two as it helped build up morale around the world. This transitions into the 1960s where the colour trend was black and white with a strong colour. Designer Mary Quant was a huge leader in this trend. Behind this palette was a youthful ideal, girls were mainly very androgynous and dressed in a 'tomboy' fashion. These colours helped accentuate the femininity but also the playfulness of the era. Now in the modern day fashion houses like Fendi and Louis Vuitton have used this trend of colour and pattern, as it is iconic and an easily recognisable pitch to an audience.
Fashion Photographers
Many photographers use a palette to affect the mood and message they are trying to convey to the audience, whilst making it fit within the campaign and brand they are selling.
Tim Walker uses colour to create fantasy for his audience. To the right is an example of his work for a Mulberry campaign. The brand themselves are trying to branch out into a more youthful image, whilst still trying to keep their loyal audience they already have. Tim Walker portrays this through using these light pastel, sweet colours to imitate the youth of the intended audience, whilst having them dress in a very conservative way to keep to the brands traditional image. These bright colours contrast perfectly with the bags that are the main focus of the campaign, their darker tones stand out amongst the pinks and blues but also compliment the colours as they fit in with the candy land theme.
These bold colour contrasts are often used within Walker's work as they tell a story and help the narrative. Walker mainly uses pastels however he has before turned to a 60s style palette with black, white and reds being used to create a modern, bold statement that can be beautifully contrasted with statement pieces of clothing.
You can easily try and pick out an images colour palette through the use of online sites, a recommendation is Coloursnap https://snapyourcolors.com
I tried with this image and found the colour palette. The site shows you the main colours identified as well as the secondary colours. A long with this it gives you the information about the name of the colours. This is helpful when you are wanting to identify a certain trend of colour, or when you are wanting to compare this seasons colours between two different fashion houses.
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