April 9, 2025
Pantone has graciously shared with us their color choices for the upcoming Autumn and Winter, taken from what they saw at the London Fashion Week. There are also colors from the New York week – I will look at them all…
There are a couple of reasons that I always like to visit these colors:
- We all want to at least consider new accent colors from time to time, and this gives us a good opportunity to visualize what a new color might look like in a range of items – shoes, bag, earrings etc.
- For all of us who know our accent colors, there’s often a color in these lists that very close to what we’ve already chosen. These posts give us a chance to see some new items in our favorite colors!
So I’m showing you five of the colors today, and I’ll show the other 5 on Friday. Some of the colors were only available in winter-ish tops, while others were showing up when I searched in Spring things. I think all 5 are quite pretty…
First up – they call it Lemon Grass, but I call it yellow! Yes, both tops are from the same company, and yes, they spelled the color two different ways…
Buttercream top – Wit & Wisdom; earrings – Katy Faye; bag – Amy Lynn; scarf – Lost Pattern NYC; butter cream sweater – Wit & Wisdom; buttercup jelly sandals – Sam Edelman
Next – Brandied Melon, or for those of us searching for things online: coral!
I swear I would wear this color just to have that wee handbag…
Sleeveless top – L.L.Bean; necklace – Seramondy; bag – Cult Gaia; bandana – Free People; sleeveless top – Treasure & Bond; sandals – André Assous
Lyons Blue was much easier to find when I searched for plain old teal. I struggled to find warm weather tops or accessories in this color, so I’m sharing some things for the current cool weather, or the winter that will be back before you know it!
Storm teal quarter-zip – L.L.Bean; earrings – Jennifer Behr; scarf – Elizabetta; bag – Tumi; teal UV top – Kalani Sunwear; water-resistant sneakers – Wolky
Damson was surprisingly difficult to find! (of course, you just search for plum…) So the offering here are a blend of shades; If I wore lots of navy or grey, I’d be ALL OVER the shoes and bag…
Mauve funnelneck top – L.L.Bean; earrings – Kate Spade; scarf – Kueen; sleeveless top – Coldwater Creek; bag – Aimee Kestenberg; metallic flats – Naturalizer
If I were looking for fresh accents in my wardrobe, this would be my choice. I’m gradually switching my hair accents from purple to pink (well, my hair is switching itself – I put in pink over the purple, and right now my highlights are kind of lilac…)
Earrings – Bling Jewelry; scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; light rose pink tee – Lands’ End; bag – Brahmin; sweatshirt – Alex Mill; sandals – Birkenstock
I know, I said “French 5-Piece Wardrobe,” and then I show six items! But you can’t be expected to love all six things, right?
Do you have a favorite accent color? What is it?
Have you ever highlighted your hair in that color? (I know, it’s not a common thing to do!)
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, I built a travel capsule wardrobe (for a visitor to Chicago!) based on a slate blue jacket that I was given.
Like this wardrobe? Save it to Pinterest!
These are all very interesting….the muted shades of yellow, coral, blue, plum and pink all have a certain appeal, even for people like me, who are all about the bright versions of each of these colors. I can see pairing these with brighter versions together, if you’re so inclined, don’t you.
I also just about fell out of my chair over Lyons Blue. As a proud graduate of Wheaton College (initially, the oldest women’s college in the US, founded by Mary Lyon, but now a top notch co-ed school), this IS our school color. We truly are the Wheaton Lyons and this is Lyon Blue. My daughter and son in law are also both graduates and their sports uniforms are all in this fantastic shade. I don’t know if there is someone at Pantone who is an alum, but I think there must be. If they were going for the French city of Lyon, the name would be minus the S. So….go, Wheaton!
It’s a beautiful color!
I saw this on Instagram! Go Wheaton!
love,
Janice
I like bits of all of them. When I like the silhouette of your choices, I always click on them to see other color options. For example, those metallic flats are calling me!
Amazon still has some of those flats also in different colors.
I love all the pink items, but I rarely wear pink in real life.
I’m going with gray, navy and stone as my neutrals. I love the Lyons blue and the damson. I like that you used something from Coldwater Creek. I have been focused on their clothes lately.
I need to remember that they exist – they have nice things!
hugs,
Janice
I visited Coldwater Creek to see what they are offering and was so surprised to see patched and embroidered jeans. I had no idea they were trending.
I also loved the Lyons blue and the damson although I wear them with copper, mustard and navy. I really liked the Coldwater Creek sleeveless top in damson. I haven’t looked at them either but I might need to!
You asked if anyone uses the pink to dye their hair. I have brown hair that is showing a shocking amount of gray, so I use teal or purple to jazz it up. I think I’ll look for pink, which should give a subtle brightness. Thanks for the suggestion!
I’m using Cotton Candy Pink from Punky Color – it looks really bright in the jar, but quite soft on my hair. I’m liking pink, so far…
hugs,
Janice
I watched a video about spring trends and they called the lemon grass butter yellow. That might be a good search string for it.
I love and could wear the muted blue, pink and yellow. The coral and damson would make me look like death eating a cracker (as my Mom used to say). Lovely colors all! I think the blue would be an excellent front door color too…
A friend of mine from Monroe, LA used that expression. I love it!
My favorite accent color is teal or aqua. My travel wardrobe to England in 2016 was black, white, tan, and aqua. (I adore a black and tan color scheme in many situations, including decor.) About 5 years ago I had a wild idea and added a streak of aqua to my mostly-grey hair. I’ve been doing it ever since because you’d be amazed at how many people start up a conversation about it, especially young people. It helps keep this old lady from being invisible!
And I’m trying to figure out how to change my picture in the thumbprint above! Anyone have any ideas? I’ve changed a lot since then.
These are all beautiful colors, but none of them are for me. The lemon grass comes closest, but I’d need a bit more green in it. That said, it seems like a great season for people whose colors veer towards the softer!
Lemon grass would be the only hard no, but particularly smitten with the Lyons blue – what a gorgeous color!
I just bought a tee shirt in brandied melon. Well, JCrew calls it peach clay. I ordered it online. We’ll see what I get in real life.
Well, as they say, if you can’t find your favorite colors, wait a few years and they’ll cycle back. Soft and muted colors do nothing for me. So my accents are (all bright and clear): tangerine, coral, geranium red, flamingo pink, leaf green, mint green, violet, bright blue, aqua. They’re all really nice with my neutrals.
Ak, if you don’t mind my asking, what neutrals do you use with those accent colors?
My hair has been bright pink, purple, and teal blue for about ten years now. My hairdresser decided to surprise me one day and I loved it. It fades from bright to subtle color in about five months. I like to have it redone about every four months.
It’s astonishing how many people of all ages comment and compliment it. Yup, Tina, I’m definitely not invisible with tricolor hair!
Janice, finding the Vivienne Files saved me so much money and stress. My closet is now tamed. My neutrals are navy, charcoal grey, and black (trying to wear them out and remove black entirely). My colors are shades of pinks, purples, and teals.
Everything matches my hair! I love being so coordinated! Thank you, Janice, for helping us to tame our closets.
You’ve found some lovely matching pieces.
Since the pastel yellow doesn’t suit me, I’m going for the petrol and pale purple.
I do hope that I’ll see Damson and Lyon Blue in the shops, particularly the latter. The pink is too pale for me. I have a couple of items in Brandied Melon which is similar to Rosewood. I wear it with petrol/ocean blue.
I like everything in the Lyon Blue, ESPECIALLY the sneakers :)
I adore the Branding Melon. I have a lot of coral and pink in my wardrobe with navy and tan as my neutrals. I always have in my mind to steer into other colors but isn’t it amazing how we’re drawn to those certain colors that we feel wonderful when wearing?
Ohhh that pink! It’s exactly my shade. In fact, I’m wearing a turtle neck and socks in that shade of pink right now, with a cream v neck sweater and cocoa brown leggings.
I saw this in the Guardian and thought you would be interested, it is a coffee table book:
“Scarf alert
Gucci: The Art of Silk, a glossy new coffee table tomb tells the story of the House’s iconic silk scarves. Originally designed as a gift to Princess Grace of Monaco, the accessory has been reinterpreted by a succession of Gucci creative directors, from Tom Ford to Alessandro Michele, including the current silk scarf project, 90×90, which sees nine limited-edition scarves designed by nine artists. Available for pre-order, £195, eu.assouline.com”