Color Trends For Fall

So, what colors are hip this fall? The Panetone fashion color report is available, if you are interested in checking out the hottest colors this fall. You can find it here: PANETONE

Panetone conducts a survey of designers, and their resulting color report sets the tone for interior designers, textile artists, and fashion designers for the season. Here's what the Panetone report has to say about fall:

“The fall 2009 palette is more unique and thoughtful than the typical autumnal hues of years past,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. 

The color spectrum is somber this fall, in keeping with the recession. Still, dark reds, jewel toned purples and greenish blues abound in the report in clingy fabrics. Apparently, "irontone" is the new black, somewhere between black and brown. And the metallics, gold and silver, seem to have kept their popularity from the summer.

Vogue Knitting features red in their Fall 2009 issue. “The Warming Trend” section includes eight different red designs.

However, the color palette in Vogue Knitting seems closer to a hot, orangeish red, in contrast to the darker red, or crimson, in the Panetone guide.

 “American Beauty,” the Panetone red for fall 2009, is described  in the following terms: “Deep Reds and Crimsons with hints of Black because they evoke the sumptuousness of the Orient. Cardinal paired with Jet Black feels both past and novel.” 

This crimson and black combination is stunning! It certainly goes with my Winter color palette! If you want to find this effect with the red yarns you’re shopping for, hold them up to a ball of black yarn and see if the red is deep enough to match the black, as in the illustrations above.

     

Vogue Knitting stays current with the metallic color trend by featuring a spread on gold sweaters this fall. 

Gold Rush:

This golden collection acts as a companion to the lovely silver-toned designs Vogue featured this summer.  I must say, I intimately preferred the sleek silver designs from the summer vogue to the bulky garments in the gold collection. What is it about winter that seems to inspire these heavy fabrics, overloaded with cables and multiple textures? Where are the smooth, elegant lines here? The third gold jacket has a nice, tailored look, but then it's unbalanced by the asymmetrical skirt. Is it a coat, a dress, or something in between? And what is it with the black collar on #4? Those colors are not in the same color palette! The black edging fades the dull yellow, making it look sickly and pale. I think it would take a high level of knitting skills to execute any of these golden sweaters without ending up with a craft project, but that's just my opinion.

 

Overall, I think the Vogue red collection suffers from the same malaise as the golden one. The combination of the bright, orangey red with busy cables and bobbles is too loud for my tastes. My theory is, if you’re going to knit in a daring color, such as a hot red or gold, use a simple pattern to give the color punch. All this texture muddies the color of the yarn, dimming its vibrant effect.

In contrast, the silver designs from summer are more fitted and clingy, showing off the model’s figures and highlighting the pure metallic colors of the yarns.

Easy Glitz:

 

Here is my favorite pattern from the Vogue silver collection: Tank Top, by Julie Hines. 

 

This has a great, sleek line. It's well fitted to the body with a deep V-neck, perfectly in keeping with fall trends. This tank would look fantastic with a black belt that has a silver clasp. Probably, this design would work well in any of the subtle, saturated colors in the Panetone study, including "American Beauty" red. But silver, grey, or Majolica blue would be stunning with this tank as well.