Lacking a little romance in your life? Bored of your Stockholm black wardrobe? Well, luckily for you the fashion world has, for winter 2013, bestowed upon you the prettiest of pinks to romance you all the way through to spring next year.
Maybe it’s because I’ve just got engaged after ten and a half years (yay me!) but things are looking pretty rosy at the moment. Either that or the fact that fashion is having a “frienaissance” (quote Pheobe from Friends i.e. a friendship renaissance) with the colour pink.
It all started in February with Lanvin’s soft and dusky pinks, lavender pinks at Topshop Unique and the blushiest of roses at Simone Rocha.
Partnered with grey or black, pink is undeniably feminine and surprisingly flattering. So much so, that even Sweden’s dark and edgy fashion collective even started seeing the potential of this most rosy and pretty of hues for their winter collections.
Gotland-born, Carin Rodebjer’s autumn/winter collection featured a delight of champagne and candy pinks in full and frothy jumpers and frilly blouses.Swedish Hasbeens, the brand increasingly popular with Hollywood’s A list has often favoured a pastel palette. This season, the brand’s Sky High collection includes Mimmi and the Sky High Slip, both in candy-popping tones.
Hunkydory opted for deep rose in embroidery and fine knits while H&M as always, on the ball with the kind of pink you get if you leave a red sock in with your white washing; a blush of pink for mohair coats and shaggy jackets.
So the big question is, will Stockholm’s fashionistas shed the black for a more romantic and peachier tone?
Perhaps. I mean, what’s more edgy than turning the notion of old-school girlieness on its head by mixing up pastel pinks with slick, black lines and clumpy heels? It’s just very Stockholm.
Sure, pink is the colour of sugar-laden candy floss, Barbie and little girl princesses. But actually, this season’s pinks feel very grown-up. Coats in candy-floss with a hint of Bourbon hit the spot with their dappled, beigey tones and Barbie can very well stay in her box as you instead opt for just-there rose, or cherry blossom shades. If you fancy something punchier, go for pomegranate pink – just the right side of exotic.
It appears fashion’s romance with the colour of high-school crushes is here to stay as the colour of popping spring flowers and little kitten’s noses will permeate next spring’s freshest and most modern of styles.
Tiger of Sweden has already shown peachy pinks and sorbet shades for spring/summer 2014, while By Malina has prepared a cocktail of fuscia patterns perfect for a weekend in the country or even (dare I say it before winter’s even set in… summer holidays). Mimi Plange has a plethora of popping pink petals for next spring and Whyred’s Pink Lady bomber jackets are way too cool for school.
Letting go of comfy black is, for some, like giving up the caffeine. Life just isn’t the same without it and heck, why should we give it up?
Well, the beauty of winter’s penchant for all things peachy is that it’s not a head to toe trend. You needn’t be concerned that you’ll end up looking like a Disney Princess; choose just one item and make it pink: a coat, a fine knit jumper, a flamingo beanie.
Pink is unavoidable this season. As sure as the need for winter tires and the expectant snow, if Stockholmers haven’t yet caught onto fashion’s crush for pink, they soon will.
Prepare for the pink ladies.
Victoria Hussey
A self-confessed country-girl, Victoria swapped English village life for city-living in Stockholm in April 2013. She has spent the last six months swotting up on Swedish fashion and grappling with an increasingly Stockholm-influenced (namely black) wardrobe. Victoria enjoys travelling to far-off lands, alternative music and wishes someone would invent some kind of socially-acceptable breakfast ice-cream.
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