Hues of the earth

Marsala, Millennial Pink, Living Coral and Lavender.

Every year, a brand new colour with a catchy name pops up, and takes the fashion world by storm, in turn, making our wardrobes resemble nothing less of the rainbow. But once the trend passes by, most of us would agree that stepping out from head to toe in millennial pink would make us feel pretty ridiculous, if not childish.

One of these hyped colour trends that has been on every Instragramer's feed are earthy, or natural tones.

How is this any different you ask? This is not one colour, but an entire palette of natural tones. And we know by the word natural that it is anything but temporary.

Fawns, chestnuts, tans, creams, moss greens, and beiges. As beautiful as the names sound, the colours represented are just as comforting to the soul and a sight for sore eyes.

WHY WE LOVE THEM

They make the best combos. Of the numerous reasons of why we love natural tones, their unlimited combinations top them all.

While we can swap out tops, shirts, jackets and skirts to create new looks, it becomes limited with bright shades, and a lot of thought has to be put into it to be able to pull it off. With these warm tones on the other hand, mixing and matching is probably the easiest of them all.

You can pair that mustard yellow shirt with your tan skirt, green chinos, beige formals and every other colour in this family.

Very similar to how your chestnut pants will go with a black, white, cream, or mocha top. However, if you are planning on layering, coordinating the hues are a good idea. Like keeping your jacket and bottoms in the same family of colour, if not the tone.

Having more than two or three different colours entirely can look messy, but deviating within the family will not.

NOT ONLY SHADES OF BROWN

Earthy do not always refer to muddy browns, which will bore us in a few weeks; in fact, they stand for colours lying in the family of greens, blues, oranges, and yellows. To be more specific, dusty and slate blues, salmon and burnt orange, peachy flesh, and clay grey — all are earthy tones.

The common thing in all these colours is that they have a warm tone or undertone, which complements our Asian skins, which can suffer at the hands of cooler hues at times.

ANYTHING BUT DULL

One might think of these colours to be dull, but that entirely depends on how you decide to wear them. Look for clothes with a little bit of shine and try to avoid mattes for most occasions. Satins, linens, georgettes or silk.

Then you will see that whether it is a dusty blue blazer, a metallic muddy dress or a satin moss jumpsuit, not one will ever resemble the word "dull."

EARTHY ACCESSORISING

As earthy clothing come in solid colours most of the time, a nice way to add some funk are the accessories. Tortoise shell hoops and asymmetric jewellery are one that complement pretty much all of these tones. The ones we often come across are made of plastic, so no animals are harmed in the process.

Another accessory which adds volume and texture to these plain outfits are rattan bags which come in squares, ovals and many different shapes and designs, and all of which look lovely with a natural coloured wardrobe.

If you want to add a pop of colour to this, one of the subtle ways is to add a nice scarf. Tie into a nice knot on your bag, cross it across the neck or around your pony tail, it is a fool proof way of adding colour without mismatching with the wardrobe.

QUALITY REALLY MATTERS

Some colour families like reds, pinks, blacks, or yellows are bold enough to hide fabric or stitching quality when it comes to clothes. Earthy tones seem to enhance these tiny flaws, and will look dreadful when done in dull fabrics, and every bad stitch will show. Ensuring you focus on the quality is one of the musts of having an earthy toned wardrobe. 

A primary choice for the fall and winter season is now officially a shade we can 'show off' during the summer. Which means no matter what season we decide to step out in mustard yellow shirt, it shall always be just as fashionable.

Photo: LS Archive/Sazzad Ibne Sayed/Aranya