I was banging my head against the wall trying to come up with ideas for my next article. You see, having been away from writing for almost a year, I was having a bit of trouble getting back into it. I wouldn’t call it writer’s block but the ideas just didn’t seem to be flowing until finally, I “saw the light” as they say. It occurred to me that the weather is now changing and many fashion-eager women are stalking their wardrobes contemplating the switch to fall wear but at the same bemoaning the anemic economy and the limitations it places on spending power. At first I thought maybe I could write something on fall trends but then realized that I hadn’t yet checked to find out what the new fall colors are. So I figured it was time to go back to basics and start from there. Off I went to color-kingdom to find out what Pantone and others had to say about fall season colors. Well, according to Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute and the head of the Eiseman Center for Color Information and Training, ”buyers may want to look to the past, present and future to get a sense of coming color trends. She further adds: ”The big picture theme is a Mosaic of Color and Style.” Why will people ”trend” to the past in search of the new fashion? Well, the state of the global economy will cause people to look inwards in terms of their wardrobes in an effort to resurrect some previously slaughtered outfits. Eiseman launched the idea of a larger mosaic dubbed “molecular” that embraces a lot of darker shades typical of the season. This also includes purple wine, deep green, navy black and coffee brown. Brown will remain a very important color for this season. For accents, think in terms of yellow, orchid, purplish blue.

The Byzantine theme is another focus for this season’s colors. Think stained glass church windows to give you an idea. This theme includes metallics, shimmery gold, rich reds, vibrant blues and purples. Also expect a manhunt for specifics like neutrals, grey, gunmetal and cream. Ochre, brown and black are accented with greens and lipstick red.
This fall, also visualize a wardrobe palette inspired by human coloring, for example, the blues, irises and browns we see in eye color, as well as and the pink browns and roses we see in skin tones.

I’m very keen on color trending because it gives me focus and direction for when I’m creating a new line of hand bags or jewelry – especially when it comes to what colors to incorporate in any given piece or design. For fall 2010 it’s nice to know that big and chunky is still ”in” for jewelry. Armed with this new creative info I decided to delve into making my first piece of fall jewelry. I was quite surprised with what I came up with: very different from the jewelry I’ve been making over the last few months. In many ways this one piece has sort of set the direction for my jewelry for the season. I’m still working on my new collection though, but I’ll put it up on my website when it’s finished: www.bilotecouture.com.

Author Bio: Edith Nkwocha is a hand bag/jewelry designer and fashion writer committed to promoting African Couture and African Haute Couture. Visit her website BILOTEcouture, at http://www.bilotecouture.com for more info.

Category: Arts and Crafts
Keywords: fashion, design, fashion trends, beauty africa, african fashion