Purple is the latest fashion

Purple is the color of passion,
Purple is the color of love,
Purple is the color I dream of.
Purple is the color of glad,
Purple is what you look like when you're mad.
Purple is the color of laughs,
Purple might be the subject of gaffes.
Purple is the color of me,
Purple is the best of the world you see. 

Luna Moon

Ever since the times of Ancient Greek when Tyrian Purple was only available to the Elites, the colour purple has been associated with nobility, royalty and sophistication.

In the time of Newton purple was not even on the colour wheel, however things have changed a little since then and a purple is now defined as any non-spectral colour between red and violet.

While there are many shades of purple that are used in art and fashion, only a few shades strike me as especially appealing to the eye: Amaranth Deep Purple, Mulberry, Heliotrope (slightly pinkish shade), Palatinate Purple (colour of Durham University), Tyrian Purple, Han Purple and my very favourite, Royal Purple (colour of the European Aristocracy during the Middle Ages)

Probably the reason why most guys avoid wearing purple is because matching it is not as easy or at least not as evident as with other colours. Consulting a colour wheel, which I always advise when in doubt, reveals that purple's complementary colour is yellow, its neighbors are bluish and reddish purples, its adjacent complementary colours are yellow-greens and orange-yellows while the triad that contains purple also contains orange and green.

In the case of purple, black is an even more suited colour (well technically non-colour)  than usual to match with. 

Amaury Nolasco of Prison Break in a very simple and classic yet stylish outfit, featuring purple matched with black. Source: splendicity.com

My personal favourits are gold and purple together (one should be subdued while the other dominant) and sometimes blue and purple. Remember always to try avoiding strident nuances if your intention is not to look like a circus clown.

As is my custom, I have put together a collage of some of the interesting purple pieces I have found around the internet. Please feel free to comment and add links to any other purple items you find to be to your liking.

Starting from the left we have a superb Ralph Lauren Cable-Knit Sweater, the ever so stylish Chuck Bass of GG, and a shiny purple Horn Dimora followed by a pair of nice purple mocassins from The Sartorialist. The Purple Watch from the top middle can be purchased here, while the Navy Purple Repp Cufflinks here. Following these two is a Hype Coach Purple jacket and a pair of Carolina Amato Driving Gloves.

“An orange on the table, your dress on the rug, and you in my bed, sweet present of the present, cool of night, warmth of my life.”...

It's never too early to think about summer and I believe that Jacques Prevert's word choice of the fruit and colour was most likely not a random one. Orange is one of my favourite colours for the sunny season and is the colour of intellectual ambition and stubbornness, situating itself chromatically exactly halfway between red and yellow. Funnily the word orange was not introduced to the English speaking world until the 1500 and is one of the few words of the English language that does not have a rhyming counterpart.

Orange is a very versatile colour and much to the chagrin of many men, if worn in a nuance other than Safety Orange ( See Coach Bruce Pearl) and properly matched, orange can turn a look from good to great. Some orange nuances that are not very much present in mainstream fashion and I find specifically appealing are the earthier tones (Persian Orange, Fulvous,  Tenné, Mahogany, Rust, and Flame) on one side and the fiery tones (Amber, Champagne, Pumpkin, Coquelicot, Gamboge, Persimmon, Tangerine and Vermilion ) on the other side. Now Orange is in itself a very powerful and overpowering colour and unless you wear a very light nuance of it, I would advise against matching it with another powerful colour such as bright green or yellow for fear of resembling a traffic light more than a human.

Orange goes best with itself, black and white of course and with its complementary colour, a light blue such as azure or with colours from the same chromatic family(Triads) such as light yellow, some pinks, beige, some light green nuances (i.e. khaki green) and brown.

I've put together a collage of my favourite orange pieces in hope that it will inspire you to wear more orange this spring and summer(Observe Paco Rabanne's 1 Million perfume which has become my all time favourite fragrance).. Enjoy and click the picture for a higher resolution version !

It’s not easy being Green!

And for most, it certainly isn’t easy to pull it off either. There’s the issue of the different shades of green, which range from puking pastille green to the beautiful Royal Green, then also having to match it or make it blend in with the rest of the outfit. He who dares however shall be rewarded and a green addition to your look can do wonders, as long as it’s not anything pukey, too flashy or resembling of Hulk’s complexion.

I’ve gathered some images of different Green items that I found to my liking and with this post I open up a new series of posts which will contain collages of different items from a certain colour family.