Finally! Head-totoe beige is no longer ‘blah’
AS SOMEONE who loves to wear colour as much as I do, it feels hypocritical — heretical even — to be writing a column in praise of beige.
But if you are hitting the shops this weekend in search of something to get you out of the winter slump and give you a much-needed hint of spring, the High Street is awash with a sea of neutral colour. From sensual shift dresses (€47.50,
marksandspencer.com) to oversized trenches (Topshop’s slouch coat is on my wish list, €103, topshop.com), there is no use fighting it. The muchmaligned neutral is back.
You don’t need to me to tell you that beige is the colour with the worst PR ever, a byword for boring and ‘meh’. And if, like me, you lived through the 1970s, your childhood was likely touched by some nightmarish beige associations — from leatherette sofas and wardrobes full of unbreathable synthetics to inexplicable macrame items.
So what has sparked the beige renaissance? Look no further than Riccardo Tisci, the new creative director at Burberry. Many expected Tisci, an Italian gothic romanticist, to bring 50 shades of noir to the Burberry catwalk.
But he confounded expectations by presenting his Spring/Summer 2019 collection in what every fashion critic was excited to note was instead ‘50 shades of beige’.
From models Stella Tennant in slightly kinky, shiny caramel-toned separates, to Natalia Vodianova in frothy latte hues, there was no escaping the colour. And as the new season clothes hit the stores, it’s Burberry’s ad campaign that has the fashion world abuzz. The cool status of beige looks unassailable.
YOU can see why Tisci might have been inspired to embrace all things raw and neutral as he takes the Burberry brand back to its origins and begins to shape his signature at the house. (The house’s iconic raincoat is, of course, beige.)
The pitfalls of beigeness still exist, mind you. You’re channelling Lauren Hutton’s classic 1970s trench look (I like Massimo Dutti’s doublebreasted wool coat €299, massimo
dutti.com); or perhaps Anjelica Huston in a Halston cape (Zara has a fantastic cape on the ‘camel’ side of the beige spectrum. It’s in the sale at €12.99, so hurry! (zara.com).
Also, the shade of beige you go for is key. The more ‘clotted cream’ tones look better with my colouring (blonde, pinkish complexion), while olive and dark skins look great with camel and tan shades of beige. And make sure you look for fabrics with a heavier texture that fall well.
There are a lot of beige-on-beige looks around, but a head-to-toe ensemble often works best when you mix up your neutrals. The Scandi fashion set are the masters of this kind of dressing. And Other Stories has a brilliant capsule collection of ‘winter white’ pieces that are perfect for layering. I have a crush on their plaid overshirt in coffee and cream (€179, stories.com).
That’s not to say you can’t mix beige with other colours: a black rollneck (try under a white shirt) looks good with beige pants or an A-line skirt. White boots look fresher and more modern with a beige outfit than matchy beige shoes.
And should I feel a bit ‘meh’, I’ll be adding a slick of bright, coral-red lipstick to all of the above. Once a colour lover . . .