Fifty shades of beige
A new season saw the runways filled with fawns, camels and ecrus, marking a new beginning for a much-maligned palette, says Lauren Cochrane
IN HER 2016 BOOK THE SECRET LIVES OF COLOUR, AUTHOR Kassia St Clair is unequivocal in her assessment of beige. She describes it as ‘unassuming and safe, but deeply dull’. St Clair might be surprised to learn that, in 2023, beige is enjoying a moment in an environment rarely seen as boring: the catwalk.
The colour of whispered luxury grabbed hold of the spotlight for SS23. There seemed to be a never-ending array of variations on the shade at Miu Miu, where it coloured sweaters, skirts and outerwear, while at Dior there were beige dresses, frilled shorts and long coats. Bottega Veneta’s Matthieu Blazy used the neutral on relaxed silhouettes, and Max Mara and Michael Kors made it the centrepiece of their quiet, glamorous take on opulence.
Beige is also now everywhere on the red carpet – look at Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, and Hailey Bieber. And very soon it will be all over your walls: the lightest shade of beige, is expected to be the paint colour of 2023.
It has also been embraced by a new generation of designers: beige got glam at Poster Girl and insouciant at Sandy Liang, where Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy was on the moodboard. KNWLS regularly use it for its Y2K-inspired collections, and Rokh – the label designed by Rok Hwang – favours beige as part of a pared-back colour palette. ‘We’re scared of pure colours and beige is a great plain colour that is light, but isn’t pure white,’ says KNWLS designer Charlotte Knowles, who has rebranded the colour with very 2020s names. ‘We rarely use the term “beige”,’ says KNWLS co-designer Alex Arsenault. “We like to make up names – like “pale rubber” or “dirty cream”.’
Hwang likes the colour because ‘It makes everything harmonious. If I do something with a bolder colour, it’s hard to see [a detail]; it becomes too conceptual. But beige is similar to black. It evokes the idea of sensuality, as well as something that is kind of elevated.’
For a masterclass, look to long-term beige lovers like Pernille Teisbaek and the stylist Suzanne Koller. ‘She [Koller] combines different shades and tones of beige,’ says Hwang. ‘It’s a very cool way of wearing it.’ Liane Wiggins, the head of womenswear at MatchesFashion, says wearing the colour after dark is a new twist. ‘Looks from Peter Do and Ludovic de Saint Sernin and the 16Arlington sequins in neutral tones are beautiful and flattering. Head-to-toe tonal is the chicest way to wear it.’