The It Color Every Fashion Girl Will Be Wearing Next Season

Your mindset may have officially shifted to fall, but the fashion industry is already looking ahead to the Spring/Summer 2019 season after the debut of latest collections at New York Fashion Week. As is typical for spring and summer, a smattering of light, playful trends emerged from the runway and one vivid drift proved unanimous. According to the first leg of fashion month, the spring 2019 color trends veer crazy-bright from orange to green and pink — and you can bet every fashion girl will be rocking these megawatt hues next season.

Designers like Brandon Maxwell, Maryam Nassir Zadeh, Prabal Gurung, and Marc Jacobs showed a vibrant array of color on the runway and with a pulsating energy to boot; each presented everything from punchy solids to flamboyant blocks of color and multicolored pieces, incorporating literally every color of the rainbow. But more than the floaty dresses, feminine tops, and swingy skirts you think of for spring, designers are reinventing the color wheel by taking the seriousness out of suits with super-saturated hues, experimenting with offbeat color pairings head to toe, and splashing evening attire in the liveliest of tones. Basically, the bolder and more outlandish the color combo, the better.

Spring’s exuberant palette may be the result of many firsts for the season — Escada returned to runway for the brand’s 40th anniversary, which also served as the inaugural collection for the house’s new global design director, Niall Sloan. As splashy an ‘80s resurgence as you can get, the collection overflowed with vibrant shoulder-padded blazers, sharp skirts, and playful accessories — cornerstones of the brand in its ‘80s heyday.

Kate Spade New York likewise debuted a new creative director, Nicola Glass, for the brand’s first-ever runway show (she took the reins after founder, Kate Spade died by suicide this past June). In good spirit, the collection featured an optimistic dose of color and print — count us in for the bright '60s-inspired tea dresses, flower-power rain jackets, and new Dorie bucket bag which has already hit cult status among It girls like Suki Waterhouse and Gillian Jacobs.

Spring/Summer 2019 also marks Wes Gordon’s first collection for Carolina Herrera, where he presented an explosion of color from tangerine knits to canary yellow coats and a color-blocked lace column gown. It was Carly Cushnie’s first time showing the newly re-branded label, Cushnie, sans her Cushnie et Ochs partner Michelle Ochs (the duo last showed together for Fall/Winter 2018). While her runways are often injected with color, the now solo designer took inspiration from island life in the Caribbean for SS19 — we were struck by her assortment of cocktail dresses in highlighter yellow, turquoise, and poppy red.

Emerging designers Jonathan Cohen and Claudia Li both stepped it up for the season, too: Cohen presented his first on-model presentation instead of private appoints, while Li — who cast her show entirely with Asian models — switched to a traditional runway show format for the first time. Both talents took part in spring’s color renaissance, showing jaunty hues and playful prints from marigold to magenta.

Whether you’re the color-inclined type or typically stick to neutrals, Spring/Summer 2019 is undoubtedly the season to experiment with bright-as-can-be shades. Not sure where to start? Ahead preview four major color trends of the season, so far. Stay tuned for what London, Milan, and Paris will bring.

Tangy Tangerine

Tory Burch, Tibi, Sies Marjan, and ADEAM were just a few designers to show orange on the runway. Whether as a knit set, cozy cardigan, slinky dress, or crop top, this citrus shade feels decidedly fresh worn head to toe or as a vibrant pop. Mark our words: What lavender was to 2018, orange will be to 2019.

Highlighter Green

Various highlighter hues emerged for SS19 but shades of green made a serious impact from electric Kelly green at Prabal Gurung to minty tints at Brandon Maxwell and Calvin Klein. Expect to see these electric tinges on everything for spring from trim blazers to ball gowns.

Powerful Pink

From bubblegum shades to magenta hues, pink is anything but precious for spring. Sally LaPointe gave put forth vibrant pink outfits aplenty while Kate Spade New York showed printed dresses and transparent raincoats in the punchy shade. This feminine color is girlish no more.

Butter Yellow

Oscar de la Renta, Marc Jacobs, Carolina Herrera, and Escada showed buttery shades of yellow on the runway — a punchier take on the trending hue for which we saw frothier pastel shades in 2017. Wear it for day as a bold base layer, steal the spotlight in a sleek suit, or go for the gusto in a vivacious ballgown.