What’s better than beige? : Why butter yellow is popular now

IIn January, designer Simon Porte Jacquemus showed his latest collection on the Cote d’Azur. Julia Roberts was sitting in the audience, Gigi Hadid was walking down the catwalk, but a lot of attention was paid to Kristin Davis. And it’s not just that the “Sex and the City” actress previously previewed the show with a video on social media: Davis appeared in full appearance in all yellow, from the pantsuit to the bag and shoes. More precisely, in a very bright, very soft, very delicate yellow color, which also appeared several times in the Jacquemus collection.

The delicate tone can be seen this spring in brands such as Loewe, Louis Vuitton and Proenza Schouler. He calls himself Butter Yellow. And in fact, it inevitably brings to mind butter, as well as vanilla sauce, puff pastry and madeleines. So, it’s about things that are good for you and taste good, that excite the senses and don’t bother anyone.

At first glance, this buttery yellow color doesn’t seem particularly bold. On the other hand, it definitely takes courage. Because yellow, no matter how subtle it may seem, has a reputation for being difficult to wear. Robbie Sinclair, who focuses on youth issues at Fashion Snoops, an international trend and consultancy agency for fashion and lifestyle companies, also knows this: “Many people find colors difficult and intimidating because they are often unsure if they suit the tone their skin. or what they should wear with it.”

This caution is one of the reasons why neutral tones like beige have enjoyed such success over the years: the hope is that it will make it easier to make mistakes. But at some point the desire for color flares up again. Then softer nuances come into play, such as butter yellow, as well as sage green or peach fuzz, which was chosen by the Pantone Institute as the color of the year.

Colors and trends are like neighbors

With the media frenzy surrounding the peach hue over the last few months, the subtle yellow hue seemed to be almost lost. Despite their presence in current collections and in more and more stores. Maybe Butter Yellow is the quiet and reserved sister of the beloved Peach Fuzz? Sinclair doesn’t think this is far from the case: “As trend researchers, we actually look at colors and trends as if they were relatives, friends or neighbors.” do.

Trend agencies like Fashion Snoops are taking a forward-thinking look at who is playing the leading role in this relationship and will play it in the future: Sinclair has just completed a mood board for next year’s winter. Based on the hard facts, he concludes that butter yellow will still play a role. His colleagues in the color department put them together. Each season, they record how high the proportion of individual colors is in shows, whether this or that color appears more or less often over time, in what shades it can be seen, whether it places accents or is the center of the collection. The rise of butter yellow is clear, Sinclair says: “Mustard yellow dominated fall 2021, followed by warm gold and lighter lemon yellow. A year later, the share of butter yellow increased by 35 percent.” In winter 2023, it finally became the dominant shade of yellow on the catwalks.

From there the path to branches of large chains is outlined. Moviegoers have known this ever since Meryl Streep, as fashion editor-in-chief, lectured her new assistant about sky blue in The Devil Wears Prada: from the color’s evolution to its increasing appearance in movies. fashion show in the “casual fashion” department of a department store. In the 2006 film, she follows the same path that Butter Yellow now takes in real life. Sometimes the tone is so subtle that in the neon light of some stores it seems almost light beige – but only almost. Because even the slightest touch of yellow immediately creates more warmth, liveliness and happiness.