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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Jess Cartner-Morley

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: primary colours are back, but styling them isn’t child’s play

Side shot of model wearing light blue shirt with red tank top and dark trousers. She's holding a brown leather bag over her shoulder

You would think primary shades would be the easiest colours to wear. Red, yellow, blue: we can name these before we can tie our shoelaces. They are not sophisticated colours, such as Armani greige or Pantone favourite Mocha Mousse. They are not challenging-to-wear colours, like chartreuse or mustard. They are Mr Men colours. So wearing them must be child’s play, surely.

And yet they are weirdly tricky to wear. They can feel shouty and basic: the getting dressed equivalent of speaking loudly without saying anything particularly interesting, which is – to paint it in primary colours – not what any of us are aiming for.

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