Context is all, Margaret Atwood wrote. I couldn’t agree more. I mean, I wouldn’t even make a decision as to which earrings to wear without looking in a full-length mirror. Possibly that wasn’t exactly the point she was making, but still.
When you wear a colour, context can change everything. If you wear a white dress to someone else’s wedding, or a gold dress when everyone else is on a red carpet blackout, then context is definitely all. Whether it is in or out of fashion alters our perception of a colour. Wearing pink used to signify girliness; the rise of millennial pink means that it is now a unisex choice, but puts you firmly in the Snapchat generation.
Lilac is the colour of this season. For the next six months, at least, a colour that has recently been confined to National Trust gift shops will be on every shop floor. Before you tell me that this doesn’t concern you, let me explain something.
What happens next is that you roll your eyes, turn the page and buy another navy blazer, congratulating yourself on your independent spirit. But here’s the thing: lilac will creep up on you, by stealth. You won’t even register, when you are looking at the photos of that friend-of-a-friend’s wedding, that two of the most stylish female guests are in lilac. You will briskly shut down the windows that pop up suggesting pastel knitwear that spring up when you open your laptop.
And then, at some point in the short to medium term, you will spot… I don’t know, a pair of high-waisted mom jeans in washed-out lavender, or a chunky lilac cardigan with patch pockets and jewelled buttons, and this will look… right, somehow. And you will snap up this garment, while congratulating yourself for your unique style point of view. Seriously, dudes, no offence or anything but you do this to me every time.
So as we will be wearing lilac, let’s talk how. We want to make it clear that the context is fashion. That we are wearing the colour lilac, which is the shade of an on-trend matching blouse and midi-skirt such as this one, rather than the colour lavender, which is the shade of bars of soap. The simplest way is to keep the shape modern – a trouser suit is good, a twinset less so – and make your use of the colour as bold as possible. Top to toe is ideal. You are wearing lilac as a fashion statement, after all. Whether you know it or not.
• Jess wears floral shirt, £39.99, and skirt, £39.99, both hm.com. Pale pink suede heels, £99, kurtgeiger.com
