A+A Life in Color | Color & Lifestyle 24.2

Editor Sharon Graubard, New York, famous for her knowledge in design history and style icons. Building commercial colour & style concepts to express the subtle shift in trends, rathter than focusing on lifestyle-driven insights for brands and retailers. 

FROM THE EDITOR

Life in Color is about the way color impacts and informs everything we touch, see or use. A specific shade can spark desire for a simple notebook, make a lipstick become a personal fetish or bring newness to a classic blazer. At a moment in time where we are caught between socio-economic turmoil, humanitarian crises and environmental urgency, color vacillates between escape in the form of fantasy expression and providing real solutions with eco-friendly vegetal dyes and unbleached neutrals.
This season balances optimism with pragmatism; dreams of a better future view with real-world facts. But in turbulent times, a dose of fantasy is more than just an escape; it offers the brain and spirit a respite, a breathing space that allows for new solutions or profound insights. 

KEY THEMES FOR LIFE 24.2 - spring/summer 2024

Mauve-Elois: Purple loses its hippie-tie-dye-fortune-teller connotations and gets sophisticated. A range of wearable and elegant violets, from pale lilac to deep plum, accented with chartreuse and turquoise.

Bio-Nature: is where we save the earth with plant-based greens, brightened with a goldenrod ochre and deepened with a beetroot red. These verdant colors lighten with glittery finishes or sheer applications.

Blossom Dearie: palette takes its name from the iconic chanteuse whose feathery voice lent whimsy and sweetness to jazz. Like those mid-century recordings, petal pinks and flowery pastels add a fanciful note, while a suntan neutral keeps it modern.

Chanterelle: Mushrooms — whether humble or exotic, medicinal or magic — are celebrated. These are the new neutrals, both calming and luxurious, a mix of pinky taupe, deep morel brown, oyster gray and golden yellows.

Summer Haus is about the joy of simple things, elevated with a constructivist sense of geometry. The classic banner-waving palette softens with a coral pink rather than flag red, a range of coastal blues, and a natural linen color rather than optic white.

Sea Life. A more mythological view of oceanic inspiration brought forward from last season. Aquatic turquoise and green-cast blues mix with periwinkle and seaweed olive for a palette that is both naturalistic and dreamy.

Dark Arts get even more esoteric, with dusky shades conjuring occult practices or arcane knowledge. Deep sapphire, carnelian red and rubellite get metaphysical energy from a coppery brown and a silvery gray.

Euphoria is the all-out escapist fantasy. Magical shocking pinks and highlighter yellow mix with morphing greens, for painterly prints, psychedelic swirls or jewel-encrusted solids. Surfaces can be shiny, velvety, perforated or plush.