Going bananas for orange, peach and lime

By Nicola St John

It was a sunny start to Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, and I don’t just mean the weather.

Vivid yellows, blues, green and orange signalled the start of a colour-soaked season.

Bright is the new black, and even devout black-clad Melburnians are sure to oust the drab tones of winter for a bolder palette.

However, in a sea of coral, turquoise and aqua, how do you stop yourself looking like a tropical fish, a licorice allsort or bad cocktail? T

aking cues from last week’s runway shows, the “hot” colours of the season are bright pinks and red, vivid blues, greens and neon orange and yellow.

Designers such as Gorman, Obus, Christine and Megan Park showed us how to be more fashion forward and less fruit-salad with well-matched colour blocking, tonal contrasting and adding bright accessories to lift an outfit into the trend of Spring/Summer 2011.

Obus’ collection featured a heavy Mexican influence, channeling the bold and brash colours and textures of Frida Kahlo.

Its collection not only mixed block colours of yellow, blue and purple, but also contrasting stripes, florals and geometric patterns.

If you’re not prepared to go all the way and mix your neon yellow stripes with fluoro green, the silhouettes and subtle colours of Yeojin Bae may be more your style.

Taking this season’s colour to a new elegant level, the tailoring of its collection mixed a variety of hemlines to create simple shapes for spring.

If you’d rather be eating your fruit salad than looking like one, perhaps try adding a bright pump, a neon belt and some vivid lippy to bring some spring into your step.

You’ll feel decidedly delicious.