How To Wear Yellow

Lift your drab days by mixing your monochrome with yellow

The most depressing day of the year is upon us, the weather is unimaginably drab and it’s just sinking in that it’s a whole year until it will be acceptable to sit around in cashmere socks for two weeks straight.

Instead of giving into the January blues and exacerbating your negativity with head-to-toe black, give your wardrobe, and whole life, a Vitamin C injection (where C stands for canary).

You might not be sporting a post-Palm Springs tan – unlike the entirety of your Instagram feed – but unlike the yellow of old, this season is all about wearing it au natural.

Don’t take the SS17 catwalk too literally: it doesn’t have to be worn heel-to-head, as we saw at Max Mara and Emilio de la Morena.

Instead, here’s our guide on how to wear the not-so-simple shade in an everyday sense.

Back To Basics

You’re not going to get any points for originality, but the most-impact-for-least-commitment way to wear yellow is in the form of a coat or jumper. It’s the sartorial sampler. If you can deal with that, you can take it to the next level.

Team Trouser

Whatever the reason for a trend being tricky — whether it’s the shape, print or colour — a trouser is the answer. A yellow trouser can be contrasted with a collared shirt or pared down with a knit. Make like the SS17 fashion crowd and wear with 50s wallpaper blue (or azure for extra zing).

Go For Gold

If you doubt your complexion’s ability to carry off canary, you can tone down the trend with more of a Roksanda-esque burnished bronze tone. To avoid excess bling (yes, there is such a thing), wear with black.

Bring On The Biker

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a leather jacket will dress down even the fanciest of pieces. We’re looking to the Haider Ackermann runway where acid-toned skirts were worn with cropped bikers.

Bag It Up

If you’re not yet ready to break your lifetime ban on yellow next to the face, accessories are the answer. It’s not a cop-out (well, maybe a tiny bit — our friends at 3.1 Phillip Lim will not be impressed) but it’s understandable. The Valentino chain bag [above] is top of our must-buy list.

Vacay Vision

The prospect of being on a beach can sometimes bring on a bit of a wardrobe transplant. For us, that means yellow — a colour we’d approach with caution — becomes acceptable. It figures: sun, tans, pina coladas (at a push) are all so hashtag vacay. We’re basing our summer wardrobe on models at Preen By Thorton Bregazzi who walked in floaty, frilly dresses with big bow sandals and lace socks.