The Rogue Epicurean: Fall Color

by Anthony Enright

Labor Day has come and gone, and it’s officially September; while to some that means lamenting the inevitable end of our beautiful Summer months, to me it’s a time for celebration. You see, Autumn is on the way, and not only is it my favorite season, it’s also my favorite time to update my wardrobe with jackets, sweaters and everything else needed to keep stylishly cozy as a nip hits the air. While you may think of Spring and Summer as the colorful months, take a cue from the soon to be changing leaves and experiment with some bold color this Fall. It’s not every season that a clear color trend emerges in menswear, but the Fall 2012 and Spring 2013  collections had an obvious winner. Well…I guess obvious is too strong a word, the color was discernible all over, but actually difficult for trend forecasters to name. Burgundy seemed apt (if too pedestrian), scarlet seemed a bit off the mark,  wine or claret were suggested as were cranberry and pomegranate (methinks some fashion writers are a bit peckish). No matter what they decided to call it, variations on rich, dark reds dominated the color palates of designers across the world.

Unlike so many trends, this one is actually easy to embrace as the color seems appropriately autumnal and not too flashy. I particularly like seeing it mixed with an equally rich blue or with a dusty grey as those combinations somehow look thoroughly modern and even minimalist. Though the hue is trendy at the moment, I doubt you’ll regret adding one or two of dark red pieces to your wardrobe, they’re likely to last well beyond the current fad and add some tonal complexity to your Fall outfits for many years to come. Below are a few examples from the runways of the Burgundy trend followed by some purchasable pieces.

As you can see, one piece in the color of the season is plenty to get the point across, it’s not necessary to go head to toe burgundy. While I actually kind of like the Prada color mix above, that get-up would look certifiable on any civilian, so it’s included just to show how cool blue and burgundy can look together. Alternately, the Gucci look seems kind of spot on to how one burgundy piece can update and modernize items you likely already have in your closet. A few cool burgundy pieces with links to purchase are below. For some reason Burberry has a bunch of really great burgundy this season, but none of it translated to the runway. I’m gonna highlight the shit out of them anyway since I own a pair of their pants (below) and love them hardcore…

 

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