Orange Is The New Black

As we move into the latter part of summer, the thought of packing our brighter clothes away and pulling our dark chunky knitwear out from storage is enough to give any man the blues. But if London Collections: Men (LC:M) was anything to go by earlier this year, it won’t be all doom and gloom this autumn. Orange is set to be one of AW14’s biggest colour trends, which definitely gets the thumbs up from us. This zesty hue will cheer anyone up on a grey day in December, especially when combined with deeper shades such as navy. We’re particularly looking forward to tucking a thick amber coloured scarf into our new charcoal double-breasted overcoat. But that’s not to say we can’t make a head start on the trend now. Here’s how to work citric colours into your look as you make the transition into autumn, proving orange really is the new black…

On The AW14 Runways

From dazzling acidic shades to subtle apricot hues, orange could be seen across the runways at the global fashion weeks. Here in London, Richard Nicoll sent an entirely wearable pale orange shirt down the catwalk, which would pair well with a sharply tailored light blue suit – one of our top five picks for summer 2014. At the other end of the scale, a far brighter and bolder approach to the trend was taken at Topman Design, where block-colour styling, vivid knits and orange outerwear took centre stage. Definitely not for the faint-hearted, Topman’s take on autumn’s hottest hue will appeal to the more confident among us. But don’t write off statement outerwear just yet – a burnt orange overcoat or duffle anchored with a neutral suit and shirt is something even the most reserved gent can successfully pull off, especially as your coat will be removed once you reach the office. Elsewhere, Christopher Kane and Tom Ford included chunky orange roll necks within their collections; DSquared2 adopted a similar approach to Topman with a range of bright orange bombers; and Etro took the trend one step further with an intricately patterned dark orange suit: