Fall Fashion Colors for 2006

It's time to look forward to the upcoming season's fashion colors. This Autumn, look for neutrals made brilliant by magnificent reds and violets as well as colors that reflect the turning of the green foliage of Summer into their many-hued Autumnal colors. This is a great time to experiment with deep rich color combinations as we take our leave from the lighter hues of Summer.

My favorite color is red. It always has been and I expect it always will be. There are so many different reds that I am never bored with this amazing and emotive color. Red is heat and passion. Red is the velvet petal of a sweetly scented Tea Rose. Red is the fruity tang of ripe cherries just picked from a tree. Red can be joyous, sensual, alarming, teasing. It is often used to convey the strongest of emotions in art and rhetoric. It is rarely used to convey tranquility and yet the red glow of sunset is very restful. This Fall you will see red in tartan skirts and evening dresses and everywhere in between. These will be reds that stand up to to black with a sassy wink. These deep red Shawl Style Earrings are one example of earrings that stand out for Autumn.

Then there are the colors of violet and purple, the latter once considered the color of royalty in many European traditions. These colors, too, can be observed on the undersides of heavy boiling clouds as the sun sinks beneath the horizon and its rays of light enter the atmosphere at a grazing angle. Violet is, as well, the color of dainty flowers once glazed with sugar to make a delicate yet dark colored candy. The violets and purples this season will be dark and delicious, awe-inspiring and ready to take on the world. Night Music, a dramatic necklace of tubular netting and overlapping loop fringe is another example of a perfect combination of two of this season's favorite colors.

Less flamboyant but equally splendid colors for the coming season include warm neutrals such as those warm golds of many changing foliage trees, charcoal, and black blending with the occasional touch of a vibrant dark blue such as indigo or cobalt. I think of these as the background for the more vibrant jeweltone colors upon which my jewelry for this season focuses. I like to play with balance and imbalance, color, texture and form. Red and gold can be a brash combination but handled with care can instead be as effectively elegant as shimmering black and violet. But even a neutral color makes a bold statement when used to express the beauty of mixing various textures as this necklace, Butterscotch Textures ably demonstrates.