Green is no longer a colour – it’s an ideology

This being St Patrick’s Day with all things green being in the ascendant, it’s a fact that one out of six people in Europe cite it as their favourite colour.

In Michel Pastoureau’s book on the history of green, he traces its place in art, clothes, literature, religion, science and everyday life. He concludes that “it’s no longer a colour but an ideology”, adding that “a few decades ago it was red that was similarly held captive”.

Charles Stewart Parnell hated green and believed it was unlucky while Piet Mondrian considered it a “useless” colour and excluded it from his canvases. In fashion today, it’s a hard colour to avoid being so much in vogue in all its shady aspects.

At Marni’s recent show in Milan for winter, there was green everywhere – from macs to balaclavas to tote bags and even green shades. Richard Malone in London favoured green tweeds worn in a slouchy devil may care way but beautifully tailored and dramatic green capes.

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Jasper Conran showed how to wow it with different and unexpected colours. Even River Island’s Irish design workforce may have prompted their green offerings for spring – like this cable knit sweater in a bright emerald green and a playsuit in a darker shade, showing that there is a green to suit every skin tone.

Not to be outdone, there’s greenery in H&M currently too with green trench coats, floral dresses and trousers with verdant botanical motifs, so there is more than one way of going green this spring and remaining right into winter.