Kind of blue

FASHION:Moody blues pack a punch when teamed with blacks, cobalts and metallics, writes DEIRDRE MCQUILLAN

IT’S A COLOUR we can feel and it’s everywhere this season. From its brightest to its deepest shades, we have the blues this winter. Fashion has cornered all those popular denim shades and spread them around, from dark, inky black washes to the sensational supersaturated cobalts that have become such a hit on the red carpet and on the high street. You only have to look at Uma Thurman in Armani Privé at Cannes, Eva Mendes in Stella McCartney at the Met and Kate Middleton wearing it with black at a wedding to suddenly find high-profile events awash in royal and cobalt blue.

Blue sits easily with black and these were the signature colours of Rive Gauche by YSL in the 1970s. Black gives substance and edge to blue. Cobalt is, however, trickier to manage. The colour cacophony of Tara Palmer-Tomkinson at the royal wedding clad head to toe in cobalt may have matched her desire to be noticed, but it looked flamboyantly frightening. Cobalt may be a hot new hue, but some argue that because of its clarity and coolness, it should be worn with warm tones, such as camel, or with metallics and that those with very pale skin should avoid it.

Matisse once said that a blue circle is not the same as a blue square in the same shade because the area changes the tone. So it is in fashion. The shot of cobalt on a pair of suede shoes or the flash of blue earrings with an all-black outfit has more visual electricity and charge than the all-over assault of Tomkinson’s outfit. The long cobalt dress shown here makes a glamorous statement on its own, the mohair coat will brighten any mood, while the darker inky tones of Fran Jane’s shift dress make it both a day and nocturnal winner. Girbaud’s cheeky “airshipped” mix of blues brings a lighthearted air to winter dressing that is more slimming than the zanier polo knit dress.

Irish designers such as Peter O’Brien and Louise Kennedy like to use black and blue together, a combination to feature in O’Brien’s forthcoming collection for Arnotts, with wool crepe dresses panelled in French navy and black. Kennedy’s graphic black/white and blue silk prints from her current collection and sexy blue lace dresses are standout if pricey pieces, but pairing black trousers with a short-sleeved cobalt silk shirt is a simple but relaxed way to capture the trend effectively.

In Paris earlier this year, I paid a visit to Merci, a wonderful shop in a converted wallpaper factory near the Marais. The theme that season was blue and white and the whole place, from clothes and accessories to interiors, furnishings, stationery and books, was a story in blue. It was a stylish statement, a complete surrender to that primary colour that still remains a universal and flattering favourite, and it worked