Orange Pants? Warming to Spring Fashion

Black is my favorite color. My go-to fashion staple. If I’m feeling adventurous, I might wear gray slacks or maybe something tan.

So last season, I was instinctively drawn to the fashion palette of muted mauves, silvery gray-blues and flesh-toned patent-leather shoes.

But spring has sprung my friends, and Woodbury fashionistas are throwing off fall’s Depression-era frump in favor of bold color!

Gen X-ers and their elders may collectively roll their eyes at these familiar and seemingly recycled 1980s-era trends. The boxy shapes of Flashdance tops and leggings. The Wayfarer sunglasses and skinny jeans (with stretch fabric and increasingly higher waists, thank goodness).

But it’s this season’s bright colors that bowl me over whenever I enter a women’s clothing store!

A friend recently tweeted, “Are we really doing the colored jeans thing?” I scoffed. It can’t possibly catch on. But then I went to dinner with someone sporting hot-pink jeans. So I guess we are really doing this. Well, at least she is. And maybe you are.

I’m not bold enough to try on, much less wear a pair of canary yellow pants. I just stand agog in The Gap wondering… Really?

Supposedly, this year’s top color is Tangerine Tango for everything from toss pillows to accent walls. I do like the color. But I’m not sure I can wear orange pants. And I’m really not sure how I feel about pink and orange together. That’s a thing. Trust me. It may damage your retinas if you stare at it too long.

Why are we doing this? Because we’re tired.

Tired of high unemployment rates. Tired of depressed housing markets. Tired of skyrocketing costs and pinching pennies. We want joy, courage, optimism and color! And one just can’t help but smile when seeing somebody in orange pants!

So I encourage you to participate in this trend because it makes me smile.

As for me, I still can’t picture myself strutting through the grocery aisles in a pair of vermilion jeans. If you can’t either, there are other ways, subtler ways, for us dreary sophisticates to join this fun fray.

Fashion magazine Marie Claire recommends experimenting with a pop of color. This means accessorize! Opt for a single piece in one of this season’s bright hues. A bright pink scarf, an orange beaded bracelet, a sunny yellow handbag, red shoes! (Just not all at once—unless you’re also wearing a lapel flower pin that squirts water and a nose that honks when pinched.)

Still unconvinced? Try dialing the trend all the way down to a few bucks invested in nail color or lipstick. I recently snagged a tube of Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti. But I draw the line at orange eye shadow. Get carried away and you’ll cross over from fun fashionista to obsessive Hunger Games capital fan; going from wanting to feel sunny to believing everything is sunny.

So until the economy truly rebounds, smile and you’ll feel like smiling and do a happy dance in your new orange pants!


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