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It's that time again. On the mainland, colors changing on leaves of trees announce the arrival of autumn. In Hawaii, colors changing on store clothes trees signal the shift of seasons. Tomayto, tomahto,
and other colors
for fall
By Ruby Mata-Viti
Star-BulletinThe pale colors of summer are giving way to apple, salmon, pewter and leaf. These are what clothing store reps call bridge or transition colors, which designers introduce late summer as a preview for their fall line.
Walk into Armani A/X, Wet Seal, Rafael or any clothing store and you'll see the apparel, from classic to contemporary, mirroring the palette in the landscape of a North American autumn. Different stores have their own names for the same tones. Some are using apple, wine, sierra, rust for reds to reddish browns; leaf, acid, olive, avocado, army for the greens; pewter, slate for grays. Salmon's a complex mix of primaries that doesn't have a clear formerly-known-as from which to elevate.
Armani's A/X carries men's pullovers and linen shirts in this hue. But would real men wear salmon? When a small group of men were polled, they couldn't even identify the color. Asked whether they would wear it, responses were: "Pink? No way." "Maybe to a nightclub," "A guy would have to be secure to wear it," and "I need to stand out, I'd wear it."
To the untrained eye, the shade of the shirt pictured at right appears to be salmon. A closer look at the tag tells us it's "Rock," maybe the red kind from Waipahu, crushed and diluted several times. "Rock," after all, is more marketable to male shoppers than "Salmon."
When asked how the color is doing in sales for men, a spokesperson from A/X in New York replied, "Rock! It's doing quite well, it's very popular.
"It's what people in the industry call a 'pop' color."
That means that it's not a basic shade, but one designed to pull the whole collection together and be remembered.
In a positive way, of course.
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