Summer shades: Coral and citron

Ever notice how some colours blow into your world like burst milkweed pods, lightly setting down everywhere?

Coral is abundant, after years of banishment in Hollywood... Florida.

Effervescent for summer with its classic co-ordinates of turquoise, white, or navy, but also an infusion of life for winter palettes, a coral sweater in the depths of February tweaks a charcoal gray or bitter chocolate skirt toward the unexpected.

Risky to say a colour looks good on everybody, but I find coral easier to wear than orange, flattering to various skin tones.

And coral lifts a mature woman; it's mid-saturation is kinder than aggressive reds, less girlish than many pinks, not as sedate as blue.


The other colour of the season is an assertive lemon yellow.

It's fresh, but it doesn't work on me. I thought, "maybe in a shoe" but my size 10 feet looked like twin fire hydrants.


Because of 1) my size, and 2) I'm bound to sit on the one blueberry on a banquette, I don't wear white on the bottom. The summery combo shown above might make it though one wearing.

But I like this refined version of the rugby shirt, below, posted on The Sartorialist blog, as did many of Scott Schuman's readers.