Fashions in Colours

In the 19th century, window frames and glazing bars could be dark green, brown or black. White came in after 1900.

Artificial "aniline" dyes arrived mid-century, enabling vivid greens and purples. Notoriously, the popular green was created with arsenic that poisoned milliners, seamstresses and feather dressers.

Orange dye was invented in the late 19th century but was not used much until the 1920s when it was all over the place.

For their shawls, sober Victorians liked blue with grey; “turkey red” with grey, brown and beige; turkey red and brown; brown and lemon. Shades of the same colour (brown, blue) were used in the same dress.

The artistic late Victorians liked combinations of colours found in nature, in flowers, fish-skin and the wings of butterflies (sulphur yellow, salmon pink, olive green, duck-egg blue). Perhaps their eyes needed a rest after all that scarlet, lime and purple. Maize was popular for silk dresses.

1900s to 1950s Dark green paint was used for doors, gates, gateposts of factories and institutions. Corridors in institutions were painted the same dark green to shoulder height, light green above. Dark brown and beige could also be found. The darker colour was gloss – easily washed and didn’t mark. Science overalls came in the same dark green. Domestic science overalls were royal blue. Were art overalls brown? 

1900 to 1970s School uniforms came in combinations of brown, forest green, maroon (burgundy), grey, black, navy, royal blue or, daringly, dark purple.

1920s James Laver (Taste and Fashion) says that after WWI clothes were khaki and cream, and people joked that the dye was war surplus. Then women broke out into orange, black, orange and black, ochre and black, jade and orange.

1930s eau de Nil (pale mint green)

1940s maize, airforce blue, khaki

Post WWII, colours were muted. Men in particular were only allowed forest green/brown/beige/tan/ ochre/maroon/airforce blue. Teenagers’ clothes and women’s summer dresses were bright, but colour didn’t really break out until the mid-60s with dayglo lime and pink. And then it broke back in again.

1950s 50s buff, fawn, camel, gunmetal, African violet, donkey brown, goose-shit green, maroon with baby blue (surprisingly attractive), tan, forest green, Vandyke brown, cornflower, lavender, burnt orange, bottle green, maroon, mustard, petrol/electric blue, grey plus burgundy for interiors, grey/white/black plus silver (especially wallpaper on one wall with printed classical motifs such as baluster columns, Ionic column tops, or leafless forests). 

Crayola's “flesh” colour became “peach” in 1962, Prussian blue became "midnight" in 1958.

1960-65 Fawn, lime, dusty pink, gunmetal, beige, donkey brown, straw, ice blue, tomato red, midnight blue (taffeta), beige, puce (dark reddish purple), navy blue chiffon (edged with satin ribbon), flame (pinky orange), moss green, flesh (pale salmon). “Modern and striking, they were navy, magenta, mustard, striped or flowered.” (Lucy Worsley on duvet covers) By the mid-60s we rebelled and installed hot pink and orange Casa Pupo rugs.

1964 scarlet very trendy – especially as serviettes to go with your teak cigarette bowls, wood-panelled walls etc.

1965 Black and white was popular thanks to Mary Quant, and little black dresses. Black then disappeared completely for several years. Turquoise was mega, especially combined with white. Also lilac, but both were mainstream rather than hippy. 

1965-69 Purple (velvet), lime, pink, yellow, turquoise. Purple and brown, green and purple, shocking pink combined with russet and dark turquoise.

1970s Where are “lilac, magenta, rose, ruby, lime”?, moaned Helen Gurley Brown in the 70s. Replaced by “grey, rust, slate, taupe, beige, mouse-brown”.

Also popular were Airforce blue, brown with blue, beige flecked with brown, heather, russet, burgundy, rust, orange, olive, Army green. Anybody studying craft or design got introduced to the colour wheel with disastrous results. At university in 1976 my fellow students were utterly shocked that I wore pink. (Everyone wore brown with blue denim. There was even brown denim, and brown corduroy was everywhere, especially on giant floor cushions.) American tan (for tights), cream (for walls), mustard, mustard, mustard, mushroom, coffee, tan, brown, brown, brown, beige, straw, “natural”.  Moss green, pink with brown. 60s bright colours looked tacky and wrong – it was back to the army camouflage palette. There was no black until punk around 1977, though it featured in the Rocky Horror Show.

Orange/brown/cream was trendy for French trains and a hair salon in Camden Town which clung to this colour scheme for too long – it was supposed to be 30s revival. The salon is still there, unchanged, and is now vintage.

1980s Ecru for tights. Jade was ubiquitous, especially in Goretex, diagonally combined with purple or pink. Taupe, dusty pink, salmon, primrose yellow, French navy (purplish), very pale pink, very pale apricot, apricot, primrose yellow, orange, mint, stone (for practical lightweight leisure wear), blue with black, mustard with purple (didn’t catch on in a big way), electric blue with a black collar, red, red/black (also hot pink/black, lemon yellow/black, orange/black, lime/black, possibly as a nod to the 50s). There was a ghastly shade of putty/terracotta, especially horrible with French blue. Another popular palette was chrome yellow, sky blue, kelly green, scarlet for duvet covers, children’s furniture and wall art. There was a burgundy/forest green mode which went with white china with thin gold lines. Jessica Fletcher wore a very smart scarlet (blouse, pencil skirt) and jade (blazer) outfit.

Pink and grey. Pastel pink and blue. Beige with black. Black, grey, white and maroon stripes (diagonal, different widths). Maroon became “burgundy” and stayed. Clothes manufacturers were always trying to sell a colour called “mint green” which was muted, pale and barely there.

1990s Candy pink, pale sage green, mint and lilac for interiors (combined with wrought-iron furniture), chrome and ultramarine for interiors. I had a mint green short-sleeved cardigan which I kept trying to force myself to wear.

2000s Turquoise plus brown was popular.

2013 Nude plus navy appeared and quickly passed. Theresa May wore navy and salmon, grey and chrome yellow in blocks. Otherwise her clothes were plain and in very good, heavy materials like satin-backed crepe.

2015 Black and gold, very subdued colours (navy, white, grey, brown, charcoal)

2021 vice.com tells us that salmon is over. Navy, white, grey, brown, black – very subdued palette continues, apart from apricot sunray pleat skirts worn with white trainers