When Pantone picks the colour of the year, everyone sits up and takes notice. And this year, the chosen colour is Marsala, a colour whose “grounding red-brown roots emanate a sophisticated, natural earthiness”. Named after a fortified Italian wine, the colour is a paler cousin of last year’s oxblood, and a shade that’s a mix of red, brown and a dash of pink.
While the colour has received as many brickbats as bouquets — many have called the colour a throwback to the unfashionable late-eighties — and it’s inevitable that one colour cannot please everyone. However, the good news is that marsala brings with it an entire palette of colours in a deep, rich, smoky red that flatters every single shade of the Indian skin tone. So, if you like the colour, flaunt it all of this year — you can’t go wrong!
When Pantone announced the colour of the year, a round-up quickly showed that marsala has been around for a while. Blake Lively at Cannes last year sported a sexy Gucci gown in the colour, while Miranda Kerr in a flattering Zuhair Murad was also drenched in the shade in 2014. The newest Kardashian vying for fame, Kylie Jenner, too, unknowingly, wore a satin Alexandre Vauthier dress in the shade that is now the colour of the year. So, the colour has already proved itself to be fashion-friendly.
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But the ramp, too, seems to be drinking up this wine-coloured shade happily — Zac Posen’s Fall 2015 show saw all possible shades of marsala, both on the ramp and off it. The designer himself wore a suit and tie in a shade veering more towards deep burgundy, Rihanna wore a plum shade of marsala in a dress by the designer himself, and the showstopper Naomi Campbell walked the runway in a sparkly, strapless ball gown in a metallic, pinkish tone of the colour.
At the other end of the spectrum, this year’s Valentino show during the 2015 Haute Couture Spring-Summer collection in Paris saw prominent touches of the colour in everything from menswear to evening gowns and capes. Some other designers who indulged in the shade include Victoria Beckham, Tory Burch and Rebecca Minkoff.
Did the colour inspire fashion, or did fashion pick the colour? Designer Anupama Dayal says she goes with instinct. “I can feel them before I read a so-called prediction,” she says. For Nikasha Tawadey, colour forecasts are great, but she doesn’t feel like her design sensibilities are governed by it. She adds, “Pantone is a referral point which makes it easier to get the right trims, fabrics, accessories in the right colours, but I still follow my innate sense of ease and organic design process to create.”
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Whether you like marsala as a colour on clothing and accessories or not, the truth is that the colour is almost universally appealing on Indian skin tones. If you’re tired of the red lip/smoky eye that’s been dominating everything from magazines to Instagram, trade it in for a more sophisticated shade of marsala. On the lips, you can choose a colour anywhere between a fun berry-red to a deep, intense oxblood; it all comes under the broad spectrum of marsala. For the eyes, it’s easy to work in wine-coloured eye shadow, with a bit of black, just to add some colour to the standard smoky eye.
Marsala is great if you want to try monotone make-up — using the same family of colours on your eyes, lips and cheeks. Go for deep wine colours on your eyes, teamed with bronze for a metallic look, pick a garnet-coloured lip colour that complements your skin and a hint of reddish pink stain on the cheeks, and you have a winner!
Marsala can only give you guidelines; what you do with it is what sets you apart. So use your inspiration, savour some wine, and let your creativity run with the colour palette…you can’t go wrong.