Colour trend inspiration

I had the very rare opportunity to curl up in my favourite chair on Monday and peruse the Style supplement of the Sunday Times. The ad campaigns of several designers have really caught my eye and I have really been impressed with how they have translated the season's colour trends into their campaign shots.

In particular the pastels currently being used by Louis Vuitton and the clashing brights used by Miu Miu

I thought it might be interesting to see if I could produce several variations on the theme. I limited myself to things that I had in the house. Fortunately for me, my mum had bought me some lovely orange roses when she visited yesterday. They came in very handy!

The first shot is in response to the Miu Miu campaign. They have used what I call the Christopher Lloyd clash; my unique terminology for using colour in the style of the late Christopher Lloyd who's gardens at Great Dixter exhibit bold use of colour, often incorporating clashes of hot pinks, reds, oranges and yellows.

I used my luscious pink acryllic vases (they were all the rage in Habitat about 7 years ago) and wrapped thin ribbon around 2 of them to add extra interest. I then used a LOT of satsumas, my mum's orange roses and my 3 flowering daffodils to add extra clashing pops of colour.

The second shot shows how complimentary colours - blue and orange can still be used in this trend. The hot orange is paired with a variety of pale blues.

In the third shot I wanted to show off the fabulous vintage tablemats I have been given by my Great Aunt. They really reminded me of the colours employed by Louis Vuitton's campaign - classic ice cream pastels.

The final shot brings both schemes together. Today was such a gloomy miserable weather that my normally light filled kitchen was looking rather dull. This table centre combination really cheered me up. It took 5 minutes to put together and the only thing I had to add was some blue food colouring to the rose vase water. I'm going to use this scheme for my little boy's birthday tea on Saturday. He'll be 1 so will really appreciate the range of colours.

 Both these products currently available in my Etsy store and are great examples of how the pastels and brights trend is influencing my work.