Right Way, Wrong Way: How To Wear The Color Orange

Contributed by Trend De La Creme
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the color orange. On one hand, it has a warm sunny quality. On the other hand, it’s like a time machine—unexpectedly hurdling you back into 1973 if you’re not careful. With trends like “Nice Stems,” “Hippie Revival,” and “Style Tribes” making a strong statement in 2008, the color orange will become a force to be reckoned with. The trick will be finding ways to “make nice” with orange without looking like a fashion faux pas.

Wrong Way: Actual Oranges: Sure, it’s nice to brighten up your look, but there’s no reason to wear anything that actually looks like an orange (unless you’ve got a citrus fetish—but that’s for another blog.)
Brassy Orange Dye Job: Unless you were born with naturally orange locks, do not attempt orange hair. To do it right, you’ll need hundreds of dollars and an A-list stylist (and even then, it will probably still look like a botched job.) Trust me on this one. I have personal experience for which I may never recover.
Head-To-Toe Orange: Only once in my life did I see head-to-toe orange that I liked (and it was on an Oopma Loompa in the original Willy Wonka movie.) Enough said.

Right Way:

A Kaleidoscope of Color: Believe me when I say that orange mixed with other colors always works. Even strange color combinations like orange and blue, orange and purple, and even orange and red work. (Just steer clear of red mixed with yellowish oranges, unless you’re trying to look Ronald McDonald.)
Orange as a Layer: Orange will actually pop more if you pair it with dark colors (like gray) or light colors (like ivory or beige.) In my opinion, orange up top works better than orange pants or an orange skirt. But who cares what I think.
Orange as an Accessory: Even if the only other orange item is a pair of earrings or a bracelet, this color can (and will) add a lot of personality to an otherwise drab outfit.
So, now that you’ve been schooled in the do’s and don’ts of orange, you should feel up to a stroll down the orange carpet. (If you don’t, my apologies for being such a crappy teacher.) For those of you who do, here are a handful of suggestions to get you started (just don’t wear them all at once):
(from left to right)
V-Neck Orange ‘Eva’ Tunic at fashionjunkee.com
Pink Asian Flower Acrylic Earrings from kailochic.com
Candy XL Clutch from retrodelic.com
Jamie Joseph Square Orange Chaledony Ring at shoparteffect.com
Nicole ‘Drew’ Orange Wedges at zappos.com
Mark Davis ‘Bertha’ Orange Marbled Bakelite Bangle at brownsfashion.com -Jill S VANESSA

Model images – for your reference (retrieved from yahoo news images)