I was watching video of a Calvin Klein runway show when I first recognized that color blocking was a “thing.” A model walked out in a floor-length halter top dress for summer (easier, breezier and more beautiful than Cover Girl could struggle to think up), and I saw in it something new, almost like I was looking at an idea. Freaky.
The dress was made with different panels of fabric–white, beige and light yellow–sewn on mismatched diagonals that gave a sunbeam effect from the right hip. Kind of remarkable since there were only three sections in all. Naturally, I can’t find a photo of it online.
But here’s a glory to the memory I have of it that stays with me (something that might be a let down if a photo ever showed up). For me, this was the perfect example of a whole being greater than the sum of its parts things, that were never intended to coexist but re-conceived and formed into something better. I think there’s a strong association–maybe in the subconscious–between color blocking and the recognition that separate, bold aspects of an individual’s personality can come together to form a cohesive whole.
My interest in color blocks–and the related idea of pattern blocks–comes and goes with the season, but this week, I noticed a return to yellow/neutral in force. The yellow is much stronger, more intense than what you expect from a crayon. Still, it was nice to see the return of a combo that seems to have proven its lasting power, represented in enough shapes and sizes to introduce a new wave of fans.
These are five yellow color block bags for finding:
1: olivia + joy, 72.99, macys.com
2: Estellon, $328, anthropologie.com
3: Tory Burch, $365, toryburch.com
4: MARC BY MARC JACOBS, $428, marcjacobs.com
5: Reed Krakoff, $1290, bergdorfgoodman.com
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