How do you take your orange?

October 29, 2014Liz Nehdi

Orange Collage by Liz Nehdi. Image credits below.

Orange is a polarizing colour; I personally love it, yet you’ll never find me dressed in it from head to toe. And some people reaaaaalllly hate it. Then there are my Dutch friends who wear it as a badge of pride.

The tricky thing about orange is how it plays with other colours. But with the collage above, I’m hoping to show you some classic and less traditional ways to pair it with other colours. Here’s a little cheat sheet for you.

Easy + classic

Orange + black = classic Halloween combo
Orange + white = slighty preppy + tropical vibe
Orange + blue = complementary colours that really pop when used together

Intermediate

Shades of orange + yellow, gold, white + yellow ochre = a bit retro, a bit modern
A deep orange (such as burnt umber), tan + a mellow yellow = autumnal energy

Advanced + unexpected

Various shades of orange, hot pink, black, white, tan, denim blue, gray + highlighter yellow = unexpected awesomeness, in my opinion. A little bit jazzy, a hint of urban cool, and again, just a fantastic combination of colours
Orange, baby blue, violet, yellow ochre, gray, brown, green, lime, tan + lilac = modern rainbow (you get extra points if you can pull this off)

Whatever your feelings on orange, you simply can’t escape it this time of year, what with all of the pumpkins, candy corn and burnt orange leaves underfoot. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy this collage of patterns, art and clothes that showcase orange’s versatility -- oh and the obligatory pumpkin -- in honour of Halloween. Larger individual images from the collage, image credits and a smattering of other images are below.