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The Jewish Chronicle

Have we got nudes for you this season

Are New Nudes genuinely having a moment for summer 2010?

February 10, 2010 17:05
Body, £265, and zipped, body-con skirt, £235, both by Wolford, 21 Kings Road, SW3

ByJan Shure, Jan Shure

3 min read

If the New Nudes — clothing and accessories in that sensuous spectrum of barely-there shades of palest pink, gentle peach, milky latte, creamy toffee, an almost lemony shade reminiscent of unsalted French butter, and something one might uncharitably call “beige” –– are genuinely having a moment for spring/summer 2010, it really isn’t a second too soon.

In fact, they have been predicted as a key look for so long, we ought really to be calling them the “Old Nudes”.

Those who closely follow trends will have seen “new nudes” crop up in the fashion pages since at least spring 2006, when “nude” was a key part of the colour palette for a slew of top designers across the fashion capitals — Milan, Paris, New York and London.

Yet despite the patronage of such stellar names as Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga, Phillip Lim, Proenza Schouler, Stella McCartney and Chloé, this mouthwateringly pale palette — so deliciously flattering to so many complexions and hinting at sensuous 1930s lingerie — didn’t ever really take off in a big way. Or at least, not until now when these shades are suddenly available at every part of the price spectrum, from high street and mid-range labels all the way up to Christopher Bailey at Burberry Prorsum, who sent a series of yummily pale-toned dresses, skirts and trenchcoats down the runway at his S/S 10 show, Donna Karan, who made the trend look infinitely wearable for a less ingénue clientele, Gianfranco Ferre who produced delicate draped dresses and featherlight evening coats in the shade and Hannah MacGibbon at Chloé who took a slew of mouthwateringly pale, delicately structured pieces and layered them immaculately.