And Then There Was Red: Fall 2012 Women's Trend Report

Stella McCartney

So it appears that many designers of Fall 2012 Womenswear got the memo. I guess one could call trend-forecasting services a kind of memo, but I think there was a greater suggestion at play.

Designers went bold this season with color and one in particular. RED! I am calling it a Volcanic Red since it was the hot color to touch on almost every womenswear Ready-to-Wear runway for Fall 2012. It's remains a remarkable color but certainly not a new one. However, more so than before designers gravitated toward this complementary inferno color for a reason that I feel has to do with the color's primal attraction. There is something desirous and incredibly intriguing about a woman in red and not just for the psycho-sexual reasons. Yes it does propel her to exude a natural courage for reasons that are both biologically and visually driven. Also, however, the power of seeing a women in red is in my opinion analogous to the pinstripes of a man's power suit, the size of his car or the medals on his military jacket. What red does to the senses and what red mirrors from man's own primal desires is the close interplay between liberation, sex and femininity. Red's presence on a woman can announce all that makes her different from a man in a sensuously visceral way.

Designers for Fall 2012 offered up Volcanic Red diaphanously cut, tailored to a tee, skin tight and free flowing all with various suggestions of how the color only enhances the spirit of what a woman is capable of already bringing to the table.