Ombre

Definition:
A fabric woven with shades of one colour from light to dark in the warp, usually creating a striped effect.

The use of ombre was obvious in the Fall'05 collections. Gone are the tie-dye hippie days (the seventies) where ombre would come in shades of the rainbow and printed all over t-shirts. Not a colour (or colours, in this case) for many, ombre needs to be used with great caution. Mismatching colours would be tacky and cheap and the colours should blend together seamlessly, or if not, at least work well together.

Some looks this Fall include:

Dark to Light:

Marni, Behnaz Sarafpour

Blended shades:

Atil Kutoglu, Christian Lacroix

High Contrast:

Oscar de la Renta, Paul Smith Women

For sale at Neiman Marcus:


Ombre Dresses from Laundrey by Shelli Seagal


Ombre cocktail dresses from Abs by Allen Schwartz


Ralph Lauren Black Label and Diane Bar-el

And for your viewing pleasure:


Oscars 2004: Jamie Lee Curtis looks okay, Oscars 2003: Hillary Swank looks erm...