Orange Crush

Fall in love with the color of the moment. Many designers this spring are celebrating orange’s sweet-and-sour charms.

In the Netherlands, orange is the official color of royalty. In India, the flag’s saffron band represents courage, and the hue is holy in Hinduism. Orange is also having a moment in the fashion zeitgeist. Mario Batali serves a fizzy pumpkin-colored drink called an “Aperol spritz” at his restaurants. “It’s bitter, tangy, and not very strong,” said Mr. Batali. “So you can drink a lot of them.” Like the flame-haired chef, designers this spring have a particularly high tolerance for orange’s sweet-and-sour charms.

At Proenza Schouler, a hot lava stripe ran across a guipure lace T-shirt, and at Alexander McQueen, Sarah Burton crafted a dress covered with feathers painted to resemble monarch butterflies. Samantha Cameron, Smythson creative adviser (and the British prime minister’s wife), chose a particularly day-glo shade for the cover of the stationer’s beloved Fashion Diary this year, and Raf Simons cut a floor-sweeping skirt the tint of bubbly Fanta at Jil Sander. Estée Lauder’s new Orange Crush shadow streaked the eyes of catwalkers at Derek Lam; Stella McCartney issued a retro-inspired print of the actual fruit; and even traditional menswear labels like Brooks Brothers and J. Crew embraced the flamboyant tone.

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