Royal Lilac

Colors

15 January 2021

Lilac, lavender, parma, violet, a palette that became cool after being put in the wardrobe. Kitsch colours of the 90’s evenings, faded, old-fashioned… Because it borders on bad taste, the lilac palette becomes audacious and plays the prerogative of influencers, millennials and artists of all kinds. Aesthetic clash, retro nostalgia, assumed glamour. More subtle than ultra-violet, lilac can be combined in infinite combinations and draws towards bluish or pinkish shades to display a more feminine and impertinent style. Modernised, reviewed and corrected by designers from all horizons, lilac is making a comeback with great pomposity.

PRECURSOR

ELIZABETH II
EVENT

PROM
SORBET

VIOLET
STYLE

GLAM-KITSCH

Kelsey McClellan

Via Please ! Magazine

Doolittle – Design : Aurore Sfez

A kitsch colour by excellence, lilac offers a romantic, glamorous and vaporous aesthetic that suggests a « prom » universe. Worn with a pearly veil by « millennials », the shade suggests a nostalgia for the 1990s. At the forefront of this lilac casualness: the artists Vendredi-sur-mer, Angèle, Claire Laffut to the hair of Billie Eilish who won all the prizes at the Grammy Awards.

Friday by the sea

Olivia da Costa

Paloma Wool

Billie Eilish

Angèle – A colors show

Going against the trend seen by the Z and Alpha generations as an old-fashioned alienation, lilac materialises a desire to stand out and express one’s personality through colour. On corduroy, in hair colouring, or on a recording studio background, it symbolises the new normcore (contraction of « normal » and « hardcore » meaning that the outdated has become prominent).

Backstage Jacquemus – fall-winter 2020-2021

Courreges FW20

Soft, nostalgic, associated with a palette of soft greens or melon shades, lilac is on all fronts: from Parisian designers to the front rows, including Instagram accounts for young digital brands. After having paraded through the lavender fields, Simon Porte Jacquemus has bet on lilac this year for his latest collection « L’année 97 ». With more seventies tones and inspirations, the Courrèges house also distils purple notes into its silhouettes. Lilac and green match a duo for the enlightened fashionistas.

Paloma Wool

INSTACRUSH

THE ROYAL FAMILY
@theroyalfamily

PLEASE ! MAGAZINE
@pleasemagazine

COOL MACHINE
@coolmachineshop

Studio Proba

Objects For Objects – Urban Outfitters

After 2018, the year of ultra-violet – designated by Pantone as THE colour, the more subtle and moderate intensity of lilac makes the shade cooler because it is more kitschy. It combines lightly with orangey notes. Other pastel, sorbet-like shades, menthol green, lavender blue, offer millennials strange and refreshing associations.

Courreges FW20

Piggy Ring Box – Wang & Söderström

Ladurée Geneva Quai des Bergues – By India Mahdavi

India Mahdavi coffee table – Nilufar

Houtique M&O 19 – Masquespacio

In interiors, the royal lilac palette approaches the border between sublime and bad taste. And those who dare to venture there are still rare. India Mahdavi, known for her fresh and vibrant palettes, has succeeded in appropriating this subtle and complex nuance for Ladurée coffeeshop in Geneva as early as 2016.

INSTAFOOD

Highly instagrammable, lilac invites itself on all tables. And as the quintessence of pastel violet: the « purple ube », the purple Filipino sweet potato, which is used in every aspect of the food industry for its colourful virtues.

CASA VIOLA STUDIO
@casaviolastudio

MAMASONS DIRTY ICE CREAM
@mamasonsdirtyicecream

Sabine Marcelis

The lilac palette plays on its retro-kitsch past to become cool. Distilled on Sabine Marcelis’ translucent resin graphic blocks, the palette turns into an ultra-modern, even cyber-futuristic shade.