Summer is coming and we need to talk about shorts

Summer style can be harder than cooler weather. No layers, no jackets, nothing to hide behind. So most of the time the entire outfit comes down to your shorts.

If those are off, everything can feel off.

In this article, I’m breaking down a simple 3-step process to filter through hundreds of options and find the right pair:

1. What to avoid when buying shorts

2. The right inseam of shorts based on your height

3. What cuts to actually look for depending on body type

I’ve also included what key terms brands use when describing their shorts so you can actually find them.

Let’s get into it.

MEN

1. The Fit Problem For Men

Most men default to one of two shorts:

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Below is an easy cheat code (for men and women) to fix it and instantly make your outfits like more intentional.

We’re going to do a deep dive on socks, what styles to wear, what’s trending and why they matter:

1. Crew socks vs. no-show

2. How socks change the vibe of an outfit

3. How to choose based on your proportions

You can also shop my sock edit here.

Let’s get into it.

THE BASE SOCK FORMULA (MEN & WOMEN)

• Trendy Option: Crew or quarter sock.
  → The most current, styled choice right now. Instantly makes an outfit feel intentional and directional.

• Safe option: No-show sock.

  → Always a safe fallback. Clean, minimal, and elongates the leg line.

• Avoid: Athletic / ankle socks

  → They hit at an awkward point on the ankle and make the outfit feel like an afterthought.

  

SOCK STYLING FOR MEN

Sporty / Athletic Fits

For the gym or a more athletic look, you can confidently go with a crew sock. It leans into that sporty, slightly retro feel and makes the outfit look intentional.

If that’s not your vibe, a no-show sock still works. Cleaner, more minimal, and slightly more refined.

Things to Note

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Most of the time, it’s not. You don’t need more, you’re just missing the few key pieces that pull everything together.

The ones that take an outfit from:
fine → intentional
random → styled
basic → elevated

Once you have a few of those, you can rewear what you already own and make it feel completely different.

THE 4 BRIDGE PIECES THAT FIX MOST OUTFITS

These aren’t trend pieces, but they’re the glue that make everything else in your closet come together and look intentional, not just thrown on. Think of these as anchors. They are starting points for your outfit that can easily be worn various times in various ways.

We’re going to break down these 4 pieces and how to use them as anchors to build more versatile outfits:

1. Oversized button down

2. Lightweight jackets and cardigans

3. Belts

4. Minimal sandals and refined flats

You can also shop my the spring edit here.

Let’s get into it.

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Suddenly it’s pool days, beach walks, outdoor dinners, and long afternoons outside. And for a lot of dads, summer and vacation style tends to default to the same uniform: long baggy shorts and old graphic tees or old polos. But modern vacation style has shifted.

Instead of oversized shorts and loud prints, the trend is toward cleaner silhouettes, lighter fabrics, and relaxed tailoring that still feels comfortable in the heat.

We’re going to discuss these 4 key trends:

1. Shorter shorts (linen, cotton and twill)

2. Linen tops and the secret to making multiple outfits out of 1 piece

3. Easy Vacation pants

4. The perfect essential T-shirt and different ways to style it

You can also shop my cool dads vacation edit here.

Let’s get into it.

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So instead of chasing random trends and panicking on what to wear, here are the five silhouettes cool moms are wearing this spring and vacation season.

These are the pieces that feel modern, effortless, and elevated, while still being comfortable enough for long pool days, travel, and real life. You can also shop my cool moms vacation edit here.

We’re going to discuss these 6 key trends:

1. Bermuda shorts (linen, cotton and twill)

2. Balloon pants (different fabrics types and which is best for different occasions)

3. Linen tops and the secret to making multiple outfits out of 1 piece

4. Easy Vacation dresses that can be worn day or night

5. Animal print and how to style it in a refined way

6. Bold color

You can also shop my cool moms vacation edit here.

Let’s get into it.

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Alright moms, we’re talking body types. I know how hard it can be after kids (two under two over here), navigating all the changes and then trying to get dressed on top of it.

You just created a human. You’re a rockstar. And even if your body feels new or different, remember this when getting dressed: it’s not your body that’s the problem. It’s the proportions of what you’re wearing.

Repeat after me. It’s not my body. It’s my proportions.

Being a “cool mom” has nothing to do with bouncing back or finding your old body again. Cool mom fashion is all about understanding your body type and how clothes highlight your silhouette. Shoulders, chest, waist, rise, length. We have to make them work for us, not against us.

But when you learn how to dress your body type, everything shifts. You stop chasing trends and start choosing pieces that actually work. Getting dressed feels clearer. More intentional. That is the cool mom energy.

Let’s get into it.

Here’s to finding the right formula for you.

Grab a soft tape measure or even a piece of string and a ruler. We’re keeping this simple. You only need three numbers:

1. Shoulders: Have someone help you or stand in front of a mirror. Wrap the tape around the widest part of your shoulders, right at the points of your shoulder bones.

2. Waist/Stomach: For Apples, measure around the widest part of your midsection (usually across the belly button). For Rectangles/Pears, measure your “natural waist”—the narrowest part above your hips.

3. Hips: Wrap the tape around the fullest part of your hips and butt. Keep your feet together so you don’t “flare” the measurement.

The Apple

The Proportion Reality: Your waist is your fullest point. Your hips and legs are often slimmer than you think.

Where Getting Dressed Goes Wrong: Wearing “oversized” dresses or shirts to hide the middle. This makes you look bulky, hiding your slim limbs and making you look “round” everywhere.

What to Do Instead: The “Column of Color.” Wear a monochromatic base (all black or all navy) and add a structured jacket worn open. This nips in the sides of your waist visually.

The Refinement: Use shorter hemlines or slim-straight trousers. By highlighting your narrowest assets (your legs), the eye assumes the rest of your frame is just as lean.

Below are pieces that help create the right balance and structure.

Blazer, Reformation

Straight Cut Trousers, Mango

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Let’s be honest. Between work, kids, sports practice, and everything else this season of life throws at you, getting dressed is not exactly the priority.

Most dads just grab what feels safe, comfortable, and easy and hope it works. Then you catch yourself in a mirror and think, something feels off.

It’s not your body. It’s your proportions.

Being a cool dad has nothing to do with chasing a different version of yourself. It has everything to do with understanding your structure: shoulders, chest, waist, rise, length. That’s the math.

When those proportions are balanced, you look put together without trying harder. When they’re not, you get what I call the Tent Effect.

You master getting dressed and make it feel effortless when you become the proportion architect of your own body. Once you understand the formula that works for you, getting dressed gets easier and that’s when you start looking like a cool dad.

Let’s get into it.

Here’s to finding the right formula for you.

Grab a soft tape measure or even a piece of string and a ruler. We’re keeping this simple. You only need three numbers:

• Shoulders (or chest): The widest point all the way around.

• Waist: The narrowest point, usually right above the belly button.

• Hips: The widest part of your waist.

Inverted Triangle

The Math: Your shoulders are about > 5% wider than your hips.

• The Reality: Your shoulders and chest are wider than your waist.

• The Mistake: Wearing slim-fit shirts that are too tight in the chest, making you look like you’re “bursting” out of your clothes.

• The Cheat Code: Balance. You need “Straight” or “Athletic” cut pants to add visual weight to your lower half so you don’t look top-heavy.

• The Pro Move: Avoid “cap sleeves” on tees; look for sleeves that hit mid-bicep.

Here are some shopping recommendations for inverted triangle body types:

Trouser, Banana Republic

Straight Leg Jean, Madewell

Relaxed Tee, Madewell

Resort Shirt, Abercormbie

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WHITE TEES

Gap, here.

Uniqlo, here.

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Cool Dads, here are a few 2026 trends that make getting dressed easier without trying too hard.I linked some favorites below (not sponsored).

Happy shopping.

TROUSERS

Abercrombie baggy trousers, here.

Abercrombie relaxed straight trouser, here.

Gap wool blend trouser, here.

Lululemon daydrift trouser, here.

Banana Republic relaxed trousers, here.

Read more

Levi’s 501, here.

Levi’s Straight Ribcage, here.

Gap 90’s slim high rise, here.

Madewell Jules Straight Jean, here.

Banana Republic High Rise 90’s straight jean, here.

Citizens of Humanity, here.

Paige Stevie Straight leg, here.

Abercrombie Mid-rise Straight, here.

Agolde Lana, here.

Mother The Reifler, here.

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Bold Colors

Puma Speedcat, here. So many good colors on their site!

These Louis Vuittons are sold out.

Similar Marc Jacobs here, Gola here and Rag and Bone Here.

Adidas Tokyo, similar here

Marc Jacobs, here.

White

Vivaia, here.

Isabel Marant, here.

Alohas, here.

Zara Leather, here.

Puma, here.

Jeffrey Campbell, here.

Ballerina Sneakers

Adidas Ballerina, here.

Zara Ballet Sneakers, here.

Jeffrey Campbell, here.

Puma, here.

Bimba y Lola, here.

Suede

Alohas, here.

Banana Republic, here.

Steve Madden, here.

Miu Miu, here.

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When was the last time you actually gasped at the beauty of something? And I mean really gasped, out loud, without thinking. That is what Haute Couture Week did to me this week, over and over again.

I was watching these Paris fashion shows in between mom-ing and life’s responsibilities on my tiny phone screen and found myself gasping alone in my car. Pure joy. Awe. That kind of visceral, almost childlike response you cannot plan for. It made me feel something in a way that felt rare and deeply human, and it got me thinking about how often we give ourselves the chance to appreciate beauty purely for beauty’s sake. To make art, or witness it, without needing it to be productive or optimized or explained.

Creating and engaging with art is such a fundamental part of the human experience; it is how we take pain, anger, fear, joy, love, all of it, and distill it into something physical. Something we can see, feel, and hold. So often, most of us are moving through life on autopilot, always onto the next thing. We are also so used to quick dopamine hits from our phones, quick to react, quick to judge, quick to feel satisfied, and then immediately move on. When was the last time you really sat with something? When the longer you looked, the more it revealed itself. When beauty felt alive and kept unfolding.

That is what the couture shows did for me this week.

Fashion is wearable art, a moving language of expression, a reminder of what humans are capable of when imagination, emotion, and craft are allowed to exist together. The attention to detail. The reverence for the smallest elements. The ability to see the world through delicacy and intricacy. These shows took human emotion and transmuted it into something physical. A myriad of the rawest emotions all shaped through craft, time, and care. Thousands of hours poured into a single piece. Still gasping just thinking about it.

In a world where everything is mass produced and increasingly looks the same, couture celebrates the opposite. Uniqueness. Individuality. The beauty of something made slowly and intentionally. This week, I witnessed true art, and I feel changed by it. Who knew gowns and beading could make such an impact?

So no, maybe couture will not save the world, but it can stir that quiet sense of wonder, even in the most mundane moments, like sitting in your car staring at a tiny screen.

So the message for this week, in finding my pink, is this: find your couture.
The thing that makes you feel giddy, pulls you out of autopilot, and reconnects you to the depth and joy of being alive. The thing that reminds you that beauty still exists, if you are willing to slow down long enough to notice it.

Here are a few of my favorite looks from this week (so hard to narrow it down!)

Hopefully this inspires some beauty in your day—

Valentino Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2026 Collection. Images from WWD.

This show was exquisite and what made it even more interesting was the set in lieu of a classic runway.

“Michele presented a vision of grand characters; guests sat around carousel-like wooden circles looking into narrow windows to take in their looks one by one. The models walked into the center of the circles guests looked through the viewing windows. The optical device is more than just an unusual runway set—it’s a reinvention of a forgotten moving-image mechanism from the late 1800s called a Kaiserpanorama. In recreating the long lost cinematic device, Michele sought to slow down our gaze and give each look a solitary, delicate moment of concentration. In an age of overexposure and constant swiping, contemplation and total focus is a rarity. Michele’s sirens, in all their theatricality, come into view. In typical Michele fashion, the characters were full of all the lush drama we’ve come to associate with the dreamlike world-builder.” -Excerpt from W Magazine

Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2026 Collection. Images from WWD

This might (maybe?) be my one of my favorites. Truly STUNNING.

“The emotional core of this collection was revealed to me in October of last year while I was on a creative retreat outside of Rome. One afternoon, I arranged a last-minute tour to see the Sistine Chapel. If you’ve been there, you know that the first thing you see isn’t the ceiling, but the walls, densely painted by an army of artists in the years before Michelangelo began his work in 1508. They’re decorated by ecclesiastical scenes: images meant to tell, to educate. But crane your neck skyward, and thought stops. Feeling begins. That’s because forty years later, one man came in and singlehandedly changed art forever, presenting a wild, visually rambunctious, vulnerable and romantic imagining of God, religion, faith, and the human condition. Here is agony and ecstasy comingled, terrible and exquisite. He didn’t tell us what happened, but instead gave his audience permission on how to feel when they looked at art.”

-Excerpt from Schiaparelli Site

Ashi Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2026 Collection. Images from WWD.

This show was so unique, focused more on modern and structural shapes. The construction of the garments were incredible.

“The Beginnings’. Taking as its starting point the love, devotion and longing that, inevitably for us all, eventually become loss, and couching them in the aesthetics of Victorian mourning rituals, what may in the hands of another designer have become a dark affair of heavy black fabrics and an abundance of lace in Ashi’s hands becomes earthier and more ephemeral.

A palette that runs the gamut from cream to chestnut recalls a lock of hair worn in a locket close to the body, echoed in leather fringing and sweeping trompe-l’oiel spirals, while distressed organza skirts, shredded silk hems and rigid, almost sarcophagi-like silhouettes reference the decay humans work so hard to hide from sight. Yet, while the subject matter is undeniably dark, taken as a whole, there is a lightness of touch and an undeniable adherence to beauty that bring levity and glamour to the collection. Simply sublime.” - Excerpt from Luxury London

Dior Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2026. Images from WWD.

I loved the color palette, shapes and botanicals in this show. The details were splendid as well, the more you look the more you see.

“Nature and art align in sculptural volumes and sinuous draping, tailoring contrasting with botanical embellishments. When you copy nature, you always learn something. Nature offers no fixed conclusions, only systems in motion – evolving, adapting, enduring. Haute couture belongs to this same logic: a laboratory of ideas where experimentation is inseparable from craft, and time-honoured techniques are activated as living knowledge. It is a way of seeing – an interpretive lens through which the present is examined, reassembled and imagined anew. Urgent. Subtle. Precise.” -Excerpt from Dior

Miss Sohee Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2026. Images from WWD.

This show was beautiful, the colors, the gowns, the drama, the east meets west details and the exceptional fit highlighting a woman’s body.

“Miss Sohee’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection frames the body as both structure and canvas, with the silhouette becoming a support for miniature landscapes—embroidered, painted, and layered across silk, organza, and taffeta.

Designer Sohee Park’s new collection is rooted in Korean heritage and memories of her Summer house in her native Korea. Wisteria, bamboo, and the changing skies she observed inform embroidery, layered sheers, and hand-painted organza.

East meets West in both detail and structure. Botanical motifs and chinoiserie shapes sit alongside clean lines that recall 1960s tailoring. Overskirts, capes, and sheers balance volume with proportion. Accessories continue this logic: mother-of-pearl bags shaped like fans, sculptural trinkets, couture phone cases—all reflecting the same attention to form.” - Excerpt from Couture Notebook

Georges Hobeika Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2026. Images from GlobalCouture.

This collection was stunning. I mean just stunning. The intricacy of the beading, bodices, and lace. So romantic and beautiful.

“Why must I love?”
So that you may understand.

Do you remember ever loving deeply? When you step beyond yourself, when your body and mind finally merge? You then grasp a truth that existed before you to become what you have always been: a creature interconnected with others, willing to give oneself without holding back, able to see in others what constitutes your very essence. Love makes you vulnerable, and therein lies the key to truth: the recognition that you are nothing more than an entity of love, seeking love, needing love, deserving love. And in this rush towards others, you discover what feels most like freedom.” - Excerpt from Georges Hobeika site

Until next time!

Color theory sounds technical, maybe even intimidating, but at its core it’s simply a way to understand why certain colors feel good together. It’s not meant to box you in, It’s meant to give you confidence!

Think of it as a language. Once you understand a few basics, you start speaking it more intuitively.

The Basics

Everything starts with the primary colors (as I’m sure we remember from our grade school days): red, blue, and yellow. These cannot be created by mixing other colors.

From there come the secondary colors: green, orange, and purple, each made by combining two primaries.

Then there are tertiary colors, the in-between shades: olive, rust, teal. These are often the most wearable because they’re softened and nuanced. Less obvious. More interesting.

These basic concepts remind me of one my favorite books to read with my kids. Mix it Up by Hervé Tullet. Its such a great interactive book for kids to learn about colors. Shout out to my artist sister for introducing me to it! Ok, back to Color Theory—

Once you see these relationships laid out on a color wheel, patterns emerge.

• Complementary colors sit opposite each other (blue and orange, red and green). They create contrast and energy.

• Analogous colors sit next to each other (blue, teal, green). These feel cohesive and calm.

• Triadic are colors that sit equally apart on the wheel. They create balance with a bit more visual interest than analogous pairings.

• Tetradic are two sets of opposite or complimentary colors. They’re bold and dynamic, and work best when one color dominates and the others support.

• Monochrome looks use different shades of the same color to create depth without contrast.

• Split Complimentary is a base color plus the two colors on either side of it’s complementary color.

  Next, you have how dark, light, pure or intense a color is.

  

• Hue is the fundamental family color name like red or blue.

• Saturation is how intense the color is. Changes in saturation make the color brighter or more dull.

• Value is how dark or light a color is. Pale colors are high in value and darker colors are low in value.

Color theory can seem complex, but it mostly explains something we already feel. It gives language to why one outfit feels flat and another feels balanced, even when we can’t quite explain it.

This is also why I love how brands like Tibi talk about color. Not as rules, but as relationships. It’s about contrast, tension, and intuition, not perfect matching.

Their color wheel is especially helpful because it’s grounded in how we actually get dressed. You work outward if your closet is mostly neutrals, adding color slowly and intentionally. If you already wear a lot of color, you work inward to ground it.

Color Theory, Seen on the Runway

On the runway, color has to do the work. There’s no lifestyle context, no “real life” distraction. If a combination works there, it’s because the relationship between the colors is sound.

Across Spring and Fall 2026, color theory shows up in a very real way. The same pairings appear again and again, subtle, thoughtful, and anything but random.

Cool + Deep: Oxblood and Pale Blue

Seen in collections like Prada

These two colors work well together because the blue is softened enough to sit comfortably next to burgundy.

It isn’t a crisp, primary blue. It’s slightly muted and greyed, which keeps the pairing from feeling sharp or overly graphic.

What’s happening here:

• Both colors are leaning cool

• The burgundy is cool, blue-based, and deep.

• The blue is cool and icy, not green based.

• These colors create strong value contrast, meaning there’s a clear difference between light and dark, which is what makes the pairing feel interesting.

This is a really good example of how value contrast can be bold while undertone alignment keeps it refined.

How to use this in your styling:

• Burgundy works best with blues that are muted or softened.

• Sharper blues need cleaner, clearer reds.

• Deep colors pair best with other colors that carry depth.

Primary Contrast: Red and Cobalt/Navy

Seen in collections like Celine and Jil Sander

This is high-contrast color theory done cleanly, using a sharper blue.

Both colors are clear and confident, but what makes this work is hierarchy. One color leads, the other punctuates. That’s what keeps the pairing graphic, not chaotic. Red and blue work so well together in both the Celine and Jil Sander looks because the contrast is intentional and the undertones are aligned.

What’s happening here:

• One of the bold colors acts as the anchor. It carries the structure of the look and keeps everything feeling calm and grounded.

• The other color is the pop. It adds energy and interest, but it’s used with restraint so it doesn’t overpower.

• The undertones match. The red is blue-based, not orange-leaning, so it feels crisp rather than warm. The blue is neutral-to-cool, not green-leaning.

• Because they share the same undertone direction, they sit in the same family even though they’re opposites (complimentary colors).

• In both looks, one color clearly leads and the other supports.

How to use this in your styling:

• Red and blue work best when one leads and the other supports.

• Control and proportion are what make high-contrast color feel refined.

• The more saturated the blue, the more restrained the red should be.

• Undertone alignment matters just as much as contrast. Red and blue work best when both lean cool or neutral. Mixing red with a green-leaning blue creates tension that’s harder to control.

This combination is a good for feeling bold and put together but not overly playful.

Layered Depth: Red and Violet

Seen at Alaïa, Versace, Will Chavarria

Red and violet sit close to each other on the color spectrum, which is why this combination feels layered instead of sharp. These two colors share a common base, so they build depth rather than contrast.

What’s happening here:

• Both colors share a blue base. The red is blue-based rather than orange, and the violet leans warm rather than cool.

• The values are similar. Neither color is significantly lighter or darker (similar value), so they layer without one overpowering the other.

• Saturation is balanced. (reminder- saturation is how bright or dull the color is) Even when the colors are bold, they’re not fully primary, which keeps the pairing from feeling loud.

• These colors are adjacent on the color wheel so the transition feels smooth rather than abrupt.

How to use this in your styling:

• Pair blue-based reds with blue-based violets or purples.

• Let texture or silhouette stay simple so the color relationship is the focus.

• Add a neutral only if you need to ground the look.

This is a useful pairing when you want color to feel expressive and dimensional without feeling high-contrast or overly graphic.

Soft Contrast: Pink and Olive

Seen at Miu Miu, Bottega Veneta

This pairing works because it’s contrast without sharpness.

Pink and olive sit far enough apart to create interest, but they’re both softened, which keeps the combination grounded and wearable.

What’s happening here:

• Olive acts as a neutral. It has enough depth and earthiness to ground the look, similar to brown or khaki, but feels more modern.

• Pink adds lightness. It brings softness and warmth without feeling sweet or juvenile.

• Both colors are muted. Neither is fully saturated (brightness/intensity), which keeps the pairing calm rather than playful or loud.

• The undertones are compatible. Olive leans warm and yellow-based, and the pinks used here tend to be dusty or blue-based, not sugary.

How to use this in your styling:

• Treat olive as your base neutral, replacing black, brown, or navy.

• Add soft or dusty pinks rather than bright or candy tones.

• Let olive carry the structure and pink act as the lift.

• Keep silhouettes simple so the color relationship feels intentional.

This is a great example of how color can feel fresh and interesting without ever feeling bold. It’s subtle, modern, and very easy to translate into everyday dressing.

A Simple Formula for Everyday Color

If runway feels far removed from real life, here’s how to use all of this daily.

The Formula

1. Choose one anchor color
Your base. Something familiar or grounding.
Examples: navy, olive, brown, denim, grey, black.

2. Add a color that balances the anchor.
If your base feels heavy, add something lighter.
If it feels cool, add a bit of warmth.

3. Soften the saturation
If one color is bold, let the other be muted.
This is what keeps outfits intentional, not loud.

4. Ground with a neutral
Shoes, bag, or outerwear quietly stabilize the look.

Real-Life Examples

• Olive trousers + pale pink knit + brown shoes. This combination is actually on Tibi’s homepage right now.

• Burgundy skirt + light blue shirt + brown boots

• Navy or soft blue trousers + blue-based red knit + neutral flats

• Blue-based red sweater + violet or plum scarf + denim

I hope this helps deepen your understanding of color theory and gives you a few new ways to integrate it into your personal style. Let me know if you try any of these combinations.

Until next time!

Loud. Sophisticated. Unapologetically Colorful.

Let’s just say color is back and in a big way. It was everywhere on the Spring 2026 runways, and I’m genuinely excited about it. Things have felt a little dull lately. Very tonal. Very safe. A bit bland, if we’re being honest.

And listen, I love a good minimalist moment as much as the next girl, but at some point, we have to have a little fun again.

While Pantone named white, specifically “Cloud Dancer”, as the 2026 Color of the Year (which, respectfully… we’re not accepting), the runways are telling a very different story. Color isn’t whispering right now. It’s showing up bold, confident, and incredibly refined.

Think less “pop of color,” more commitment.

After years of safe neutrals, quiet luxury, and tonal beige everything, fashion is swinging the pendulum back toward expression, emotion, and presence. Color blocking. Saturated hues. Tonal dressing that feels intentional, not chaotic.

Here’s how I’m decoding 2026.

WHAT THE RUNWAYS ARE SAYING

At Spring 2026 shows from houses like Celine, Prada, Valentino, Aalia, color wasn’t used as a pop or small add on it was the message.

We saw:

• Strong color blocking

• Tonal dressing in saturated hues

• Fewer “safe” neutrals, more confident color stories

• Colorful outwear and accessories

THE TOP 5 COLORS DEFINING 2026

1. Pink (Fuchsia to Baby Pink)

Pink is everywhere and I have to say I love it. I’ve never been a huge pink fan, but I’ve been seeing it in a whole new light. Its feminine and soft, yet in the right shade edgy and sophisticated.

Fuchsia is bold, energetic, and undeniably confident. Muted pink brings softness and sweetness, but still feels modern when styled cleanly. What I love most? Pink is no longer being treated as feminine fluff. It’s powerful, playful, and very self-assured.

Why I love it:
Pink carries optimism without being naïve. It’s joy with backbone.

&other stories dress, Reformation lace skirt, Sezane sweater, Khaite blouse

2. Yellow (Butter & Marigold)

Yellow continues its rise, but it’s evolving.

Butter yellow feels creamy, warm, and elevated, easy to wear but never boring. Marigold brings a richer, earthier depth that feels soulful and grounded. Together, they strike that perfect balance between optimism and sophistication.

Why I love it:
Yellow feels hopeful without being loud. It’s warmth you can actually live in.

Free People Skirt, Doen Dress, Cos Twist Top, Baleneciaga bag

3. Blue (Cobalt Blue & Neutral Blue)

Blue is having a very smart moment.

Cerulean is crisp, electric, and expansive it feels intellectual and refreshing. Pale blue softens things up, adding calm and ease without tipping into boring. With the right shade it can feel modern and unexpected.

Why I love it:
It’s confident, modern, and endlessly wearable.

&daughter sweater, Madewell sweater tank, Vince satin pants, Clare V bag

4. Red (Fiery, True Red)

This is not last year’s polished red.

2026 red is vivid, emotional, and intense. It shows up as a statement, often worn head-to-toe or sharply contrasted. It’s bold, yes, but also incredibly chic when done with intention. This color also looks incredible when color blocked with other bold colors. That is a look that is impossible to ignore.

Why I love it:
Red demands presence. It’s powerful, direct, and impossible to ignore.

Roucha jacket, Still Here jeans, Aritiza top, Suede bag

5. Green (Chartreuse & Acid Green)

Green is the wildcard—and that’s exactly why it matters.

Chartreuse is sharp, electric, and slightly uncomfortable. It doesn’t try to blend in, and that’s the point. It shows up when fashion wants to provoke, energize, and wake us up.

Why I love it:
It adds tension. And tension is what makes an outfit interesting.

Jeffrey Campbell mule, Tuckernuck top, &Daughter cashmere top, Tory Burch Bag

MY FAVORITE STYLING TIPS IF YOU’RE COLOR SHY

Start with outerwear.
A jacket or sweater is the easiest entry point. It’s simple to layer on and just as easy to remove. Tie it around your waist, drape it over your shoulders, or even carry it over your bag. It lets you test color without committing to it all day.

Accessories, accessories, accessories.
This is by far the easiest way to ease into color. Socks are my favorite—they’re subtle, but they make a big impact. Bags, shoes, scarves, sunglasses… small touches go a long way.

Try thrifting first.
Thrifting is such a fun, low-pressure way to experiment. You can play with color without spending a lot on a piece you might regret later. Think of it as research, not a mistake.

THE COLOR THEORY BEHIND IT

There’s a reason these colors feel so good right now and next week, we’ll get into why. How complementary and analogous colors work together, why certain pairings feel harmonious, and why some combinations just… don’t. This is where the color wheel enters the chat.

Color isn’t random. When it works, there’s structure behind the feeling.

Next week, we’ll break it down. For now? Lean into color. Wear it boldly. Commit to it fully.

Until next time!

What Makes a Color “Good,” Technically Speaking

I think we have all had the experience of falling in love with a color in a store, a studio, or even online. Then you bring it into your own space or go outside and suddenly it feels off. Too flat. Too green. Too cold. Too loud. A totally different color.

How could this happen? It’s not your imagination, it’s actually physics, chemistry, and material science because color isn’t a single thing. It’s an interaction. And “good” color, the kind that holds up over time and across environments, is built, not just chosen.

Technically speaking, good color is:

• Stable. It doesn’t drift or degrade unpredictably

• Context-aware. It behaves across lighting environments

• Balanced. Not reliant on extreme saturation

• Honest. It looks like itself most of the time, not just once

When color is done well, you absolutely notice it. It feels even and stable. Almost edible. The hue is clear, the tone is right, and it holds its depth over time instead of washing down or fading away. At its best, color isn’t just correct. It’s an art piece.

Good color is not an accident. It’s the result of a long chain of invisible decisions made well before an item ever reaches you. I learned this firsthand during my time at Alo Yoga, where I worked as a colorist and later led the entire color department as the brand scaled. I’ll share more of that personal journey later, but first, let’s start with the fundamentals of how color actually works.

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Ok, now it is time for a crash course in color. Hopefully this is technical, informative but not too dense.

Not All Dyes Are Created Equal

First and foremost, what makes a color “good” comes down to chemistry.

Dyes and pigments vary in:

• Molecular stability

• Particle size and uniformity

• How evenly they bond to different fibers

Some dyes are inherently unstable. They shift, fade, or oxidize over time, especially when exposed to UV light, heat, or air.

This is why:

• Blacks can fade brown or green

• Reds are notoriously difficult to maintain, ugh but when they’re good, they’re soo good!

• Some blues stay rich for decades while others dull quickly

• Neons are extremely hard to make and keep

• Whites yellow over time

The first step in color is choosing it and the most streamlined, efficient way to do that is through Pantone. The fashion world speaks the language of Pantone. It’s the universal reference point for color.

My desk used to be covered in these. I would find them in pockets, my purse, my car, everywhere.

Image from Pantone

Choosing the right Pantone is the first step, but the more important step is execution. That execution depends on selecting the right dye formulations and working with dye houses that specialize in specific fabrics. Not every mill or dye house is equipped to handle every material, and expertise at this level makes a noticeable difference in the final result.

Finishing processes are just as important. Deeply saturated colors need to be finished for colorfastness, especially when they’re worn, washed, or exposed to friction. Neon colors are even more sensitive and often require additional colorfastness treatments, sometimes paired with UV finishes, to help prevent rapid fading.

A few key terms matter here:

• Colorfastness: resistance to fading or bleeding

  Left photo you can see a blue garment bled color onto another top in the wash. This blue garment had bad colorfastness. The photo on the right you can see the blue swatches were tested under different exposures to light to see how they faded. Images from reddit and testex textiles.

• Crocking: color transfer from rubbing, either dry or wet. This happens a lot with denim

  

Crocking— The indigo dye rubbed off on the white shirt. Image from google

• Migration: dye movement within or out of a fabric

  

  You can see here that the blue dye from the shirt bled onto the white graphic. Image from Bella Canvas

These finishing processes help stabilize color and extend its life, ensuring it holds its tone and intensity over time rather than breaking down prematurely.

And when this step is missed, the consequences can be very real. I remember when I first started at Alo, the customer service team received an email from a customer saying that after washing her garments and hanging them to dry in her shower, the fabric had dyed the shower black. (!!!) That’s a major color failure, and a clear example of what happens when colorfastness isn’t properly controlled.

Where I Learned This

Before working in fashion, I didn’t think much about how color was made.

I knew what I liked and I knew how colors worked together. If something faded or shifted, I assumed it was cheap, over-washed, or poorly made and moved on. What confused me was noticing the same issues in nicer brands too. Colors that didn’t age well or felt inconsistent depending on where you saw them.

That curiosity sharpened quickly when I joined Alo Yoga (2018), back when the brand was still early. This time period was pre retail stores, pre Alo Moves, pre celebrity saturation. They were gaining traction, but they hadn’t fully exploded yet.

One thing Alo was already becoming known for was color. They built tight, intentional color capsules that felt fresh and elevated for activewear. They were early to the studio-to-street idea, and color was a huge part of what made that shift work. These were athletic clothes that didn’t feel purely athletic and shades that felt fashion-forward, not performance-only.

But behind the scenes, color was where things got complicated.

Building Color the Right Way

When I started working at Alo, there wasn’t a dedicated color department. Responsibility was split between design and product development, so even though color was central to the brand’s identity, the actual execution was often treated as a final step rather than a system.

Over time, I stepped in and took on increasing responsibility for color approvals which allowed me to go deep into the science and processes behind color, how dyes behave on different fibers, how light affects perception, and why consistency breaks down at scale. I picked it up quickly, partly out of curiosity, and partly because once you understand how color actually works, the gaps in the process become impossible to overlook.

As the brand grew, that knowledge became essential. I moved into a role where I was running and building the entire color department. I established standards, created workflows, and put systems in place so color decisions were not subjective or dependent on who happened to be in the room that day.

That work wasn’t just about taste. It was about repeatability. About making sure a color could survive different fabrics, different lighting environments, and real-world wear without drifting into something unintended.

Not to mention, making color in activewear is rarely straightforward. You’re not matching one fabric. You’re matching many. Nylon blends. Poly blends. Ribbed knits. Brushed finishes. Compression fabrics. Each one absorbs and reflects dye differently. A color that looks perfect on one material can skew green, flat, or chalky on another.

Add inconsistent lighting, approvals done by eye, and no standardized process, and suddenly one “black” becomes five different blacks. Warm blacks. Cool blacks. Blacks that look identical in the office and completely fall apart in daylight.

And yes, there really are that many shades of black. (quickly became the bane of my existence)

Light, Metamerism, and Why Color Isn’t Fixed

I think the main thing I realized is that we talk about color as if it’s a fixed property. This shirt is black. This wall is white. This dress is blush. But color doesn’t exist on its own.

When you look at a color what you’re actually seeing is the relationship between:

• The light source— daylight, led light, warm light, cool light

• The surface or material— fabric composition, smooth, shinny, textured

• Your eye and brain— the way the human eye works and how color is perceived by the brain

A surface doesn’t have color. It reflects and absorbs wavelengths of light. Change the light, and the color changes with it. That’s why the same garment can look rich in the morning, dull at noon, and slightly green at night.

This is also why one color can look identical in one setting and completely different in another. That phenomenon is called metamerism. It’s when colors on the same fabric match under one light source but diverge under another.

In color production, metamerism is the big NO. If a color shifts depending on the light, it’s rejected.

An example of metamerism— the swatches on the left are under daylight lighting and the ones on the right under fluorescent. You can see how the color changes this means the dye formula is unstable. We would reject this color and the dyehouse would need to resubmit. Image from Datacolor.

To test for this, color is evaluated on a neutral grey background. Grey is critical because it removes surrounding color influence (color relativity). Swatches are viewed under multiple light sources, daylight, warm light, and cool light at minimum. If a color can’t hold across those conditions, it’s not stable enough for real-world use.

As systems matured and the company grew, we also introduced spectrophotometer software. These tools read color objectively rather than relying on personal perception which matters because everyone sees color slightly differently. We needed a single source of truth when making large production decisions and this software helped streamline the approval process.

Spectrophotometer, image from Datacolor

Being part of building out and helping define how the company makes color was an exciting career moment for me! Below are a few styles and colors I worked on while I was there.

Images from Alo

Image from Alo

This image is a good example of how color behaves in the real world. These pieces were approved as the same Pantone, but because the fabrics are different, they reflect light differently and end up reading as slightly different tones.

Understanding how color is built is the foundation. Next, I’ll explore color theory and how colors relate to one another, and why certain pairings feel effortless while others never quite work.

That’s all for now, class dismissed!

Decoding color and fashion trends for the cool moms and cool dads. Industry colorist, Parsons Design.

If you’re a cool mom or dad looking for styling tips and exactly where to buy it, you’re in the right place.

Subscribers will have access to:
– Styling tips for moms and dads
– Cool mom and cool dads trends for seasons, life events and everything in between
– Reflections on the tension between wanting to look good and being practical for this phase of life

About me:

I’m Sofie Sullivan, Parsons–trained in fashion design with a career rooted in product development and color. I started in New York working in womenswear, including Haute Hippie and Alice + Olivia, then moved to Los Angeles where I worked in menswear at Lucky Brand. Later, I became a colorist at Alo Yoga and built out their color department from the ground up. I have a trained eye, a strong intuitive sense for style, and a deep love for fashion. It’s what I’ve always lived, studied, and obsessed over.

Now I’m back in Arizona as a wife and mom of two toddlers, channeling that same expertise into helping other parents feel like themselves again. Because personal style doesn’t disappear in motherhood or fatherhood, it just evolves.

Let’s find our cool again.

Until next time!