ORANGE YOU GLAD I DIDN'T SAY BANANA?

From left: Alberta Feretti, Matthew Williamson and Etro were among the lot of designers who saw orange for S/S12.

It's a color that has often been associated with the lowly and the offbeat - think prison jumpsuits, Hare Krishna robes and Halloween decor. Unexpectedly, the color orange is growing up and stepping out. Etro, Matthew Williamson, Giambattista Valli and Alberta Feretti all had orange moments on their catwalks for Spring/Summer 2012. In fact, orange is so popular a hue, that it's being dubbed "the color of the millennium" by the Color Association of the USA, a group that tracks universal color trends. 

Clockwise from above left: Silk-chiffon dress by Diane Von Furstenberg at www.net-a-porter.com, Givenchy 

bag at www.farfetch.com, Jil Sander shorts at www.net-a-porter.com.

So why is this color getting such good press? For the fashionable it's a 3-fold answer: 1) it works beautifully with black or grey (our perennial uniform color) 2)it's a little more serious than pink 3) it's done some social climbing from parking pylon orange to a more refined cantaloupe. In a word...orange has become the Cinderella of colors. 

Clockwise from above left: Nina Ricci off-the-shoulder dress at www.net-a-porter.com, Pierre Hardy wedges at www.kirnazabete.com, Alexander McQueen leather pants at www.net-a-porter.com, ring by Kendra Scott Otylia at www.neimanmarcus.com and one-shoulder Gimabattista Valli top from www.luisaviaroma.com