I'm obsessed with yellow

Yellow runway shows, yellow things around my house and yellow resale finds

I couldn’t track how this happened but one day this December I woke up and felt a deep attraction to everything yellow. This is quite foreign to me as I’m usually drawn to more muted shades and my wardrobe can be described as mostly black, with some additions of dark brown or dark blue and a very occasional white. Now I keep searching for yellow garments, dust all my food with lemon zest (you will see my poor skinless lemons later) and research the use of yellow in fashion. Today I want to show you some of my favorite amarillo runways, a flat lay of my personal yellow belongings and some yellow stuff on resale I currently obsess over.

Yellow is a very common accent color in fashion, all designers I’m gonna talk about incorporate at least some yellow details in each of their shows but I wanted to include seasons where yellow is one of the main characters that contributes to the concept and not just an accent.

Alexander McQueen Fall 2004

Models in this collection (titled Pantheon ad Lucem) look like they just stepped down from a spaceship. Long draped coats and fluid dresses, covered in different shades of yellow-golden dust: from tightly coiled curls down to the tips of the heels. Walking around an illuminated protoplanetary disk (or “an alien landing pad” as described by author Andrew Wilson) instead of a runway, some models appear with big brass plates on both sides of their heads emphasizing otherworldly look even more. As L’Obscrur beautifully put it, this collection is a “futuristic view of women through the lenses of the past.” McQueen took inspiration from Ancient Greek garments that met science fiction films like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Star Wars (1977), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and Signs (2002). Most of the looks in this collection are shades of gold and yellow, color associated with goddesses in Ancient Greece. But interestingly, the ancient Greeks didn't have a specific word for "yellow" as we understand it today. The term "xanthos" was used to describe a range of colors from blond hair to amber and even the reddish hue of fire. Check out this great article about Greek color perception here.

Comme des Garçons Spring 2008

This Rei Kawakubo collection is very cartoony, bright, circusy. A journalist Sarah Mover mentions that the show was accompanied by “a jerky soundtrack of circus whizbangs, rock 'n' roll, the theme from the James Bond films, and traditional Japanese tunes”. Rei Kawakubo is famous for distilling the essence of her collections into a single word or concept and this time words were: "Clusters. Randomness. Cacophony", which completely aligned with the execution on a runway. Yellow here is playful, often paired with pinks and purples (a combination loved my many, like Prada or Rick Owens). I love that the color is flat and uniform throughout different looks, almost as if it was drawn with a yellow crayon. It also looks like the same shade of yellow used in an older Comme des Garçons flower advertisement from the 90s.

Prada Fall 2011

While I find the first part of this collection quite boring, starting from look 25 and all the way to the end, each design is so overwhelming beautiful I could cry. It’s transparent, bright but nuanced and with so many textures going on: python, mermaid scales, feathers, sequins, fur. I love how the transparent colors seamlessly blend, creating an effect reminiscent of a watercolor painting, rich with depth. The collection is just dresses, coats and skirts, without a single pant, and is a thought-provoking exploration of innocence, femininity, and societal expectations. It features dozens shades of gold, yellow, mustard and orange echoed by the pale yellow walls of the two-story concrete runway venue it was showed at.

Rick Owens

Rick Owens loves yellow. Almost in every collection he has a yellow look and I wanted to show you these instead of specific shows (though there are some yellow-heavy ones like Spring 2017 or Spring 2020) because they seem more impactful to me. Yellow transitioned from being just a muted, almost beige accent in some of more restrained “old Rick Owens” collections to becoming a bright main character in his later works, as seen in his Spring 2024 collection where models walk through the yellow fog that covers the whole runway. Rick Owens often pairs yellow with whites and grays which gives it almost an architectural quality and makes the look more sophisticated and less “theatrical”. But even the theatrical “full yellow” gowns captivate with their enormous size, solidity, and sheer strength, with some kind of monumental power to them.

The Flat Lay

• I think it all started with “Mimosa” Baserange socks my friend Anni showed me. These pale, cool toned, almost milky yellow (compared to other items on this photo they don’t even look that yellow) lured me and I decided to give them a try, maybe this yellow will work in my wardrobe? I now wear them as an accent instead of white socks. They are soft and comfy but don’t stay in place at all so I have to roll them back up every hour, oh well, things we do for fashion.

• CDLP box from my boyfriend’s Black Friday purchase. Beautiful light yellow color. I now keep my perfume samples in there. The brand itself is expensive but the quality is there (even in the box!).

• Aesop Rejuvenate Intensive Body Balm in its metal mustard packaging has a divine smell of tangerine and vanilla that I wish I could eat it. This smell even inspired me to bake a citrus vanilla cake. Pernilla, maybe you have a good recipe in mind?

• Muji house slippers tirelessly worn by my bf. I’m not sure what to tell you about them other than that I despise shoes at home and always stay barefoot.

• I already wrote about this Issey Miyake Pleats Please top that I got in Bangkok and wanted to dye black initially but luckily didn’t because it would have destroyed the pleats. In the post, I mention how I don’t wear it much, and I’m a little bittersweet about it. Well NOW I truly love it and it’s part of my Christmas outfit this year!

• We have a Haan hand sanitizer in all of our bags — great habit that stayed even after the pandemic was over. They are cheap, refillable, and offer a range of different scents, this citrus one is great.

• My new signature perfume is Byredo Mixed Emotions. It smells like a sugary smoky tea I want to bathe in. Beautiful scent but the performance is not the strongest.

• My boyfriend got obsessed with these JW Anderson strawberry shorts a couple of summers ago but didn’t end up wearing them much and we are currently selling them on Vestiare Collective (let me know if you are interested and I’ll give you a nice discount!)

• Yellow Maison Margiela t-shirt for 15 euros? Say no more, I’m getting it. It’s a very simple cotton t-shirt, but I already see it as a layering piece or maybe just as a shirt around the house once my yellow fever is over?

• Playdate is the entertainment invention of the decade! It’s a gaming device with a crank that is used to play games made specifically for this platform by the community of game developers. The screen is monochrome and has a retro “pixel art” feel to it. It’s super light, fun, works offline and we love playing it during travel.

• Olehenriksen lip treatment is great! I’m almost done with it after 10 months of use. It smells like orange, stays on the lips for many hours and has a nice shine. I won’t repurchase it once I’m done but only because I have another one in strawberry scent which will work just as well.

• Thermapen is my boyfriend’s possession. He loves to cook and says it’s the best thermometer on the market. It’s yellow so I like it.

  

  My Yellow wishlist

• Maison Margiela bag from one of my favorite collections, right before Galliano joined the team: Fall 2014. This bag reminds me of so many things: a pastry packaging, a paper fortune teller, an hourglass.

• Stunning lilac gray to lime-yellow ombre ribbed cardigan with a deep V-neck by Prada. Wool and silk. Just wow.

• Old Celine silk skirt from Pre-Fall 2012 with black and yellow kaleidoscope patten. Imagine finding the whole matching outfit!

• Canary yellow giant raincoat by Junya Watanabe as seen on Fall 2021 runway

• This Maison Margiela 100% cashmere jumper with a diamond pattern made out of translucent flower buttons. The owner is ready to let it go for just 65 euros, at this point I’m just waiting for my salary to come.

• Old Margiela lime yellow wool gloves listed three years ago. What I like about these types of listings is that either the seller is gone forever or they are ready to drop the price a lot.

• Honey-yellow leather Loewe Toy Sandals with wide toe box which I love and wrote about before:

  Designer barefoot shoes are everywhere and I love it

• Courrèges sweater with a yellow color blocking for just 60 euros! Nice way to incorporate just a little but of yellow into your wardrobe.

• Old Margiela beanie sewn out of wool pieces with inside-out seams

• “Pillow bag” from one of more recent Maison Margiela collections

• Wool and viscose blend checkered pants by Prada, simple and chic

• Old Celine cabas tote, technically not really yellow but rather a cream + gold but it fits the vibe! Send an offer and it can become a great deal.

• Old Alexander McQueen dress. The fabric looks like a very shiny polyester which both repels and attracts me. It’s like, campy?

Thank you for reading all the way through and Merry Christmas! What’s your favorite color?