Fashion is all about making a statement and being seen. What better way to do both, than to wear traffic-stopping neon hues.
WHAT: Not one for the faint-hearted, vibrant zesty hues are back with a bang this year after endless seasons of the fashion pack drooling over all things pastel. Neon already started making waves last autumn; creating their own micro-trend because of the likes of Blake Lively, the Kardashians and online fast fashion brands like Missguided and PrettyLittleThing.
And now they’re back in fully-fledged trend form and absolutely taking over the runways. For such a bright and garish trend, the amount of designers who have embraced some element of it in their collections is staggering. It is probably the most wide-reaching trend out there. Maybe we expect it to appear in the collections of the upstarts, the younger brands and the ones with an emphasis on street style. We expect it from the Off-Whites, Jeremy Scott or Prabal Gurung. We don’t expect neon to appear at Emilia Wickstead, Julien MacDonald, Jasper Conran or Emporio Armani. But that just goes to show how versatile this trend can be. For all the people who thought this would be some fleeting Instagram-hyped thing, have been proven wrong. The runways of New York, Paris, Milan and London were awash with this garish bright hue.
WHO: The list really is endless on who has tackled the neon trend. You’d be better off creating a list of who hasn’t. But for those interested, neon has appeared on the runways of Jeremy Scott, Blumarine, Off-White, Jasper Conran, Natasha Zinko, House of Holland, Praqbal Gurung, Cushnie, Emilia wickstead, Julien MacDonald, Annakiki, Emporio Armani and Cristiano Burani.
HOW: Wearing neon doesn’t just have to be taking two of the strongest hues and clashing them. You needn’t even wear a full-outfit in one colour if you don’t want to. that’s the beauty of this trend; you can take as much or as little of it as you feel comfortable with. Wear as a turtleneck under a dark skirt suit for the office, just enough without having the entire office stare you down. You can only wear neon strappy heels with a normal party dress and still do the trend in style. A neon duster coat is enough paired with a black pair of jeans, trainers and a stylish top. Or you can go all out; by mixing as many neon colours together as possible. The choice is yours.
“Get ready for your wardrobe to beam brighter than the sun, in this season’s most garish trend out there. Yes, neons are in fashion, and they’re everything that you thought they’d be!”
THE LOOK: There were many brands that tackled the neon trend. Some online brands devoted entire pages to all their neon offerings, so there was always plenty of choice when you’re looking for something on this trend. But I loved what Bershka done the most, because not only did they go to where neon really started; the street stylers and athleisure brands. Bershka understood that this trend was born on the street, so at times worked best when it’s more casual, sporty-infused. They also collaborated with Pantone, the famed colour specialists and printing company (anyone who is a designer will understand their importance in the industry) to create a capsule collection in monochromatic colours and bright neon hues. Having such a well-known printing company, who pioneered the specialist printing colours collaborate with this high street was more than enough reason for me to be completely on-board with it.
I decided to go all out for the neon trend of this lookbook. It would have looked as great if I’d have chosen only one neon item and showcased it, but I loved the idea too much to clash all of them together for this outfit. I wanted to keep the outfit very casual and street in a way; so going for the rain-proof jacket and a pair of cargo-inspired jeans in neon yellow seemed like a natural choice.
Because the main outfit is only made up of two items of clothing, I went all out with the accessories. This is where the clashing neon colours really come into their own. I paired the dark green plastic cross-body with my two-tone neon nails in pink and orange. My sunglasses are dark orange and the pink is replicated again in the neon square hoop earrings. A final addition of strappy black sandals was done because I’m quite short. I need them to balance out the jeans. But they’re also very in fashion, so that was a win.
Neon green pocket rain jacket: Bershka + PANTONE, found here – Neon pink strappy bodysuit: Bershka, found here – Black heeled sandals with vinyl detail: Bershka, found here – Neon pink maxi earrings: Bershka, found here – Neon orange sunglasses: Bershka + PANTONE, found here – Green transparent crossbody bag: Bershka + PANTONE, found here
