Spring 2011 Trend: Shades of Purple

The Spring/Summer 2011 catwalks were awash with shades of feminine purple for this season, which means we'll be dressing up in pretty plums and vibrant violets. Each time the colour appeared, it was always elegant and girly, gave a womanly touch to tailoring, and as an added bonus, the colour perfectly sets off bronzed Summer skin. At labels such as Dior and Louis Vuitton, we saw slinky cocktail dresses in colour-block deep purple, all of which oozed a refined glamour.

At Diane Von Furstenberg, a dark aubergine shade was seen on a floor-length jumpsuit complete with an attached snood and round John Lennon style sunglasses. At Marc Jacobs, the purple colour used on an oversized smock mini-dress perfectly fit in with the rest of the tantalizing fruity shades which were splashed on each look.

Dries Van Noten did something different with the statement colour, opting to use a light lilac shade on a suit jacket style trench coat which was topped off with slick shades and a metallic silver thin waist belt. Gucci, Lanvin and Jil Sander each opted for mini-dresses finished off to fit perfectly into their cohesive visions.

At Gucci, one purple dress was adorned with fringe keeping up their tribal influence, while at Jil Sander, the dress was in a bold violet shade which fitted perfectly in with the rest of the acid-bright anti-minimalism collection pieces, and at Lanvin, Alber Elbaz's mini-dress was refined and elegant, perfectly fitting in with his subdued yet glamorous vision.