F25 WomEN’S COLOR STORY - peaks of paradox
For Fall 2025 I developed two large color stories per gender. These stories were then broken down further into two capsules each. This was a change from the approximately 4 color stories we had per season prior. This was in an effort to keep our large palettes intact while arranging it into story palettes that had more overlap and intentional cross merchandising.
Peaks of Paradox explores the striking contrast between the serenity of daylight and the mystery of midnight in the mountains. The story captures this opposition through the balance of warm darks and cool lights, using the orange-tinted pinks the dark brick red to serve as the connective thread that bridge the two worlds. The midnight side of the palette evokes depth and richness with a dark, saturated purple, and inky blacks and charcoal greys. Flares of vivid red pop against the darkness. In contrast, daylight brings a refreshing lift through neo-pastel greens peaking through a rich warm brown, and soft winter whites. Together, these capsules celebrate the paradox of our mountain peaks, where soft lights and intense shadow coexist.
Womens Peaks of Paradox moodboard.
The final break out of the two capsules for this story, including the Pantones, and highlighting the overlap of color that helps these two capsules connect together for cross merchandising.
The warm hero colors for each season are the only ones that I identify gender specific colors for as they can be some of the most nuanced and specific in usage and feminine vs masculine lean. Cedar Blush, is a womens specific color that is one of the grounding, transitional colors in this color story and also the hero warm for womens in F25. You can see examples below of it’s many uses across fabrics with different finishes, in single dye and two color heathers, yarn dyed plaids, and print.
