Goodbye butter yellow, hello turquoise. How to wear summer 2026’s hottest colours

After seasons dominated by chocolate brown, burgundy and the ubiquitous butter yellow, fashion seems to have turned up the saturation for 2026. This summer’s palette looks deliciously zesty with lime, tangerine and lemon yellow cropping up across the catwalks, while turquoise and lavender have also been given a punchy makeover. London-based celebrity stylist Deborah Sheridan-Taylor believes the shift has been bubbling away since Michael Rider’s arrival at Celine as the brand’s creative director in 2025. “For me [that] may have lit the fuse,” Sheridan-Taylor says, “but Dario Vitale’s one and only collection for Versace really confirmed the mood, reviving the glorious sun-soaked palette of 1980s Miami, with all its saturated turquoise, citrus, coral and purple.” “Fashion never embraces colour in isolation,” she adds, pointing to Christian Dior’s New Look, which emerged in 1947 after World War II. “I think we’re in a similar moment. Wearing bold colour feels joyful, hopeful and defiant.” So if your wardrobe has been swimming in neutrals, which shades should you be looking towards next? Turquoise Turquoise has made a splash as a trending hue for the 2026 summer season. The vivid blue-green shade has appeared on catwalks at Courreges, Christopher Esber and Jacquemus. At Christopher Esber, turquoise appeared on a sheer asymmetric dress, while Courreges incorporated aquatic blues into its spring/summer 2026 collection. Jacquemus, meanwhile, used turquoise for a sheer dress in its Le Palmier collection. Few colours evoke “Euro summer” quite as immediately as turquoise, but its intensity can make it tricky to incorporate into an everyday wardrobe. Sheridan-Taylor recommends pairing it with ecru (raw silk) for a relatively safe combination, or introducing a stronger contrast with cherry red, dark chocolate brown, a vivid Kelly green or even tangerine. “You can always offset the vivid blue with a simple white skirt, or dark-wash jeans,” she says. If a turquoise dress feels intimidating, accessories offer an easier entry point. “Be subtle with your choices and start small,” Sheridan-Taylor says. She wears her own turquoise mules with everything from chocolate brown to black. Chartreuse and lime There are easy colours to wear, and then there is chartreuse. Sitting somewhere between yellow and green, the acidic shade is unlikely to achieve the universal appeal of navy or ivory, but that awkwardness is precisely why it is so popular. Lime emerged as one of the notable colours of the spring/summer 2026 collections, appearing at Prada, Versace, Tibi and Erdem. “Chartreuse and lime are definitely Marmite colours,” Sheridan-Taylor says. Rather than committing to a lime-green dress, she suggests treating these shades as “punctuation marks, not the whole sentence”. That could mean a skinny scarf, a brightly coloured shoe or sock or a long-sleeved top layered beneath something neutral so only a flash of the cuff is visible. “These are great shades not to shy away from, as they’re full of energy,” she says. The trick is also finding the right version for you. A yellow-heavy chartreuse and a cooler acidic green can look remarkably different against the skin, so Sheridan-Taylor recommends photographing yourself wearing a colour before deciding whether it works. Tangerine Orange has traditionally been treated as an autumn colour, appearing alongside rust, brown and burgundy as soon as September rolls around. But this year it has been reclaimed for summer. From apricot to retina-searing tangerine, orange has become increasingly visible, either worn head-to-toe or used to jolt otherwise classic pieces into the present. Its celebrity endorsement has been equally difficult to miss. Timothée Chalamet made orange central to the press tour for Marty Supreme, culminating in matching custom Chrome Hearts looks with Kylie Jenner at the film’s Los Angeles premiere in December 2025. Chalamet wore an orange leather suit and coordinating boots, while Jenner appeared alongside him in a floor-length orange gown. “Orange isn’t really one colour,” Sheridan-Taylor says, “it covers everything from mandarin, to dusty terracotta, deep 1970s-inspired coral, to burnt Moroccan rust.” But whatever shade you are wearing, for everyday dressing she recommends combining it with brown, aubergine, coral, white, turquoise or black. And there’s no requirement to wear a traffic-cone-bright dress. An orange shoe, bag or even lipstick can bring the same energy to an otherwise familiar outfit. “We’ve traditionally handed it over to the autumn,” she says, “but I say we reclaim it for summer, as few colours are as glorious in the heat.” Lemon yellow Butter yellow enjoyed an unusually long reign, finally offering a relatively approachable way to wear yellow. But this season its less subtle counterpart has taken centre stage: the brighter, sharper lemon yellow. Is it harder to wear? Perhaps – but Sheridan-Taylor recommends starting with colour combinations that already feel familiar. “When it comes to wearing a colour you’re unsure of, I like to borrow from pairings that are already tried, tested and resonate somewhere in our psyche,” she says. She notes the purple and gold of the LA Lakers or a strong yellow against brown or blue as combinations we are accustomed to seeing together, even if we have never considered wearing them ourselves. Her other technique is considerably less scientific: throw clothes you are struggling to style onto the floor and move them around until unexpected combinations emerge. “It’s like paint on a palette,” she says. “You begin to see how colours work together in ways you’d never have imagined until you saw them placed at random.” Lavender Lavender may sound tame compared with chartreuse and tangerine, but 2026’s take on purple is a long way from sugary pastel dressing. The deep plums and aubergines of winter have lightened into luminous lilacs and mauves for the warmer months, while sheer fabrics, embellishment and unexpected colour combinations can prevent the shade from feeling too traditional. “Purple is a wonderfully creative colour,” Sheridan-Taylor says. She particularly likes blue-toned mauves paired with khaki, beige, warm brown or soft off-white. Those earthier shades can take some of the sweetness out of lavender, while black accessories can have a similar effect. Or you can ignore restraint entirely. If so, Sheridan-Taylor suggests clashing purple with cherry red, while make-up provides another way to experiment without investing in an entirely new outfit. “A purple eyeshadow worn with a crisp white cotton summer dress can be just enough mischief for one look,” she says.

Goodbye butter yellow, hello turquoise. How to wear summer 2026’s hottest colours

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Fashion designers are looking on the bright side this summer with a saturated palette of citrus tones, purples and turquoise

Turquoise

Fashion designers are looking on the bright side this summer with a saturated palette of citrus tones, purples and turquoise