American Beauty

According to the Pantone Institute’s Fall 2009 Fashion Color Report, American Beauty–a true red–is making a comeback this fall in response to our uncertain economic times.  “Perfect for all skin tones, American Beauty is a feel-good color,” the report continues.

I am elated that true red is coming back in vogue.  I have a beautiful red rayon in my fabric collection that has been aging for several years.  The drape is very soft and I’ve been debating making a more structured sheath-type dress or something flowy from it.

For the past few days, I’ve been scouting around for fall fabrics at various online shops and have been coming up dissatisfied.  I don’t know if it is because they are still trying to clear out their spring and summer fabrics or I am just too early to find anything.  I decided to try a different tactic and am exploring the online shops with the Pantone forecast in mind (instead of just browsing). Going from this direction, I was able to find several options at my favorite Chicago-based fabric store, Vogue Fabrics:

Although my monitor shows this as a little light, Vogue says it is scarlet colored. Even if it is a little light, I think we can get away with calling it a fall color. I LOVE the versatility of crepe fabrics. I have the Sewing Circle Girls (especially Carolyn and Lynn) to blame for my addiction to crepe! It usually has a great hand to it and can be used for dresses, suits, skirts, and slacks.Couture jersey crepe knit in “Scarlet”

I’m not a big fan of polyester double knit and I should probably get over my bias. Double knit has come a long way since the days of horrible stretchy pants and leisure suits! Bottom-weight polyester double knit in “Berry 39”

Finally, Thai silk dupioni has a mysteriousness and elegance surrounding it. Vogue offers it in a full spectrum of colors but the one in Blood Red #37 is the closest match to American Beauty (according to my monitor).

In my search, I tried a variety of key words that I normally think of as being a true red or close to a true red. I used terms such as scarlet, garnet, ruby, red (I know, sounds crazy, huh?), blood, lipstick, etc. You might try using those terms at your own favorite online fabric resource.