Colour-blocking simply means combining two or more blocks of colour in your ensemble. While the trend has returned, history suggests that it never really left. Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian’s colour-blocking technique has always inspired fashion designers. In 1965, Yves Saint Laurent extended Mondrian’s work to his designs and created the iconic Mondrian collection, which included shift dresses applying Mondrian’s “neoplastic” rules of placing blocks of primary colours, black and shades of grey, and horizontal and vertical separating lines.

London in the 1960s celebrated Mary Quant’s colour-blocked mini-dresses. The 1970s continued to incorporate the colour-blocking solids with small colourful prints or polka dots, whereas neon colour-blocking was a rage in

the ’70s disco era and ’80s. Salman Khan’s colour-blocked blazers in Hum Aapke Hai Koun are a good example of how it was used in ’90s Bollywood.

“New-age Indians are tech-savvy; hence they can surf, understand and implement new fashion trends in their wardrobes. It is a pleasure to see Gen-Z and millennials playing with contrasting, complementary or analogous hues to style their everyday looks that were not accepted earlier,” says fashion designer Nida Mahmood.

Try the tetradic scheme

Go beyond the usual suspects

Deciphering the trend

Tetradic colours are two sets of complementary colours found opposite each other on the colour wheel. For example, Google, Microsoft, and eBay logos follow a tetradic scheme.

This is a very rich and vibrant colour scheme, which helps designs stand out. Keep in mind that the vibrancy of the colours involved can cause them to overwhelm one…