This season gold left the jewellery box and moved into the wardrobe. Not as a detail, but as the whole colour of the garment. The spring and summer 2026 collections are full of metallic tones, and brands like Balmain, Emilio Pucci and Chanel have carried the shine even onto knitted fabrics, which means gold is no longer reserved for after eight in the evening.

Colour expert Lledo Vicenti has an explanation more interesting than the trend itself: "It automatically reminds us of sunlight, of shine, of vitality and of brightness. Beyond that, it has a very close link to the idea of tanned skin, something we traditionally associate with this season." In other words, gold clothing isn't sold as clothing but as an extension of summer on the body.

Here is the moment for scepticism

This colour is one of the most expensive to produce when it is done well, and one of the cheapest when it is done badly. The difference between a fabric that catches the light and one that looks like wrapping paper is enormous to the eye and often small on the label. Every season the fashion industry finds a way to declare old pieces expired, and this time the tool is a colour you literally cannot ignore.

Which is why the most practical part of the whole trend isn't the dress but the accessories. If gold in a full dose isn't for everyone - and it isn't - the outfit is solved with a bag, earrings or sandals. That is also the only version of the trend that doesn't demand a new wardrobe, and the version the industry talks about least.

Orange as the second half of the same story

Alongside gold, orange is also in fashion. Vicenti again ties it to psychology rather than cut: "From colour psychology, these tones connect with feelings associated with summer. Orange is linked to energy, creativity, adventure, fun and enthusiasm. So in a period we associate with holidays and wellbeing, this colour takes on a special role." So what is being sold to us is a mood, and we pay the bill in items of clothing.

The practical advice for those with a cool skin undertone is to mix metals. The combination of gold and silver gives balance and a shine that suits the face rather than swallowing it. The rule that held for decades, that metals don't mix, fell away long ago - and it is good that it did.

And if you want the whole trend for free, look towards the chest of drawers. Embroidered pieces with gold thread have existed in our region for generations and never entered any seasonal collection, because they never left one. Sometimes the season's most expensive trend is already folded up somewhere, and all it asks is for someone to take it out.