How to wear pastel jackets this season

Spring and summer are truly wonderful times of the year, as gone are the drab days when we are often enveloped in layers upon layers of dark tones. Instead, we’re inclined to wear more pleasing colours that sing a fine tune and lift the spirits of yourself and those around you in conjunction with warm weather and a convivial atmosphere. This season, it’s all about pastels – cheerful, soft and youthful pastel tones that are a credit to warm, long and colourful days – and we have options aplenty of casual jackets to style out.

For those of you who aren’t accustomed to wearing pastel tones, they can be off-putting at first – as is often the case with alien ideas and concepts. But, once you embark on a pastel-wearing journey and you start to feel and recognise the benefits of wearing them, they’re all that you’ll want to wear in the summer months. Of course, this is also true of neutral colours, which are easy to wear and help keep you cool, and a combination of the two is a sure-fire way of demonstrating good taste this season, as each one compliments the other in perfect harmony.

Here are three tips and tricks to consider when wearing pastel tones this summer.

1) Keep it simple with neutrals

Despite their washed-out appearance, pastel colours can still be rather bold (albeit not as much as a bright primary colour), so it pays to keep it simple by wearing just one piece at a time otherwise you run the risk of looking like a scoop of gelato Napolitano. So what to do? Wear pastels with neutral colours – white, ecru, beige and light browns – which will provide contrasting difference, allowing the pastel to sing.

Take, for instance, our Valstarino jacket, which is available in a number of different pastel hues – rose, teale, and saffron, to name a few – which would star as the main event in your outfit with a simple white T-shirt and ecru denim jeans for a relaxed, contemporary look.

2) Take skin tone into account

We’re all free to wear whatever we want, but skin tone does come into the equation when wearing pastel colours. It’s worthwhile establishing what undertone skin you have (a simple Google will help you) and then deducing from the result which group of pastels will work best.

For cool undertones, opt for baby blues, powder blues, lavenders and light pinks. For warm undertones, opt for deep lavender, aqua, teals and cream. For neutral undertones, opt for buttery yellows, light greys, mint greens, light pinks, and soft peach.

3) Fit and volume are important

Pastels (particualrly the lighter shades) can have a dramatic enlarging effect, making you appear bigger than you perhaps are. In a bid for creating an elegant look that’s equally contemporary, slim and straight cuts are the way to go. In other words, don’t size up your jacket and use your bottom half to balance out the top. If you’re worried about overheating in slimmer cuts, fear not, as you can still maintain a cool look this season by paying attention to the other fabrics, such as a pair of linen trousers or open weave shirt.

Explore pastel styles