Allan Barney’s Expanding Browndaries
While browsing through his wife’s fall fashion catalogs, Navajo jewelry artist Allan Barney saw brown: Warm shades of chocolate, cocoa and camel dominated the clothing. He also spotted lots of leopard and other black and tan animal prints.
Although he usually works from a different set of hues--primarily using turquoise and red coral--Barney decided to create a jewelry collection that would coordinate with fall’s hot cocoa colors.
He created pendants, rings, bracelets and earrings by setting black jade, tiger’s eye and picture jasper in gold or silver. Tiger’s eye comes in a bright iridescent gold, while picture jasper can be found in assorted shades of brown, taupe and gray.
“It’s a different palette than we usually see in Native American jewelry,” says Ron Cohan, owner of Zia Jewelry Co. in San Juan Capistrano. Zia will unveil Barney’s collection (which costs from $85 to $600) along with inlay jewelry designs by other Southwest artists Oct. 25 and 26.
Brown and gray tones are popular in the fall collections of Ungaro, Valentino, Donna Karan and other fashion designers, says Nasrin Ansari, buyer for Ansari Select European Fabrics in Newport Beach.
Ansari shops the textile shows in Europe, where she sees which fabrics will be in vogue a year or two ahead of time.
Brown, which replaced black as the must-have hue of fall, is now at the peak of its popularity, and Ansari expects it will be followed next year by gray tones, namely brownish-gray blends, taupes and charcoal.
“People got tired of black,” she says. “They wanted something different. Brown and gray look modern and chic next to black and navy.”
Most colors have a three-year shelf life, she says. The first year, people on the cutting edge of fashion (about 10% of the population) wear the new hues. The next year, the color enjoys mass popularity and saturates the department stores. By the third year, most people have tired of the color and have moved on to the next hot hue. “The hottest year is the middle one,” Ansari says.
She also expects animal prints to be even stronger in ’98.
That should be good news for jewelry artist Barney, whose pieces often have an animal-print look thanks to the inlaid gold and black stones, Cohan says.
“Most Native American artists do the same thing from generation to generation without any change at all,” Cohan says. “He has visions. He’s not afraid.”
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Colors of the Millennium
The Color Marketing Group, which includes color designers from fashion and other industries, is already working on its forecast of colors for 2000. Here’s what the association predicts will appear on clothing and other consumer products in 1998:
* Beignet: The color of an old penny--flat, yellow brown.
* Blue Sky: A light blue influenced by Swedish decor.
* Cajun Spice: A deep, saturated red.
* Dragonfly: A bright, medium green with a hint of yellow, similar to a dragonfly’s iridescent wing.
* Garden Green: A fresh, dark green found in nature.
* Grape Expectations: A mid-tone purple that’s clean and bright.
* Lime Light: A lighter, brighter version of Tarpon Green (see below).
* Red Zen: A clean, bright red.
* Tarpon Green: An environmental, citrusy green.
* Zephyr: A warm, neutral gray.
