Bold is beautiful: Colour blocking for spring

There's a scene in the documentary The September Issue (in cinemas tomorrow) where the Vogue fashion team debates what "is" colour blocking.

Vogue editor Anna Wintour dismisses an entire rack of colour blocked outfits pulled together for a photo shoot because she doesn't consider them to be true colour blocking - something that creative director Grace Coddington thinks is ludicrous. "Colour blocking is all the different colours - this with this, this with this."

Fashion talk is highly intellectual you see...

This penchant for graphic multi-tone colour on colour - think of a Mondrian piece or a licorice allsort - was prevalent throughout many of the international spring 2009 collections, seen at Louis Vuitton, Marni, Josh Goot, Gucci, Matthew Williamson, House of Holland and more.

Luella Bartley's psychedelic collection brought together bold shades of lilac, orange and bubblegum pink - the boldest and most effective outfit being a tweedy purple coat over the top of a bright orange dress.

Bartley told Style.com, "When I saw it all lined up, I thought, 'Ew! Can we do this?'" Of course the end result was less "ew" and far more punchy.

Karen Walker's resort collection (which goes into stores in a few months) features ready-made colour blocked pieces like the dress pictured as well as bold orange blazers, bright yellow dresses and aqua pieces perfect for colour blocking. As are Kate Sylvester's bold, bright pieces, Cybele's jewel tones, Annah Stretton's colourful dresses and pieces from Country Road's latest collection, for a blocked look that's much more subtle.

So, how do you colour block?

It's simple - so simple I can't believe I have managed to write 300 words about it.

Just wear blocks of bright colour together, whether from the same colour family or deliberately clashing.

Think pink and red like at Matthew Williamson, orange and lime like Marni, blue and red like Gucci, or Karen Walker's subtle palette of teal, blue and beige.

It could well be the easiest trend for spring.