Tangerine dream

The sartorial equivalent of a punch in the face, orange is not a colour you typically associates with fashion. Think of the zingy hue and you're likely to think of the Jetstar cabin crew, roadworkers and Lindsay Lohan after a particularly good fake bake session. But lately fashion has been having a bit of an orange crush, with the cheery hue appearing throughout the most recent resort collections overseas, from Louis Vuitton's black and orange stripes, to bold buttoned up shirts at Prada, to show-stopping gowns at Zac Posen and Max Azira. Lanvin's Alber Elbaz sent out one model in loose fitting orange pants, an orange top, jacket, bag and hat.

Apparently Carolina Herrera told fashion journalists recently that "orange is the new red", but don't let that silly fashionese put you off. Expect orange to be big here for summer too, with the bold shade appearing in some form in local collections at Deborah Sweeney, Kate Sylvester, Nom*D, Twenty-seven Names and Richard Moore.

Ashley Olsen's floor-length vintage orange frock at the recent Council of Fashion Designers Awards in New York pretty much sums up the power of the colour. It's not hard to see why fashion designers love orange so, especially in floor-length red carpet gown form: incredibly unsubtle, it says, or screams, "look at me", and is more refreshing than good old black.

But unlike black, orange is not a particularly easy shade to wear. Team it with black and it can verge dangerously into witchypooh, Halloween territory (although British designer Luella recently did this on purpose with an entire range inspired by witches), and head-to-toe orange could make you look like that fat guy from those 90s Tango commercials.

Wearing it with a similar citrus-y colour is very "fashion", especially when teamed with a suitably bright shade of pink. In his recent collection, Michelle Obama's designer of choice, Jason Wu, teamed a burnt orange tiered skirt with a neutral white singlet and light grey jacket - a look that is far more sensible and accessible for those who want to bring some orange cheer into their wardrobe without looking like a road cone.