Still got the blues for you

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Aqua makes a splash as the new black in fashion and design </span><br /><br />In fashion, the search for the new black is like the astrophysicist''s quest for the Theory of Everything. Every year, fashion and design professionals go into a huddle to forecast which colour will make a mark next season. And going by the recent Fashion Weeks in the couture capitals, aqua is fast being touted as the new black with all designer names like Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Narciso Rodriguez and Elie Saab sprinkling in swathes of the soothing tone in their collections.<br /><br />Internationally, the entry of aqua into every day design has been often credited to Apple''s Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive''s use of the cool colour in their trendy iMacs. Movies like <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Shrek</span> and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Finding Nemo</span> with their strong use of marine tones have also been cited as major influences in colour predicting, as indicators of popular culture and taste. The automobile and fashion industries also work as pointers of urban popular culture in colour forecasting in industrial design and architecture. In Mumbai, too, aqua is now makings inroads into urban design. Mythili Kowshik Shetty, architect and professor of design, Rachna Sansad Academy of Architecture, points to the increasing use of aqua in office interiors and signboards in the city. "Aqua has become more visible in urban architecture after American town planners Duane Plater-Zyberk began using it in their extended colour palette. Aqua is a soothing reaction to the vivid modernist colours. More office interiors are now opting for aqua as a ''reassuring'' colour — and it is seen as the ''corporate'' colour from the family of greens and blues. Paint companies are now revising their colour palettes to include shades of aquamarine in their swatches."<br /><br />It''s however in fashion that the <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">hue du jour</span> first starts making its splash. If Messrs Kors, Klein, Rodriguez and Saab favoured aquamarine in their latest collections, the tone is fast becoming a favourite with desi designers as well. Designer Lina Tipnis says that she introduced the colour in her Spring 2003 collection and has production orders till 2006 for the same tone. "Aqua is a universally popular colour, it can accentuate other colours and is fantastic in western wear. " Designer Narendra Kumar Ahmed says that the current trend towards aqua is indicative of the move towards water and nature inspired colours this season, in contrast to the vivid pinks and fuchsias that dominated the last couple of seasons. In jewellery, too, aquamarines are now slowly being accepted as part of Indian formal wear, says jewellery designer Roopa Vohra. "The Indian customer is now open to using blue topaz, turquoise and iolites in her design, set against white gold or platinum. It''s only in the last couple of seasons that we''ve seen people asking for these stones as compared to the usual favourites," she adds. Still stuck with that li''l black number?</div> </div>