Spotted! The Queen in raspberry. Style alert! Baroness Thatcher in fuchsia. Are the two most seminal female figures of the past 50 years trying to tell us something? Affirmative: the iron ladies say yes to colour. And good on them, too, because admit it, you're bored with black.

Both in their eighties, Lizzie and Maggie defiantly avoid drifting to the sidelines with neutral shades. By embracing colour, these two national forces put two fingers up at a third, the weather. When the skies are peppered with drizzle, colours from the bright side of the tracks are the only way to put a smile back on their - and our - faces.

Given our growing taste for exotic fruit, it's no surprise that the fashion world has followed suit. Trousers now come in papaya, pumps in patent lime, trims on hems and belts on skirts in every shade from the orange family. Tangerine, blood orange, Tropicana minus the bits - you name it, the designers have tasted it and copied it, none more effectively than Sonia Rykiel, whose espousal of banana and Golden Delicious green on the catwalk left a very pleasant taste in the mouth. And, if she's a chic Frenchwoman and can get away with it, then there's hope for the rest of us.

So what to avoid? Head-to-toe explosions of colour, à la Andy Warhol print, are likely to have others fumbling around in the bottom of their bags for dark glasses. Therefore, break up brights with white, taupe and dove grey. Keep the stronger colour near the face to reflect the light rather than swallow it, as darker shades are wont to do.

And finally, be confident. It can be daunting, particularly if you find a safe haven in wintry shades, but colour - as HRH and the Baroness can vouch - will always bring with it a smile. Enjoy it.

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