The 7 Coolest Color Combination Trends We Saw at New York Fashion Week

New York Fashion Week this September had no shortage of inspiring moments, from impressive designer debuts (like Henry Zankov at Diane von Furstenberg) to brilliant anniversary shows (like Sergio Hudson and Coach) and rich street style. Amidst it all, we couldn’t help but notice the continued rise of maximalism in the form of unique color combinations that designers showed across their spring 2027 collections.

There are what feel like classic palettes—like khaki and navy blue or monochrome red, for example. But then, there’s what we saw this season: clashing colors combined in a way that feels utterly delicious. These mélanges are fresh and experimental: It feels like it could be a daring choice to wear any of them out, in the most intriguing way. In a time when fashion is more whimsical, quirky, and intentionally, affirmatively weird, it makes sense there’s more focus on having fun with colors and chromatic clashing.

Seeing which hues are trending is always cool, but taking it a step further and looking at color combinations lands us somewhere even better. We analyzed hundreds of looks to decipher which medleys are trending. Below, find seven of the best color combination trends from New York Fashion Week’s SS27 shows: The best part about these is you can try them out for yourself without waiting months or having to splurge on a runway piece. 

Green Eggs and Ham

The biggest color combination trend by far was pale shades of green and pink. (If you’re an AKA, this is even more of a treat.) We noticed this across fringe-trim dresses at Kim Shui, a seafoam lace camisole worn with a rosy sheer skirt at Carolina Herrera, and a sculptural pink top peeking out from beneath a sage suit at Diotima. There’s no one right way to try this out yourself: Both colors can be equally weighted components of a look, or one can be more of an accent. 

Butter Yellow Blues

As time goes on, butter yellow feels less and less like a trend; the pale hue is now becoming a seasonless neutral. (We may be talking about spring runways, but this fall’s fashions are also full of the food-monikered color trend.) This season, the soft buttery tone often came with blue in tow, including in the form of denim, as shown at Calvin Klein.

Within this color combination, either color works well as an accent, but we liked it most when pops of cobalt blue contrasted the lighter hue. TWP did this exactly, pairing a calf-grazing jacket with bright blue shirting beneath.  It makes sense these work well and are popular across collections when you think about both hues being, after all, complementary colors.

Purples and Reds

Purple and red don’t feel like as fresh of a color combination at face value, but we were struck by how designers toyed within these bounds by playing with shades of each. Sergio Hudson—who celebrated 10 years of his brand this year—showed a flowy, silk chiffon gown with indigo overlaid on deep magenta. Kate Barton, on the other hand, adorned a lilac dress’s plunging neckline with a tomato red floral.

Unlike the aforementioned butter yellow-blue trend resonating for its complementary colors, red and purple as a combination get their finesse from the opposite effect: being analogous. 

Black and Blue

In case you didn’t know, that “rule” about not wearing black and navy together is fossilized. This season, designers across several runways proved how well these two, in fact, complement each other. At Sandy Liang, this manifested with a fitted top in a dark azure, finished with a sheer, black skirt.

We’d be remiss not to mention the black-and-blue looks that branch out from navy in favor of lighter hues. Luar showed how to do this combination with edge, stacking opaque layers of cobalt and black. Lii also flaunted a lighter blue skirt on its runway, paired with a tailored black jacket. For the dresser whose wardrobe barely brightens when winter thaws, keep these looks pinned for inspiration next spring.

Plural Pastels

Runways were full of inspiration on how to dress like a pastel princess, combining colors like canary yellow with lavender and baby blue. Some mixed two hues, while others went for a more chromatically maximalist vibe. One of our favorite looks in this category? A tiered, asymmetrical dress from Private Policy, with pinkish florals overlaying a butter yellow backdrop. Ulla Johnson’s soft yellow outer layer over a lavender blouse also caught our eye. At Dauphinette, the palette of pastels is a little more discreet until you get up close to the dress, which features endless flowers in an array of pastel purples, orange, blues, and pinks pressed on beige organza.

Additive Animalia

It’s hard not to notice that animal prints are having a complete renaissance. (If you’ve always worn them, more power to you, because plenty of others are just now catching up.) We’ve seen everything from classic cheetah to snakeskin trend, as well as playful deer and cow prints. It makes sense that, albeit not technically just a “color” combination, designers toyed with styling animal print pieces with surprising tones.

Warm cheetah print contrasted canary yellow at Proenza Schouler. On the other hand, LaQuan Smith showed a fitting pairing for your Bambi-reminiscent fawn prints: a side of lilac. (Look to the same designer’s runway for pointers on styling snakeskin, too.) Cult Gaia, meanwhile, contrasted its zoomed-in and blurred print with a verdant accent. Each offers a unique vision on how to style your animal print pieces, be they jackets, accessories, or separates.

Knicks in Five

It was hard not to notice the sprinkles of orange and blue throughout the SS ‘27 shows. Perhaps the energy was still in the air from the New York Knicks’ NBA victory this summer? (That surely has been the case across street style.) We saw designers like Kallemyer, Zankov, and Campillo combine varying shades of blues and oranges in their collections. Nothing was too on-the-nose, but the combos were enough for a fan to get excited.