The dominant colour on the catwalk did give away the Indian voter's mood

Colour forecasting as a skill is crucial to the smooth ticking over of the fashion industry as what the mavens say percolates to millions of merchandisers and then fashionistas. But can the election results of India 2014 be traced back to the catwalk predictions for Spring-Summer 2014 — unveiled a season earlier as is customary?

After all, it was decreed months ahead in western fashion markets that orange would be the colour for 2014 although they had no inkling about the results of the Lok Sabha elections in India — which were still months away. Had political pundits in India also cast an eye on the catwalks then, they may have noted that shades of orange — especially resplendent saffron — were on the hotlist and at least the fashion-conscious were expected to vote heavily for a citrusy summer.

The impact of the orange wave can be gauged from the fact that it has not been restricted to clothes but swamped the gender divide to include shoes, bags, jewellery and even cosmetics. Despite traditional hesitation in choosing orange — due to concerns about its wider acceptability and compatibility — there was a yearning this time for a change from the usual pastels and predictable reds and blues. Even if orange is not very amenable to pairing with other colours, a new generation is obviously comfortable with going it alone.