Pastels have had a personality transplant. No longer saccharine or vaguely bridal, this season’s shades arrive with intent: butter yellow, iced blue, powder pink—worn not as decoration, but as declaration. Consider the feather-trimmed Valentino skirt: deliciously prim at first glance, but add a crisp cotton tee or a structural sneaker and suddenly it’s less ingénue, more insouciant. The trick, as ever, is tension.

At Dior, Jonathan Anderson leans into this quiet authority—soft knits in sky blue, delicately embellished, styled with a kind of nonchalance that suggests you simply threw them on en route to something more interesting. 

Elsewhere, a TOTEME trench in vanilla reads cleaner than beige (and far more interesting), while an Anine Bing bomber in washed-out blue gives pastels a sporty edge. Accessories follow suit: a Dior bow bag in muted teal or Bottega Veneta’s sculptural pieces in similarly hushed tones. Nothing shouty, everything considered.

How to wear it? Keep silhouettes sharp, fabrics tactile, and colour stories tonal rather than matchy. Or clash them slightly, if you’re feeling bold. The overall effect should feel effortless, but never accidental. Soft power, after all, still requires a little steel.