Fashion brand creator Miranda Dunn: My Colourful World

Miranda is the founder of clothing label Miranda Dunn London and creator of the iconic Happy Coat – a colourful monogrammed faux fur coat.

She tells The Colour File what colour means to her…

My first colour memory

We grew up with William Morris Wall Paper with a riot of colour on the walls. House of Hackney have recoloured some of the Morris prints and the memories came flooding back when I saw them.

This is my earliest memory as well as an amazing blanket we had as children which was a patchwork of red and bright pink which I later learnt was made for my parents by my grandmother.

My favourite colour

It changes and it really depends what is for.

That said, I always veer towards pinks and pink tones but love all shade of green as it makes me feel close to nature.

Miranda loves all shades of pink - seen here on one of her iconic Happy Coats.

My favourite colourful object

It’s a painting by one of my favourite artists Charlie Mackesy. It was painted on the set of Love Actually and is so full of joie de vivre. The colours really reflect that.

How colour makes me feel 

I work with colour every day as a clothing creator and manufacturer. Colour is as important, if not more, than the fabric and the style. Each store sells colours differently as their customer is slightly different – younger or older or more fashion-forward perhaps.

For one of our customers, green always sells really well, and for another brights always work while for another black and navy fly.

There will always be fashion colours each season and these are hugely influenced by what’s happening in the world – for example the metallic silvers and golds that are on trend at the moment really reflect the age of technology that we live in, and green was the Pantone colour of the year which reflects our yearning to be close to nature.

The colour I like the least

Although there is no colour I could do with out (you can change the tone or shade to make it more exciting) I could definitely take or leave orange flowers and always make sure florists take these out of bouquets when sending flowers.

Sorry, orange!

Colour in my daily life

As well as being my day to day life, colour is also a feeling. We are exploring colour in the work we do every day and I visualize everything in colour and take very few notes in meetings as I remember things through picture and colour.

When working on garments it is amazing when you change colours how it can look completely different. We are mixing colours too through trim and through creating new colourways of prints or plains or stripes.

I love being brave with colour and that doesn’t always mean bright it just means pushing the envelope and try something new. A new combination that looks modern and unexpected. My working palette is out every day.

We are about to move house to a beautiful house that the same family has lived in for 27 years.

It is a big step for our four children who have never lived anywhere else but first stop will be painting their rooms and creating a haven where they feel safe, secure and calm.

My view on colour ‘rules’

There are no rules at all with colour. A dash of something extra can make it look totally different and it is wonderful that over centuries colour has evolved and we never get bored of it.

Why? Because we are always breaking the rules and making and trying something new.

Create the unexpected. Calm it down, tone it up, throw in some metallic or neon: there are no rules.

My favourite colour story

When I was six, I took my mother outside for a quiet word. I had a white piece of paper and put my school socks against it.

The shade has changed I told her – they are now grey. Old eagle-eye was colour-aware from the beginning!

My colour advice

Be Brave, follow your heart, do what you want to do (there is no right or wrong) and choose what makes you feel happy (this will be different for different people).

If you’re choosing colour for clothing, wear only what suits you. If it is for your home, follow what makes you feel calm, comfortable and hopeful. Be prepared to make mistakes and go outside the norm.

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