Do you have that in green?

When a customer asks 'Do you have that in green?' we have to think before we answer. Why? Because, whilst we may well have it in green it may not be the shade of green she is thinking of!

For instance, is she looking for Pine green, Forest green, Hunter green, Kelly green, Mint green, Sea green, Pea Green or Spring green? Or maybe she wants one of the greens that actually doesn't have the word 'green' in the name, such as Asparagus, Emerald, Fern, Jade, Lime, Mint, Moss, Olive, Shamrock, Teal or Turquoise.

 Of course, it not just greens that come in a variety of shades. Let's take a look at one of Victoria Lane customers' favourite colours: pink. How many of these do you recognise? Rose, Fuchsia, Raspberry, Blush, Watermelon, Rouge, Salmon, Flamingo, Coral, Peach, Rosewood, Strawberry, Bubblegum, Taffy, Lemonade, Hot Pink, Magenta, Crepe and even Ballet Slippers!

 As for blue.Well there's Midnight blue, Air Force blue, Cobalt blue, Persian blue, Steel blue, Oxford blue, Baby blue, Deep Sky blue, Egyptian blue And Maya blue plus the 'Blue less' Blues - Azure, Turquoise, Cyan, Indigo, Ultramarine, Sapphire, Teal and the backwards facing one - Blue De France.

 Finally let's take a look at yellow; there are some lovely names here: Canary, Gold, Daffodil, Flaxen, Butter, Lemon, Mustard, Corn, Medallion, Dandelion, Fire, Bumblebee, Banana, Butterscotch, Dijon, Honey, Blonde, Pineapple and Tuscan Sand. Interesting that none of these colours require the word 'yellow' for us to understand their meaning!

 This isn't an exhaustive list for each colour of course, just a sample. On top of that we haven't even touched on the many shades of red, grey, purple and brown. Oh and please don't ask about black; how many shades of black are there? If you've not tried this before, spread out all of your black clothes together on a flat surface and see how many of them actually match. Not many, we bet!

The beauty of all these lovely names is that our wardrobes are never boring. That gorgeous rose T-shirt we bought last summer is a different shade of pink from the same style we bought in salmon this year and next year we could be buying it in coral, strawberry or even Ballet Slippers! Who knows what's to come in the future.

One thing is for sure; the fashion industry loves colour (and so do we) but it does keep us on our toes trying to remember all the different shade names.