Colour blocking is a major fashion trend for spring 2011. It involves mixing, matching and mismatching plain, unpatterned fabrics to create striking and colourful outfits. Hilarie Stelfox reports

THIS is a great season for those who enjoy wearing colour – and being daring with it – as colour blocking is the key to many of the current catwalk looks.

Putting brilliant red with purple, turquoise green with lime and mustard yellow against bright blue – these are just some of the many possibilities with this anything-goes trend. There’s just one ‘colourway’ to avoid and that’s monochrome, or no colour.

Colour expert Heather Croft, who runs an image consultancy in Slaithwaite, says most of us need to feel more confident about using colour.

“Colour blocking looks so easy when you see it on someone else, but the most we tend to come up with is our favourite black with a colour,” she said.

She suggests a more daring approach. “How about red and teal which are fabulous together or purple and hot pink with black accessories.”

Heather, who trained with image consultants Colour Me Beautiful and has a boutique in Britannia Road, says one way to check which colours look great together is to arm yourself with a collection of paint colour swatches from a DIY centre or consult a colour wheel which is available on internet sites.

“The way with colour blocking is to try and mix colours that would normally not go together but look fantastic when they do,” she added.

Several current fashion ranges have garments that provide instant colour blocking, with wide stripes in several colours or two contrasting colours sewn together. The Mango dress from House of Fraser featured on this page offers understated colour blocking for the beginner and has a top half in cream and a skirt in brilliant red. Buying plain separates allows wearers to mix and match, creating several looks from three or four garments.