Post War Sylko Colours

The British Colour Council continued to operate in the post war period, recommending uniformed colour trends of the coming year in fashion and home furnishings. As I outlined in my blog post about the set up and early years of the council, they particularly came into their own around royal events - or at least the colours introduced to mark these occasions received more prominent press coverage at the time. This trend returned after the WW2 hiatus and into the 1960s, with press reports dropping Sylko enthusiasts a few clues to the years that some of the shades were introduced. 

In January 1953, a Leicester newspaper reported on the British Colour Council’s 2 day show in the city. Mention is made of shades introduced to mark Queen Elizabeth's coronation including Elizabethan Red, Princess Grey, Spun Gold and Beau Blue. I haven't seen these colours on a Sylko reel but then the article closes with the following line:

"A joyous colour to my mind is Fiesta Pink, as different from the pink ribbon on a chocolate box as a nursery rhyme from a grand march"


In August 1957, the Council announced that their patron, Princess Margaret, had sponsored 3 colours that would mark the imminent royal tour of the US and Canada. These were Fiesta Pink, Galway Grey and Wild Orchis.

Fiesta Pink is D415

Galway Grey is D419

Wild Orchis is D420

We can now place these shades in the mid 1950s.

Another newspaper report in October 1962 setting out the colour trends for the following year, is hazily informative. None of the shades listed are Sylko colours as far as I'm aware, but there are some similarities in those Sylko shades that are numbered in the mid 400s. The trend is for oranges, blues and light golden browns. Two named colours are Tiger Lily Orange and Orange Tulip - together reminiscent of D434 Orange Lily. Among the browns are Honey Tan and Golden Beige, reminiscent of D443 Honey Beige. I wonder what was going on here?


More post war fun with Joyce Grenfell

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