Sandhya Garg — Colour Notes
Five Ways to Wear Butter Yellow (Number Three Is the One That Matters)
The Shade · The Fabric · The Fix · 12 Yellow Pieces · XS–3XL
Quick Answer
Yellow is the colour more women say they can't wear than any other — and it's almost always the wrong shade rather than the wrong person. Butter yellow is the trickiest of them all, because it's pale enough to sit at the same brightness as fair skin. Five fixes: pair it with a stronger colour, choose a fabric with body, move it away from your face if it washes you out (that's the one), wear gold rather than silver and nude rather than white shoes, and go deeper into saffron to carry it into autumn.
Butter yellow was everywhere in 2025. It has since been quietly replaced at the top of the trend cycle — Pantone's Colour of the Year for 2026 is Cloud Dancer, a soft white. Which is good news, not bad: the people wearing butter yellow now are wearing it because it suits them, not because it was on every rail.
So the only question left is how to wear it well. I'm a Project Runway designer and I've put yellow in almost every collection I've made. Here's what I've learned — including the fix for the thing most people give up over.
Watch me style it, or read the five ways below — they're the same five, written out.
First: It's the Shade, Not You
"Washed out" happens when a colour sits at roughly the same brightness as your skin. There's no contrast, so your face and the dress blend into one pale shape. That's why butter yellow — a light, low-saturation yellow — is the hardest one, and why the same woman who looks tired in butter looks wonderful in saffron.
Fair or cool-toned
Skip neon and primary yellow. Deep golden, mustard and saffron give you the contrast that pale yellow can't.
Medium
Clear lemon and true buttercup sit well. This is the range butter yellow was made for.
Deeper
Nearly every yellow works, and the most saturated shades look strongest of all.
The 30-second version: hold the fabric under your chin at a window. If your face brightens, it's yours. If the fabric looks brighter than you do, it isn't. Full method in the colour test.
The Five Ways · Twelve Yellow Pieces · XS to 3XL
How to Wear It
Way One
Give it something to push against
Butter yellow on its own, head to toe, has nothing to create contrast with. Put a stronger colour beside it and the yellow stops being pale and starts being deliberate. Navy, forest green and denim blue are the easy ones; pink is the unexpected one, and the best.
Way Two
Choose a fabric with body
Pale yellow in a thin, shiny synthetic goes grey-green in shade and looks cheap in photographs. The same shade in matte cotton poplin holds its colour, because the surface scatters light instead of bouncing it. If you're going to wear butter yellow as a solid block, this is the difference between looking expensive and looking washed.
Way Three · The One That Matters
If it washes you out, move it away from your face
This is the fix nobody tells you, and it's why so many women write yellow off entirely. Washing-out happens where the colour meets your skin — at the neckline. Nowhere else. So you don't have to abandon butter yellow; you have to relocate it.
Three ways to do that: wear it as a print with a yellow ground, so the colour is broken up by other shades before it reaches your face. Wear it below the waist — a yellow skirt or the lower half of a colour-block dress does nothing to your complexion. Or keep a stronger colour at the neckline and let the yellow start further down. Same dress, same shade, completely different effect in a photograph.
Way Four
Gold, not silver. Nude shoes, not white.
Silver and cool-white metals fight yellow's warmth and make it look acidic. Gold belongs to the same temperature and settles it. Same with shoes: white makes yellow look harsher by comparison, while nude, tan and gold let it sit. It's the cheapest change on this list and one of the most visible.
Way Five
Go deeper and it stops being a summer colour
Bright lemon and butter do read as summer. Saffron, mustard and golden yellow don't — they sit naturally beside rust, olive and burgundy, which is autumn's whole palette. A long-sleeved mustard midi is a genuinely good October dress. What dates a yellow is a thin summer fabric in autumn, not the colour itself.
Two More Worth Knowing
27 yellow pieces in stock · XS–3XL · Size chart · Made to measure
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I wear butter yellow without looking washed out?
Move it away from your face. Washing-out only happens where the colour meets your skin at the neckline, so wear butter yellow as a print with a yellow ground, below the waist, or with a stronger colour at the neck. Choosing a matte fabric with body, and a deeper shade, also helps.
What shade of yellow suits my skin tone?
Fair and cool-toned skin suits deep golden, mustard and saffron, and should avoid neon and primary yellow. Medium complexions suit brighter lemon and buttercup. Deeper skin tones carry nearly every yellow, with the most saturated looking strongest. Butter yellow is hardest on very fair skin, because it sits at a similar brightness.
What colours go with butter yellow?
Navy, denim blue, forest green and pink all give it the contrast it needs. Cream, tan and olive work for a jacket or wrap. Choose gold jewellery over silver, and nude, tan or gold shoes rather than white — white makes yellow look harsher by comparison.
Is butter yellow still in style?
It peaked in 2025 and is no longer the season's headline colour — Pantone named Cloud Dancer, a soft white, for 2026. That makes it a better buy, not a worse one: it's out of the trend cycle, so wearing it now is a choice rather than a uniform.
Can you wear yellow to a wedding?
Yes, and it's a strong choice — festive, beautiful in daylight and never mistakable for bridal white. One caution: very pale butter yellow can photograph as cream, so a deeper shade or a print is safer. More in the wedding guest colour guide.
Can you wear yellow in autumn?
Yes, in a deeper shade. Saffron, mustard and golden yellow sit naturally with rust, olive and burgundy. What looks wrong in October is a thin summer fabric, not the colour — so choose sleeves and a cloth with weight.
Keep Reading
Your Colours
The 30-Second Colour Test
Done at a window, not in a shop.
Way Three, Extended
The Print Ladder
Nervous about colour? Start low.
Occasions
When the Colour of the Year Is White
What to wear instead.
Light
Why Colour Wins in Hard Light
Why pale shades bleach at midday.
About the Writer
Sandhya Garg is a Project Runway Season 13 designer who won two challenges on the show and presented her collection at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week. She studied womenswear and colour at London College of Fashion and worked at Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Liberty London, and Alice Temperley. She chooses every colourway in the collection herself — featured in Marie Claire, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Vogue online, in sizes XS–3XL with made to measure available.
Project Runway · Vogue · Marie Claire · XS–3XL
It's the shade, not you.
Sandhya Garg is a Los Angeles boutique creating limited-edition artisanal dresses in original hand-drawn prints, hand embroidery and heritage textiles. Sizes XS–3XL, shipped from Scottsdale within 1–3 days.
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