The Shockingly Chic Color Combo That's Taking Over the Runways and My FYP

Last weekend, when fall fashion reclaimed its rightful place in my closet, I realized I was not ready to put away the summer’s leading—and coolest!—color combination: red-and-purple. Nor do I need to: Recent runway shows and celebrities, ranging from Dua Lipa to Prada, convinced me to skip the “see you next year” pile and save myself from another September of styling beige, black, and white on repeat.

Neighboring shades on the color wheel create some of fashion’s most interesting combinations. Nowhere was that more clear than on the Spring/Summer 2026 circuit, where Carolina Herrera, Stella McCartney, and Prada taste-tested cherry and grape together. More recently, Valentino, Chanel, Lanvin, Mugler, and CFCL cemented the pairing’s spot in my regular autumn rotation, but not before VIPs like Lipa, Zoey Deutch, and Lupita Nyong’o proved the fresh-from-the-runway pigments shine on the street style scene, too.

Sure, red-and-purple looks might secure finger claps at New York Fashion Week, but what about my midwestern stomping grounds? While my colleagues are at NYFW this week, I tested the pairing in the land of (sometimes boring) black-and-white dressing.

The Red-and-Purple Color Combination Trend

At the beginning of 2026, I added “experiment with color combinations” to the top of my fashion resolutions list. I hoped the reminder would widen my wardrobe to include some of the season's biggest color pairings like pale pink-and-tangerine orange, cobalt blue-and-butter yellow, and strawberry red-and-purple. Thanks to endorsements from my favorite designers and fashion girls alike, my makeshift style resolution of sorts worked.

Wearing red and purple is nowhere near a novel outfit formula: Decades after Princess Diana endorsed the color combination, it resurfaced—via a crimson wrap coat and violet maternity dress—in Meghan Markle’s circa-2019 royal closet. That same year, Victoria Beckham pulled off a lavender-and-tomato look, courtesy of her London-based fashion brand. By 2022, the creative director proved the coupling is surprisingly Posh Spice-coded, wearing a cashmere grape sweater with fire hydrant red leather pants at Saint Laurent’s Paris Fashion Week show.

Fast forward to 2026, and red-and-purple outfits sprouted everywhere from the Cannes Film Festival to New York City. Back in May, Lipa accessorized an eggplant-tinted dress from Ferragamo’s Fall 2026 collection with the Hug East-West handbag in “Flame Red” for the film festival in the South of France. Less than a month later, Deutch made herself a purple-and-red sandwich, featuring a royal purple cardigan and tomato red trousers, both from High Sport, while promoting her newest film in the Big Apple.

How I Style It

For a look that’s as effortless as black-and-white that I’m accustomed to, I stacked a purple piece on top of red bottoms à la Deutch. I’m really loving lavender as a summer-to-fall hue, so I shade-matched the striped cardigan around my waist to a short-sleeve cashmere sweater from Anthropologie. Thick tomato-red bands smoothed the contrast between the light lavender and the asymmetrical midi skirt from Old Navy. (I’m planning on pairing the two-sweater set with red denim fresh from Deutch’s press tour wardrobe, too.)

I completed the look with a suede top-handle tote by Mark & Graham in an almost identical color to the skirt and my beloved Gap barn jacket. I grounded my otherwise out-there look with the coat’s espresso-brown corduroy collar and matching Madewell loafers.

Inspired by Lipa’s more elevated maximalist look in Cannes, I wanted to see if these It colors could pass the wedding guest test. (The pop star’s Ferragamo ‘fit would’ve promised her the best-dressed crown at any ceremony.) This time around, a watermelon-squeezed, drop-waist dress from Hutch served as my foundation shade, one that earned the endorsement of my cousin, whose wedding I’ll be attending next month. Not only did the bride-to-be give an additional thumbs-up to my plum bucket bag by Cuyana (an A-lister-beloved brand), but the smooth leather shade is also surprisingly close to the colors of her wedding bouquet.

While Lipa saved room for heeled mules in her French Riviera suitcase, I’m putting comfort—and the high-vamp flats trend—first in ballerinas by J.Crew. They’re the same tomato-red tint as the Grammy winner’s accessories, except more dance-floor-friendly and under $150. However, I could also get away with Katie Holmes’s recent take on the red-and-purple trend (square-toe block heels at August’s Michael Kors soirée) and walk away just as blister-free.

Just as I suspected, this color combination trend isn’t reserved for summer styling. Thanks to today’s trendsetters (and their “not-just-neutrals” approach to fall fashion), red-and-purple is the new black-and-white in my cold-weather wardrobe.