The question I’m most asked as a style director and fashion editor is simple: what colours are in, and what should I be wearing?
For spring/summer 2026, there is one shade you need to know, confirmed to me after a conversation I had last week with Lisa Illis, head of womenswear design at M&S. The new shade quietly storming the charts? Icy blue. Or as colour company Pantone call it, “Dutch Canal.”
And it’s not just that M&S are backing it, their data shows it’s the colour we’re most buying right now.
“We’ve seen a lot of sellouts in icy blue,” says Lisa. “Take the embroidered icy blue striped shirt and matching shorts from our spring/summer 2026 campaign featuring our new Chief Compliments Officer, Gillian Anderson. Our customers have really responded to it because it’s light, bright and incredibly wearable.”
Why icy blue works
Once you start noticing it, Lisa is absolutely right. This shade of blue serves as an elegant neutral, but with a fashion edge; if your wardrobe is feeling a bit flat, this colour fixes it.
It works as well with cream and white, as it does with richer shades of chocolate brown and burgundy. Though as a colour combination with brown, this blue is hard to beat, especially in polka dots.
It also pairs effortlessly with all shades of denim and crisp white, softens the look of structured tailoring and looks expensive in knitwear, making it one of the most versatile colours to wear now.
This shade of blue also refreshes outfits as a shoe – see their excellent boat shoe style with contract burgundy laces, below – and lifts the complexion worn as a light sweatshirt, a short-sleeved polo top, a light spring knit or zip-up spring jacket.
M&S has also incorporated it into a striped cotton skirt and shirt set, one of the smartest ways to wear the colour.
Style it as a full look, or split it up, pairing the shirt with jeans and the skirt with a light knit while the weather is still changeable.
So now you know: icy blue is the true colour of the season.