London Fashion Week has paid tribute to the late designer Richard Nicoll with a dedicated Pantone shade created in his name.
“Nicoll Blue” was selected by a close group of the designer’s friends and developed by the Pantone Colour Institute. It will be used to adorn the Arundel Street entrance of the main hub of London Fashion Week, which begins tomorrow at The Store Studios, 180 Strand.
Nicoll passed away suddenly in Sydney, Australia last October at the age of just 39. The designer had been brought up in Australia but studied at Central Saint Martins, graduating in 2002, and was an integral of the new wave of British design talent.
He went on to become part of the prestigious British Fashion Council NEWGEN scheme showing his own collection at London Fashion Week and later his men’s line at London Collection Men’s (now London Fashion Week Men’s). Throughout his career he also designed for Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton, Cerruti, Fred Perry and Jack Wills.
“Richard was a designer whose talent and character inspired all around him. He registered his affinity for the spectrum of blues hundreds of times in the collections he showed in London,” said Sarah Mower BFC Ambassador for Emerging Talent.
“For a decade, Richard’s life-enhancing gift for bonding people together contributed immeasurably to the spirit of a whole London fashion generation. The visual presence of Nicoll Blue throughout the main fashion week venue is a way to remember and celebrate a great London friend and to convey our respects and eternal gratitude to his family,” Mower added.
Pantone vice president of the Pantone Color Institute Laurie Pressman said it was “so pleased” to create the colour in Nicoll’s honour. “Modest and humble, yet at the same time lively and playful Richard Nicoll’s Nicoll Blue embodies the elegance and sensitive spirit of this much beloved designer whose innate kindness, loving soul and good natured sense of humour held a special allure to all that entered into his orbit,” she said.
As a further honour to the designer, a minute’s silence will be observed before the Central Saint Martins MA show on Friday 17 February. Plans are also underway for a retrospective of his work to be staged later in the year.
