Something shifted on the runways this season, and you can feel it trickling into real life: color is back in a way that doesn't feel like a trend piece telling you to "try a pop of red!" Color is the whole thing now. Full commitment. Head-to-toe tomato red at dinner. Canary yellow on a Tuesday. Marina blue that makes you look like you just stepped off a boat in Capri even though you're on the L train.

The quiet luxury era did its job. We all own a beautiful beige wardrobe and we are, respectfully, ready for a little spice. The move this summer isn't to abandon neutrals entirely (that would be chaos), but to find one color that feels like yours and let it take over. Not as an accent. Not as a "fun earring." As the main character of your closet for the next four months.

Here's how to pick it: think about what you reach for when you're in a good mood. For some people that's a warm, punchy red that reads confident without being overwhelming. For others it's a yellow that sits somewhere between butter and electric, the kind of shade that makes everyone at brunch ask if you're going somewhere after. If pink is your thing, this summer's version isn't pastel or Barbie. It's a deeper, slightly dusty rose that feels grown up but still has energy. And then there's marine blue. It's one of those colors that looks effortless but carries serious weight, and this summer it's showing up everywhere from fluid trousers to structured knits.

The key to making a single color work all summer is textural range within the shade. You don't need five identical red pieces. You need a red that shows up differently across fabrics: a matte linen pant, a slightly shiny satin top, a cotton knit. Same color family, different textures, and suddenly you have a whole wardrobe within a wardrobe.

Styling-wise, the move is to go tonal rather than matchy-matchy. Pair your chosen color with a slightly lighter or darker version of itself, or mix it with one neutral (white, black, cream) and call it a day. The whole point is that the color does the work so you don't have to overthink anything else. One shade, worn with conviction, will always look better than four safe choices layered on top of each other.