New season. New energy.

Fashion moves in cycles, and after a long stretch of oatmeal, camel and quiet tailoring, the pendulum has swung. The catwalks were full of tomato red, cobalt, lime and hot pink, often worn together. The high street has followed fast. The good news is you don't need to throw out your neutrals. They're the perfect base for a bit of colour.

Start with one piece

If colour feels scary, add it in one place. A red knit with jeans. A cobalt bag with an all-black outfit. Pink trainers with grey tailoring. One bright piece against neutrals looks confident rather than chaotic, and it's an easy way to work out which shades you actually enjoy wearing. Zara and & Other Stories both have plenty of single colour hits at decent prices.

Find your colours

Not every shade suits every face. Hold things up to your skin in daylight, not under shop lights. Warm skin tones tend to glow in tomato red, orange and olive. Cooler tones look brilliant in cobalt, fuchsia and emerald. If something makes you look tired, it's the colour, not you. Keep the tricky shades below the waist, as trousers, skirts or shoes, where they're further from your face.

Clash with confidence

Colour blocking is the bolder option. Pair two strong colours, like red and pink, orange and blue, or green and purple. Keep the shapes simple so the colour does the talking. A pink jumper with red trousers sounds wrong and looks brilliant. Ganni does this better than almost anyone, and resale prices on Vestiaire Collective make it far less painful to try.

Accessories are the easy way in

Bags, shoes and scarves are the low-risk route into colour. They're easy to swap, they don't need to suit your skin, and they make a plain outfit look intentional. A bright bag will cheer up a navy coat for the whole of winter. Look at JW Anderson for something with personality, or Accessorize for a silk scarf that costs less than lunch out.

Colour for the office

Workwear doesn't have to be grey. A burgundy suit, a pale yellow shirt or a green knit under a navy blazer all look professional. Keep the fabrics smart and the shapes tailored and nobody will question it. Hobbs and Reiss both do coloured tailoring that won't scare HR.

Beauty can join in

Colour doesn't stop at clothes. A bright lip, a coloured liner or a glossy red nail does the same job as a new jumper for a fraction of the price. Charlotte Tilbury, MAC and Nails Inc have all gone big on bold shades this season. Pick one feature and keep the rest of the face simple.

What to avoid

Head-to-toe neon is hard work for almost everyone. So is wearing four colours at once without a plan. Steer clear of cheap bright fabrics that fade after three washes, because faded colour looks worse than none. If a shade only works with one thing you own, leave it in the shop.

Our edit below rounds up the colourful pieces worth adding now, from small hits to the bolder buys that will make you smile every time you open the wardrobe.

Where to shop it

COS does clean, saturated colour in simple shapes. Boden has always been brilliant at brights and has quietly got much more stylish. Ganni is the place for clashing prints with a Scandi edge. Start with a knit or a bag, wear it for a month, and see how you feel.

Colour is supposed to be fun. If something makes you smile when you catch sight of it in a shop window, that's the one.

Making colour last beyond spring

Bright colours fade in the wash faster than neutrals, so turn them inside out, wash cold and keep them out of the dryer. Store knits folded rather than hung, away from a sunny window. When autumn comes, don't pack it all away. A cobalt jumper looks brilliant with a camel coat, and a red bag cheers up a grey January far more than it ever did in May. Colour isn't a seasonal trend. Treat it as part of the wardrobe and it will earn its place all year.