There’s a vast reproduction of Vincent van Gogh’s famous self-portrait on show outside the Marunouchi Building next to Tokyo Station in Japan. The reproduction is actually a mosaic, ten metres square, made out of more than 2,000 polo shirts.  24 different shades of polo-shirt have been carefully placed to mimic the delicate graduated tones that feature in the original painting. The artwork is designed to encourage people to think about using subtle colours (like those of paintings) in clothing, and has been created by clothing designer Onward Kashiyama Co.

So subtle colours and gentle matching of shades are likely to feature on the catwalks of the next few years, as fashion falls in love with muted shades again. To make this look work for you, invest in one subtle colour choice, such as the chino shade shown in the picture, and match it with a range of off-whites, creams, beiges, fawns and chocolate shades.

Once you get comfortable with the process of colour graduation, you can start using complementary colours – a soft blue T-shirt under a chino coloured polo-shirt, or a pale green vest with grey shorts, to expand the palette of your personal clothing.  You can even use the graduated colour approach to integrate your current clothing with the new look – if you have a pair of black trousers, match them with a smart grey shirt, perhaps with a slate or cream T-shirt underneath, a white scarf and a charcoal casual jacket.