New York, Sept 19: Pink isn't just pink, it's phlox or blush. Beige isn't beige when it can be sand or champagne. And brown certainly would never be brown when it could be cinnamon, tobacco or stone. Designers unveiling their latest looks at the semi-annual New York Fashion Week say they spend untold effort not only choosing colours but naming those hues, drawing inspiration from old movies, summer resorts, victorian lingerie and even childhood memories. At the Anne Klein show on Tuesday, the colour brown was coined bark, white was cloud, black was pitch and pink was the phlox flower. At Bill Blass, brown was stone, gray was pearl, beige was champagne, off-white was candlelight, gold was cognac, green was seafoam, pink was blush and brown was cinnamon and butterscotch and creme brulee. Colour names derived from food, flowers and nature have the most appeal, colour psychologist Leatrice Eiseman said.

''Who can resist?'' said Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone color institute, considered by many to be a definitive source on colour in fashion, textile and interior design.
''It evokes a picture and it evokes a scent,'' she said. ''you get as many senses going as possible.''
Bureau Report