It's that time of year again, when I spend way too much time going through mainstream fashion's "it" colors. Here's Spring 2016 (If you want to see my post on last year's spring 2015 colors, click here)... for those of you in the Southern hemisphere, you can see the newly announced fall 2015 colors here at the Pantone website.
Colors this season transport us to a happier, sunnier place where we feel free to express a wittier version of our real selves. With our culture still surrounded by so much uncertainty, we are continuing to yearn for those softer shades that offer a sense of calm and relaxation.Thank you, Pantone. I too would like to go on vacation. They were also inspired by pops of nature in an urban environment, which no doubt added green flash, buttercup, and fiesta to an otherwise serene palette. So now the whole thing looks random and disjointed. It took a few tries for me to make sense of the proper proportions of these colors, but I think I've got it:
Rose Quartz: The Pantone color of the year. Have you been shopping lately? This color is everywhere. I consider this the foundation color for spring. It's basically a neutral that goes with everything.
Peach Echo: This complements rose quartz and ice coffee, and as you'll see in the above, designers are incorporating the the colors in print design.
Iced Coffee: Great for shoes and accessories and complements the other colors nicely.
Lilac Gray: Gray and Rose Quartz have been in the goth palette for a while now. I would say that mainstream fashion copied us. This is the must-have hair color this year.
Serenity: The other Pantone color of the year. Come on, it's denim. You've got your choice between the wide-legged Jncos or the bellbottoms. Sorry, short-legged girls.
Snorkel Blue: The other denim color. I've also been seeing this in jewelry in the form of tassels and other thread-based jewelry.
Fiesta, Buttercup, and Green Flash: these are the contrast colors. These work best in very small doses, as used as part of detail of a design (like green cacti on a pink shirt, or yellow flowers on a blue bag). Would also work for makeup.
Limpet Shell: Limpets are not this color. I'd categorize this with the other contrast colors, but this would be a cool shoe color, or hair color, and also good for accessories.
