For 16 years, Pantone has been creating the Color of the Year and their selection affects design from clothing to home furnishing to cosmetics. Typically the chosen colors have been bold, like Radiant Orchid and Emerald. This year, pastel wins the day with not one, but two colors chosen as Color of the Year: Rose Quartz and Serenity.
At first glance, these look like tired, cliched baby colors, pink for girls and blue for boys. But according to Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, “These colors have the opposition of warm and cool, they speak to health and wellbeing and all the positive aspects that are so necessary in our lives today with all the turmoil that’s going on. People are looking for something that will soothe and calm us.”
As a marketing idea, it’s very clever. It not only offers two colorways for the design world to play with and combine, but it speaks to what Pantone describes as a cultural shift towards “gender fluidity…and different approaches to color usage.” Pantone may be going a little overboard with their declaration of colors as a symbol of the cultural and spiritual climate of the times, but it’s certainly good news for the lingerie business. Lingerie really lends itself to these pastel colors. Both Serenity and Rose Quartz, while feminine, are not childish and they are flattering to almost all skin tones.
Photo source: InStyle.com
The colors have already found their way on to the runway, with many designers already showing them in Spring 2016 collections. And Pantone suggests that these colors can seamlessly flow into each other, which demonstrates how well they work together (again, good marketing) and a cultural shift regarding the symbols of gender. Regardless of all the cultural import Pantone attaches to this year’s selection, both the dusty pink and tranquil cooler blue are spot-on lingerie choices and you’ll find that manufacturers are already adding these shades to their collections. Bras shown: Top, l–r: Cosabella Never Say Never Sweetie Bra, Le Mystere Dream Tisha Lace Full-Busted Bra, Maidenform One Fabulous Fit Demi Underwire Bra Bottom, l–r: Parfait by Affinitas Charlotte Padded Bra, Wacoal Embrace Lace Underwire Bra, Felina Elizabeth Diamond Patterned Unlined Bra
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