They're IN...

I hear the fashion and decorating world is attuned to something called Pantone for annual and seasonal color choices.  I had never heard of them until earlier this year when I was informed that tangerine tango was the color of the year.  Oh?  

I've watched color trends come and go in both clothing and interior design but I did not know there was someone somewhere who could tell me what it was going to be before it happens.  I was unaware that this edict is handed down twice a year as to what colors are in.  Is it a prediction or a statistical fact?  I don't have that information but I can offer this...

Here's the Pantone pallette for Fall 2012.

I find that I like some and totally dislike a couple.  Always a fan of grey I think that titanium might look a bit steely but I'm glad to see grey is still in the mix.  Would that steely shade be a nod to the industrial fad?  I was hoping that was trending out.  Years ago my mother had a knit dress in that rhapsody color.  She had good skin and that color made it look even more beautiful.  I have some PJ's in the rose smoke shade and I like the soothing quality of the color.  I'm always up for chartreuse.  Remember my mother's living room once had chartreuse walls?  We've mentioned that before, I think.  That was back when chartreuse made its debut on the color scene.   Those walls were a little more toward the endive that appears below but they were definitely chartreuse.   I did not like the walls that color.  All my friends' mothers had pale blue and soft white walls.  I'm sorry Mama.  I just wasn't as hip as you were. 

How about french roast trousers,  a rose smoke cashmere sweater and a rhapsody jacket for the season?    Perhaps to complement that combination we'd reach down below for an endive scarf.   I do know that scarves still trending bigtime.  And, speaking of big, they're big in every sense of the word on Etsy.  Hundreds and hundreds.  I like the big flouncy felty ones although I can't imagine wearing one. 

I'm rambling here and must get to the point.  As I wandered around Google this morning looking for a photo of the fall colors that I could reproduce here, I found an interesting pattern to the Pantone choices. 

Here are the Pantone colors for Spring 2011.

Hmmm.  Seems like we didn't change that much.  I was thinking there would be serious variations from year to year.    So, I kept looking.  Here are the colors for 2010. 

Aww.  C'mon now Pantone.  Is there that much difference?  There is a red in this one, though.  I'm a fan of red and never miss a chance to add a touch to any room.  I really like the oyster gray, woodbine and endive.  Wouldn't those colors with maybe the rose dust and a touch of the living coral be fantastic??   I'm pretty sure this pallette is my favorite.  Note how much richer the colors look framed in black?  A touch of red or black enriches any scheme. 

I will share one more...this is from 2008.

 

 

Isn't that a good red?  I'd like to see it and shitake in the same room but I'm not sure I'd vote for any of the other colors.  Maybe blue iris and ochre.  Doesn't withered rose look a lot like the rose smoke from above?  The grays have trended for four years now as have the victorian pinks.  Blues have been reduced from three shades in 2008 to one in 2012.  Greens have certainly become more vivacious.  And..god bless the child that removed burnt orange from the pallette. 

 

Is there a denoument?  Perhaps.  When I began to look at the color charts I was thinking that Pantone hasn't done much original in four years but as it turns out, they have.  I see a trend toward softness in colors.  I don't know if that ties to the economy or not.  You know lipstick colors and skirt lengths do!

 

PS.  I wish the charts were all easy to read but when I sized them to the larger size they bled off the page.  If you do the Ctrl + trick they might be easier to read.