This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Like every year since the turn of the year 2000, the Pantone Institute unveiled its flagship color of the year in early December. The lucky winner for 2022: Very Peri, a periwinkle blue that leaves no one indifferent – we love it madly or we hate it frankly. We decipher the trend and its influences.
You may remember this scene from the movie The devil wears Prada, in which Miranda Priestly monologues about the influence of fashion on society. Its nod to Pantone’s very first color of the year, Cerulean Blue, will not have escaped the notice of industry experts.
“What you don’t know is that this sweater isn’t just blue,” proclaims the tyrannical editor-in-chief played by Meryl Streep. It is not turquoise, it is not lapis. In fact, it is cerulean blue. And you’re also blissfully unaware that in 2002 Oscar de la Renta created a collection of cerulean blue dresses. […] Then, cerulean blue soon appeared in the collections of eight different designers and the trend influenced most department stores and then spread to discount boutiques. »
Although some of the references cited in this diatribe were fabricated, according to an article by Vanity Fair France, the message is not so far from reality: every year since 1999, the Pantone team, led by Leatrice Eiseman, determines “the” color of the year. What guides her? Social trends, explains Marie-Chantal Milette, color expert and founder of the Kryptonie agency, who herself studied with Eiseman, a world authority on color psychology.
“Before being a marketing gimmick, the Pantone color of the year allows you to take the pulse of the population,” argues Marie-Chantal Milette. Publicized in December, it thus sets the tone for the year to come. “It’s like ending a chapter by giving an idea of what lies ahead,” she continues.
Of course, the event, now awaited by the media around the world, has now become a “marketing machine”, agrees the Quebec specialist, referring in passing to the many derivative products and collaborations that result from it. A process that could not be more effective in stimulating sales, it goes without saying.
futuristic tint
This year, the Pantone Institute has chosen Very Peri, whose symbolism closely linked to digital universes (metavers, augmented reality) revolves around renewal.
“I applaud their audacity because they took risks by creating a color that did not exist in the catalogue. Their choice therefore caused a big surprise, adds Marie-Chantal Milette, who has managed to predict Pantone’s flagship color three times in the past. Historically, mallows always come back after tough economic times or, in this case, a pandemic, but in my opinion, that’s too soon. In 2022, we will still be a lot in anxiety and fear, not yet in reinvention. »
What’s more, she adds, shades of mauve are rarely everyone’s favorites. “I would even say that they divide. We love it or we hate it, among other things because we don’t know how to feel in front of this mixture of blue, a soothing color, and red, which excites. Pantone also describes its Very Peri as a blue warmed up with a touch of red. Instead, I would have opted for a more unifying shade, like Harbor Blue, a deep teal that evokes the ocean and calm. »
It remains to be seen whether the recent upheavals of the pandemic will influence color pros in the 2023 horizon!