October 2013

A Colorful New Year Ahead? By Tim Hodson

Once again, the color experts at Pantone have spoken. Last month, they released their latest compendium on fashion colors for 2014. The report, Pantone Fashion Color Report Spring 2014, is a comprehensive overview of designers’ use of color in their upcoming collections and was released to coincide with New York Fashion Week.

According to Leatrice Eiseman, Pantone’s executive director, in 2014 “consumers are looking for a state of thoughtful, emotional and artistic equilibrium. While this need for stability is reflected in the composition of the palette, the inherent versatility of the individual colors allows for experimentation with new looks and color combinations.”

Pantone says the Top 10 fashion colors for women in 2014 are:

Placid Blue
Violet Tulip
Hemlock
Paloma
Sand
Freesia
Cayenne
Celosia Orange
Radiant Orchid
Dazzling Blue

Pantone says three “very adaptable pastels” made the 2014 list because “we are so accustomed to seeing them as nature’s background, [and] they can be creatively combined with many other colors.” Placid Blue “induces a sense of peaceful calmness,” while Violet Tulip “evokes wistful nostalgia” and Hemlock “provides a decorative touch that’s very different from the greens of recent seasons.” Sand is a lightly toasted and amiable neutral color reminiscent of the carefree days of summer, while Paloma serves as a “quintessential neutral.”

Cayenne provides a “dash of spicy heat” to neutrals, Freesia, a blazing yellow, creates a feeling of warmth and energy, and Celosia Orange is “an optimistic, spontaneous hue.” And Pantone says Radiant Orchid is “a bold counterpart to Violet Tulip, and Dazzling Blue, a scintillating, polar opposite to Placid Blue.”

What do you think of Pantone’s picks for 2014? How will these colors play with the products you are growing and selling? Drop me a line a thodson@sgcmail.com and let me know.

By the way, you can learn more about the Pantone Fashion Color Report Spring 2014 at www.pantone.com/spring2014.