Pantone's Very Peri: why the colour authority created a unique shade for a unique point in time
Pantone’s chosen colour for 2022 has taken a fresh approach. For the first time since 1999, when the PANTONE Color of the Year program was born, a completely new tone has been created for the PANTONE FASHION, HOME + INTERIORS color palette, in order to capture this unique point in time.
With the world in transition, Pantone felt the best way to accurately capture the collective mood and the need to open our minds to a new vision was for them to transform its approach. In so doing, it stays true to the organic roots of the premise of the PANTONE Color of the Year programme, which is to select a colour that best reflects what people are looking for, that colour can hope to answer. For 2022 it has created a futuristic periwinkle blue hue with a novel presence, PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri brings a fresh vision to the trusted blue family. Displaying a daring curiosity and carefree confidence PANTONE 17-3938 encourages personal inventiveness and animates our creative spirit.
"The creation of PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri is a symbol of the global zeitgeist of the moment and the transition we are going through"
Laurie Pressman, Vice-President, Pantone Colour Institute
For Pantone to create this completely new colour, it considered the essential factors needed to make such a bold move. Each colour conveys its own unique message and meaning. The Pantone Color Institute team was very clear on the colour name and what the visual appearance of PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri needed to look like so that it could express the exact right message. Whilst Pantone adds new colours to its different palettes on an ongoing basis, this is the first time it has added a single colour to its palettes to such exacting specifications. Developing this brand new colour involved an extremely close collaboration between the Pantone Color Institute and the color scientists in Pantone’s textile laboratory.
When we think about some of the pivotal factors influencing the PANTONE Color of the Year 2022 colour selection, everything we talk about regarding the future relates back to the past 18 months. The global pandemic, the social issues we are facing and the impact of climate change on our planet, has created the most challenging era of our time. Now these issues, not envisaged in the past, have provided the international fashion and design industries with an endless source for discussion.
Whilst times have been tough, it has also been a time of innovation, and fast track technology has been a global solution. During the toughest lockdown times I learned and developed my knowledge of topics that I would have never have thought of as part of the fashion industry. I heard some of the world’s biggest thinkers on IG Live and on live forums. By listening to talks on science, innovation, technology and sustainability my knowledge became more in-depth and far wider than ever before. All done without walking through my front door.
Digital fashion is available to anyone with a smart phone and the Metaverse is getting close to reality. This is a time of extreme technological innovation, according to futurologist Peter Diamandis quoted in The Guardian. He predicts that we will experience more innovation in the next 10 years than we have in the past 100. In his opinion we will re-invent every industry and we can already see this happening in the fashion and design world. It is all to do with speed and technology converging with advances in AI. With this in mind it was critical for Pantone to create a tone that reflected the colours we see through the lens of technology and its influence on design.
"Digital design helps us to stretch the limits of reality, opening the door to a dynamic virtual world where we can explore and create new colour possibilities. We wanted to illustrate how colour trends in the digital world are being manifested in the physical world and vice versa."
Laurie Pressman, Vice-President, Pantone Institute
Looking through a digital lens was essential to the colour creation process. However, one area that could not be underestimated this year was pinning down the psychological needs of colour in these difficult and changing times. PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri, despite being a blue, has a warmth to it. Its violet red undertone injects energy enabling it to be about as warm as you can go whilst remaining a blue; in fact, it is the happiest and warmest of all the blue hues. This also allows it to be highly adaptable and can be teamed with almost any colour grouping. Placed with browns this blue stands out as clean and bold, with warm mid tones it becomes playful and with neutrals it looks futuristic. This approach hits the right note in the discussion on hybrid design in the fashion industry.
The versatility of PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri also allows the colour to work well within active sports and styling with a more forward and progressive edge. Whilst the warmth enables it to sit comfortably within lounge and casual wear, PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri’s rare quality of balancing a warm with a cool also gives a sophistication that is perfect for dressier pieces.
All in all, this is a colour that captures the key ingredients that are essential for 2022. The selection of this dynamic periwinkle blue encourages courageous creativity, opens us up to a new vision and places the future in a new light. A colour that reflects global innovation and transformation; a colour whose empowering mix of newness highlights and embraces the altered landscape we find ourselves in and the expansive possibilities that lie ahead; a colour that empowers us with confidence as we move forward into the unknown.
Jane Boddy is a colour trend forecaster.
