Pantone Has Spoken: Rosy and Serene Are In for 2016

It’s another year and another controversial choice for color management company Pantone, which has released its picks for the top trending colors of 2016. It’s a pair of pastels that at first glance scream, “It’s a boy! And a girl!”

But the soft purplish-blue (Serenity) and nude-pink hues (Rose Quartz) represent a blending and blurring of gender lines, says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. “In many parts of the world we are experiencing a gender blur as it relates to fashion, which has in turn impacted color trends throughout all other areas of design,” Eiseman says. “This more unilateral approach to color is coinciding with societal movements toward gender equality and fluidity, the consumer’s increased comfort with using color as a form of expression, a generation that has less concern about being typecast or judged and an open exchange of digital information that has opened our eyes to different approaches to color usage.”

Blue is thought to be an appetite-suppressing color, making it a non-traditional color for a kitchen or dining room (unless you are on a diet, of course). But I like it for kitchens because it offers a cooling vibe in a space that can get overheated from cooking.

If you are digging this color combo but are leery about splashing it all over your walls or buying expensive furniture clad in either of the hues, think about bringing the colors into your home via artwork or decorative accessories. Try layering light and dark shades of the colors to make it more visually interesting.

Of course you can always take these colors outside. When I showed this color combination to a friend she mentioned that it would make for a nice exterior palette for a home’s landscaping and accent colors.