Summer isn’t officially over but Pantone – the leading authority on the colors used in paint, fabrics and manufacturing – sprang forward Thursday to reveal its top 10 fashion hues for next spring.
Leading the charge is “Dazzling Blue," a shade of cobalt familiar since it’s the same color of both Facebook’s logo and Citibank’s wildly popular bike share program in New York City.
Each season, Pantone surveys designers from Fashion Week and beyond to collect feedback on the prominent colors and inspirations they plan to use in upcoming collections.
This year’s results revealed a range from the bold No. 1 color to more earthy neutrals and soft pastels.
“What you see is a real balance, or what we call equilibrium, between the light and the bright, and the bridge of the neutrals like 'Sand’ and ‘Paloma’ in between,” Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, told TODAY.com. Pantone revealed its spring palette at the start New York Fashion Week Spring 2014, which runs from Sept. 5-12.
Eiseman said to expect those colors to be featured prominently on the runways.
“Absolutely,” she said. “We base this on what we gathered from designers, so it comes directly from them. It’s not guesswork on their part. They send us sketches and thoughts on why they chose what they chose.”
"Dazzling Blue", which made an early Fashion Week appearance Wednesday during the JSong collection, ranked first on Pantone's spring colors for women, with 17.05 percent of designers using the color. The pastel-toned "Violet Tulip" came in second (16.47 percent), followed by the brighter "Radiant Orchid" (15.88 percent).
But Eiseman said Pantone doesn’t like to emphasize any one color.
“For us, it’s always a question of palettes, because many of the patterns you’re seeing for spring are just that – they’re patterns, so colors are combined, as opposed to thinking only in terms of solid colors,” she said. “If you look at the imagery of the designs, for the most you’ve got a lot of patterning going on.”
Pantone is expected to announce its next top color of the year in December. The 2013 title went to "Emerald" green, a stark contrast to "Tangerine Tango," declared color of the year in 2012.