2017 Color of the Year, It’s a Rainbow

‘Tis the season—yes, for palette prognosticators to unveil their 2017 Color of the Year pick.  Major paint companies and Pantone take us round the color wheel including polar opposites.  High contrast reigns, in sync with our world today.

A preponderance of white and black with “gray the new beige” is the overriding color trend backdrop often punctuated by bold, primary accents.  This neutral canvas is the perfect playground for the palette prognosticators’ rainbow mix of 2017 Color of the Year selections.

Directly opposite each other on the color wheel are Violet Verbena and Honey Glow, Pittsburgh Paint’s and Dunn Edward’s 2017 Color of the Year picks.  Glidden and Benjamin Moore both favor the purple path with Byzantine Blue a “serene violet” and Shadow, a “soft, lilac-gray”.  Meanwhile, AkzoNobel has selected Denim Drift and Sherwin William’s the more neutral Poised Taupe.  Pantone, the self-proclaimed “global color authority” has recently announced “Greenery” as its 2017 Color of the Year.

Selection rationalizations are as varied as the rainbow of colors chosen.  Purples are “playful yet peaceful.”  Yellow demonstrates “the trend toward the warming of all colors.”  Blue “represents the times we live in” while taupe “diffuses the stress of the world.”  Most hopeful of all is green, “symbolic of new beginnings”— something to ponder next year over a cup of Matcha green tea or driving a new Mercedes-AMG GT roadster in leaf green.  Our dreams can come true . . . over the rainbow.