Thursday, December 3, 2015

Pantone Blew It

Usually in this blog I write about quilts, teaching, and occasionally family stuff. One topic I visit during December is the Pantone pronouncement of their Color of the Year. See last year's post (12/4/14) about the color Marsala (reddish-brown). At that time Pantone had just entered into a financial partnership with the makeup company Sephora and it was painfully obvious that Marsala was a shade of blush/lipstick/eye shadow.


This year I'm afraid Pantone's petticoats are showing with their 2016 pick and their color picks are even less applicable to the average consumer. The color company hedged its bets and picked two shades--oh no--the first time that's ever happened! The partnership here: maybe Pampers? No offence intended: babies are my favorite kind of people but smart moms have long since ditched the pink-vs-blue nursery color scheme.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The 2016 colors are called Serenity and Rose Quartz but that's Baby Blue and Pink to the rest of us. Pantone pens this about the pink-"...a persuasive but gentle tone-" and for the blue -"-weightless and airy, like the expanse of the blue sky above us." Puleeze. The company and its partners (there are many of them) are spinning the color choices like crazy. Rose Quartz is being promoted as the upcoming wedding color but occasionally the images and products just go off the rails.




The pink wedding dress reminds me painfully of the toilet paper dolly found in many 1950s bathrooms.










The blue, called Serenity, is likewise a weak choice but I can see how it was brought in to prop up the Pink. See the two-tone Pantone mug left--sure to be a big hit at the next baby shower you attend.




These colors have very little to do with my world (quilts and fabrics) and unless you're a slave to fashion, you won't rush out and paint your bedroom Rose Quartz and Serenity Blue or go shopping for new duds in these colors for fear of ending up looking vaguely like these 18th and 19th century paintings.
Pinched from a Monty Python skit.

Gainsborough's Blue Boy and Pinkie by Lawrence

                         

















As 2016 progresses we'll see how Pantone's picks play out but my prediction is that Pantone's relevance and influence to the rest of the world is waning. A lot of us will pass on this pair! #31DayBlogChallenge

14 comments:

Bill Volckening said...

I love that you boogged about this topic again. I'm working on my blog post, too. :)

Lee Ann L. said...

Agreed. Terrible colors to choose.

Carol Sc said...

I had my fill of blue and mauve fabrics way back when --- not about to return to them! :-)

Marlene @ KISSed Quilts . com said...

Those were the paint chips I drew for this last year's guild challenge. I went with blue sky and pink dogwood! Ha! I was less than thrilled about it then too.

Marlene @ KISSed Quilts . com said...

Those were the paint chips I drew for this last year's guild challenge. I went with blue sky and pink dogwood! Ha! I was less than thrilled about it then too.

Carolyn said...

While I actually like both colors and can wear both, they are most definitely Baby pink and blue. I expect something more innovative and exciting for The Color of The Year!

Carolyn said...

While I actually like both colors and can wear both, they are most definitely Baby pink and blue. I expect something more innovative and exciting for The Color of The Year!

Leah said...

Blah! I really liked the purple from a few years ago, but this is just plain fugly. Why are we listening to those jokers anyway? Who gave them the right to pick color of the year? It's sort of like Michelin - a friggin tire company! - creating the standards for the Michelin star restaurant rating. Crazy weird!

Heather Pregger said...

Yuck! They are very bland. I'm disappointed.

Lori said...

No, no, no. Please, NO.

Kim said...

You betcha I won't be pairing these two muted shades together. It's bland and boring.

Anonymous said...

I refused to use them in 80s and 90s not even on my best day would I use them very bland

Monica Hayden said...

If anybody remembers the TV show Seinfeld, there were a few episodes where Elaine worked for a catalog company whose specialty was to spin elaborate and ridiculous descriptions for their products. This is what Pantone's descriptions brought to mind. Hilarious!

QuilterBee said...

I wonder if ANYONE will touch those colors??!! Hideous