Designers and creative always look forward to the time Pantone, the global authority in color matching, to announce their color of the year. They do so every December and they base their choice among other things on trend forecasts. 2023's pick is called Viva Magenta, and is a bold, saturated reddish pink hue that speaks of boldness, power and strength.
Having followed the color of the years for a quite a few years now, I noticed they often miss the plot, I think every designers and artists remember the ugliness that was 2015's Marsala.
But this time around, they are right on the money when it comes to Viva Magenta. I have seen bold saturated reds and pinks pop everywhere in the last 6 months, Valentino pink anyone?
I remember wearing those kind of bold colors in the late 90's and early 00's, including magentas. With that era making a comeback and gaining popularity with the Gen Z who were babies back then, it not surprising that the color along with a lot of the 90s aesthetic is coming back right now. I once upon a time, around 1999, had a long sleeved t-shirt, form fitting and a bit cropped, that came in a swirly/paisley pattern with the color palette of that retro circle pattern I created and am selling on Society6.
While as a now 43 years old who was a teenager and young adult during that era, there are things like crop tops, low waist and chunky shoes that I don't feel like revisiting, they only look good on teens.
But the colors? Hell yes! I've always been crazy about bold hues and seeing them come back in trends along with fun geometric patterns is refreshing.
I welcome this move from Pantone because truth be told, I was getting a bit bored of their fairly safe picks in the past few years. 2022's Veri Peri while not a bad color in it self, felt a bit too much like a washed out, toned down version of 2020's Classic Blue, which was already pretty dull and ahem! Boring. Viva Magenta pretty much resonates with people being done with bland, boring and safe, 2 years of pandemic restrictions can do that to oneself. We all want to live again, and embrace a bold, fun lifestyle. So let's all step into what Pantone calls the Magentaverse.
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