Photo courtesy of the Pantone Color Institute

For anyone in the fashion or design industry, color can be a beautiful thing. But it can also be a very valuable tool on any designer’s palette. Color has the power to (pardon the pun) set the tone for just about everything—from sneakers to smartphones to packaging and the color of a room.

The folks at the Pantone Color Institute know a thing or two about color and the effect it can have on creating just the right mood or atmosphere. The Pantone Color Institute is the business unit within Pantone that highlights the top seasonal runway colors, selects the Pantone Color of the Year, forecasts global color trends, and advises companies on color for product and brand visual identity.

Viva Magenta 18-1750, which Pantone describes as a color that “vibrates with vim and vigor” has been named the Pantone color of the year for 2023. Here’s Pantone’s take on why Viva Magenta stands out: “It is a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family and expressive of a new signal of strength. Viva Magenta is brave and fearless, and a pulsating color whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative.

“As a nuanced crimson red tone that presents a balance between warm and cool, Pantone 18-1750 Viva Magenta is also a hybrid color, one that comfortably straddles the physical and virtual in our multi-dimensional world. It is assertive, but not aggressive, a carmine red that does not boldly dominate but instead takes a ‘fist in a velvet glove’ approach. Exuding dynamism, Viva Magenta is a transformative red tone capable of driving design to create a more positive future.”

For over 20 years, Pantone’s Color of the Year has influenced product development and purchasing decisions in many industries, including fashion, home furnishings, industrial design, product packaging, graphic design, and yes, even eyewear.

Jobson, always ahead of the fashion curve, anticipated the power of magenta in eyewear: both oxblood red and royal purple were poplar shades in eyewear this year, and both had a spotlight moment in VM’s October and November/December issues. These popular shades are in the same family as Viva Magenta, giving off a very similar feel.





(L to R) ClearVision’s Italian-made ILLA, style Stella; Safilo’s Carolina Herrera sunwear, style HER 0140/S; and Charmant Eyewear’s ELLE, style EL13523 all anticipated the power of magenta in eyewear.
 
Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute summed it all up by saying. “In this age of technology, we look to draw inspiration from nature and what is real. Pantone 18-1750 Viva Magenta descends from the red family, and is inspired by the red of cochineal, one of the most precious dyes belonging to the natural dye family as well as one of the strongest and brightest the world has known.

 
 Leatrice Eiseman.
“Rooted in the primordial, Pantone 18-1750 Viva Magenta reconnects us to original matter. Invoking the forces of nature, Pantone 18-1750 Viva Magenta galvanizes our spirit, helping us to build our inner strength,” Eiseman said.

Pantone further describes the color of the year as “powerful and empowering… an animated red that revels in pure joy, encouraging experimentation and self-expression without restraint. Viva Magenta welcomes anyone and everyone with the same verve for life and rebellious spirit. It is a color that is audacious, full of wit and inclusive of all.”

Given the challenges of the last three years and the uphill battles we will be facing in 2023, it sounds like Viva Magenta is just what the doctor ordered.

Here’s what the Twitterverse is saying about Viva Magenta.



From wallpaper to upholstered furnishings, these hospitality design products feature Viva Magenta. Photo courtesy of Hospitality Design via Twitter
Forbes pinpoints what readers should know about the color of the year. Photo courtesy of Forbes via Twitter



   

 
Design Taxi is encouraging people to kick off the New Year with 2023’s color of the year. Photo courtesy of Design Taxi via Twitter
 Vogue Runway asks what happens when you mix two signature Valentino colors? Viva Magenta, of course. Photo courtesy of Vogue Runway via Twitter
   
   



The Nordroom explores interior design inspiration from the color of the year. Photo courtesy of The Nordroom via Twitter Real Simple encourages readers to shop Pantone’s Magentaverse with these 14 fashion and beauty products. Photo courtesy of Real Simple via Twitter
   

   
  What Is Magenta?

Nix Color Sensor is a world leader in digital color sensing equipment and workflow solutions. Their patented technology allows users to instantly determine the exact color of any physical object and bring it into the digital world. Here is their take on the Color of the Year.

Magenta is a color that is variously defined as purplish-red, reddish-purple, purplish, or mauvish-crimson. Magenta is the color of universal harmony and emotional balance. It contains the passion, power and energy of red, restrained by the introspection and quiet energy of violet.

It promotes compassion, kindness and cooperation. The color magenta is a color of cheerfulness, happiness, contentment and appreciation. Most people feel more optimistic in its company.

The human brain perceives different wavelengths of light as different colors. However, magenta doesn’t have its own wavelength (unlike all the other spectrum colors), raising the question, “Is magenta a real color?” It is believed that our brains have constructed a color to bridge the gap between red and violet because it doesn’t exist in the light spectrum.

Magenta is an extra-spectral color, meaning that it is not found in the visible spectrum of light. Rather, it is physiologically and psychologically perceived as the mixture of red and violet/blue light, with the absence of green.

To learn more about how the color of the year is chosen, click here.