Color choice is incredibly important. The right colored item can draw shopper’s eyes from across the room. It can make a person go from merely considering a purchase to pulling the trigger on the transaction. A shop can make the most beautiful mesh on the grid, but if the color selection isn’t on point, shoppers can overlook it.
Every season experts from the Pantone Institute, whose expertise crosses an incredible breadth of fields, decide what the Pantone Color Forecast will be. This palette informs designers, from fashion to interiors to graphics, on what colors everyone will be embracing in the coming months and years. It is a trendsetter from which everyone can take new color queues.
Color palettes may not seem that important, but they help to unify the color story of a season across all brands and media. If a store falls out of step with the color story, their items stop matching up with other brands. This can become problematic for shoppers. A shopper might find the perfect purple dress, but no matter where they go, they cannot find any accessories to match. Why? Well perhaps the dress designer is offering a greyed out purple while many other designers have embraced the more red based purple that is part of the new color story. Unified color stories are why shoppers can go to many different stores and still manage to find items that work well together.
But, matching isn’t the only dilemma that can arise from failing to follow color trends. Sometimes picking colors from palettes several seasons ago can result in an outdated look, even if the mesh is spectacular. People unconsciously associate colors which have gone out of trend with dated looks. Missing a color trend change can make a collection less appealing.
Why do we need our colors to change? Well, cycling through different variations of each color keeps our palettes fresh. If everyone has been using a very greyed out purple and all the sudden creators re-introduce a red based purple, shoppers will find the difference refreshing. This new purple is different from the purple of the past few years. It all the sudden has a freshness to it. Yes, that purple has always been in existence, but we have not seen it in a good while, so it has regained its appeal. This cross-industry rotation of colors is important in keeping colors fresh and exciting to our eyes.
Following color trends is by no means an imperative, but it can really help the appeal of creator’s lines. It can keep designs looking fresh and current, and keep shoppers buzzing about them. I know I always get excited when I find an item in the perfect color that I didn’t even know I was longing for. Color trends are what keep us loving color, and keep us excited about what will come next.
Curio – Penelope (Pearl)
Pink Fuel – Harley Lipstick (Orange)
Slink – Mesh Hands
Ikon – Destiny Eyes (Cerulean)
Magika – Shimmer
CARGO – Hipster Glasses
Pixicat – Wide Crop Top (Aztec)
Tres Blah – Denim Mini Skirt (Dark Wash)
REIGN – Moccasin Boots (Caramel)
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So true, and great entry! Colors have a huge psychological impact on people. I tend to look at brands and see how ahead/behind the curve they are in terms of trendsetting.
Hipster Glasses! Un-blonde hair! It’s the Un-Gogo.
I’m glad you mentioned Pantone colors on an SL blog. Do you color calibrate your monitor?
My apologies! Didn’t notice the byline till after. Of course you don’t look like Gogo because you aren’t Gogo. /me facepalms.