Honestly, how are we at the end of January already??? I'd also like an answer for why this month has simultaneously felt like the longest, and shortest of my entire life ... Where's Mr. Owl when we need him?
One question we are not lacking an answer to, however, is what our color overlords have chosen as 2024's color of the year. If you're not new around here, you already know each December the Pantone Color Institute selects a color to represent the vibe of the upcoming year ... And then they make sure of it by all of the licensing deals they make across all areas of commerce to ensure the color of the year is used on products that make it into our grubby little paws, one way or another. You also know I have a couple opinions about this ... I'll let you torture yourself with my color screeds at your own pace, if you so choose.
This post is going to be different!
It's okay, I don't really believe me either. Before we dive in, I have to hype myself for a moment for getting this close to a prediction brought to us by last year's CotY diatribe:
I often find myself wishing the folks at Pantone with all of their bajillions of colors would muster up a little courage and go with a true, full-throttle color pick for once, but something tells me this is as adventurous as we'll be getting for a long while. Next year's option will probably be some frosted out pastel, or a minty green of some sort, or at least something that will lull us back into submission ...
Now, we can certainly go back and forth over whether peach is a true pastel of course, there are certainly cases where it absolutely is not, but on the whole, and especially to anyone who was alive during the 1980s, from The Golden Girls to Miami Vice, peach is unequivocally pastel, but I find Leatrice Eiseman's statement interesting, and quite a departure from her last five (at least). It feels like after five years of trying to force an alternate reality, Pantone has finally reeled its neck in and accepted that they, in fact, have not been able to make "fetch" happen.
In seeking a hue that echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection, we chose a color radiant with warmth and modern elegance. A shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless.
Coming down off of year after year of Pantone insisting we're all chomping at the bit for an exciting and exhilarating, mysterious and elusive future that is definitely arriving This Year(because a quirky, silly color says so), but always manages to just be mere months out of reach. every. time. is quite the move for the company. Let's see ... Other key words have included fearless, freedom, individuality, escapism, joy, new, elation, anticipation, confidence, and connection, but always with the constant push, push, push forward like an amazing technicolor freight train; don't look back, keep trudging on no matter what, be excited about it, don't look around, ignore 40 years of stagnant wages as we enter the 5th year of a mass death / disabling event, enter this electrifying new era of 10 different genocides taking place at once, recession? What recession? At the very (and I mean absolute very) least Pantone has reined in their weird, over-the-top jubilation of racing into a future, that quite frankly may never exist. This year their message is heavy on self-care, community, and comfort ... Granted, in some of the most self-centered, and shallowest terms possible, but at least it's not the same saccharine sweet junk they've been peddling in recent years. I mean, just yesterday, Elmo asked us on Twitter how we were all doing, and the whole damn world trauma-dumped on a Muppet, to the point that the carpet-covered, make believe 4 year old had to tweet out a mental health hotline number. I think it's safe to say, collectively, we ain't doin' so great, and we're not going to be able to magically-think, or pretend our way out of this. And for once, in this brief moment in time a snooty color company almost got it right.