All in All ...

 ... You’re just another brick in the wall. -Roger Waters

With Fashion Month winding down by the middle of this upcoming week, it seems the appropriate time for another one of my world famous (?) color rants. I just know you're all perched on the very edge of your seats, waiting for my piping hot take on the world of color as it pertains to fashion, fads, consumer manipulation, and a certain Color Cabal's choke-hold on the industry, and how out-of-step with the real world it all feels some(most)times. I'm afraid, however, this post isn't going to be that deep. 

I can hear all of your hearts breaking...

First, we have to go back to the beginning. Last December, Pantone introduced us to the upcoming 2025 Color of the Year: Mocha Mousse. I— ... Really? Hindsight being whatever it is, 2025 hardly felt like a neutral year to me, but this was such a disappointment right out of the gate coming off the seasonal color palettes that kept trying to force freedom, individualism, creativity, and all of the manufactured excitement of forward-looking optimism, and the supposed bold new era they've been banging on about for the last 3 years, at least ... Just to be slapped with the wet rag of beige? There is a lot of unrest all over the world, and now more-so than most years I've occupied this Earth it feels like someone / something is trying to lull us into a comatose state of apathy as the horrors around us continue to unfold, and multiply in new, and astonishing ways. Did I expect Pantone to whip us into great fervor with Bull Flag Red? No. But beige? Right now? It's all too banal, and contrived being packaged and sold to us under the guise of, in their own words, thoughtful indulgence / harmonious comfort / feelings of contentment, and it all kind of makes me want to gag. It would have been nice to see a color that embodied compassion, togetherness, and most of all, action. In my mind I can't square indulgence, comfort, and contentment without integrity, and action. Do I need Pantone to be a bastion of social justice? Not at all, but the more they keep on in this direction, the more they fall out of sync with the world at large. In the last several years, each of their color press-releases, makes me feel like I'm watching one of those brainless "soft-life" videos by content creators who religiously ignore reality to peddle a delusion to algorithmically-fed consumers. It rings soulless, and dishonest.

Next came Spring, and with it another color grouping that looks more well suited to Fall and Winter, than Spring or Summer to me. Sure, you've got the obligatory safari, and yacht colors, but other than that (with the exception of 1 or 2 colors) overall, it's lacking a liveliness, and exuberance that I typically associate with the warmer months of the year. This was supposed to be an elevated, and sophisticated take on the seasons, and ... well, if you say so, I guess.

One thing that's brought delight to my senses this year has been watching my neighborhood thaw out from a pretty chilly Winter, and bloom into a playfulness this Summer that's been missing for quite a while. I've been noticing people (boys included!) trading blacks, blues, army drab, and our 50 shades of gray for bold hues of hot pinks, electric blues, soft neon, and pastels that could make an Easter basket jealous! Granted, in the last handful of years there's been a real changing of the guard on my block as more Gen X-ers move into their forever homes, and let me tell you this Summer looked like a vibrant 1988 beach vacation, minus the crunchy hair and men in cropped tank tops, and I wonder if it's our attempt at reaching back, and trying to hang onto what felt like a much more carefree time of our lives, at least in our little corner of the world? This Summer even got to see me get tan enough through gardening, and pushing a lawn mower that I was able to wear lemon yellows, and sunflower golds for the first time in decades (this declaration is a lot less shallow in the greater context of my health journey, I swear I'm not completely vapid!).

Which brings us to this Fall, and what we should currently be seeing on store shelves from now until next February / March. And you know what? I don't actually hate it. 

*GASP*

I know! I mean, on the whole, I'm not wild about it, but plummy purples, berries, teal, poppy red? I'm not mad. A mellow yellow you can see in the turning of the leaves, and a soft pink often found in a snowy, Winter sunrise? Hey, I'm listening. Although, the press releases still have me cringing. How many times can a joint keep regurgitating "personal path / individuality, creativity, and hope for the future" talking points without sounding wholly absurd??? I guess we'll find out.

So when New York Fashion Week kicked off at the beginning of September, and Pantone dropped the Spring / Summer color palette to accompany the shows, I took one look and immediately closed the tab, and went outside to "touch grass" as the youths say. We are once again fearless individuals, but they've actually dialed back the hopium for once, and have given us a break on dragging us kicking and screaming into our bold new era ... Maybe we're finally just in it now, so they can stop ragging on and on about it, or they've realized things aren't quite going the way they kept trying to convince us they were, and they've given up on cramming it down our throats? I don't know.

Pantone Spring Summer 2026

When I came back from my self-imposed time out, and reopened the color trend report page I was about to go awf on this muted monstrosity when I had to suddenly stop myself, and revisit the Pinterest board I'd already started for Spring 2026, and prepare to eat rather large portions of crow...

Reader, it was all there - the muted yellow, dusty oranges and pinks, the washed out neutrals, and grounding earth, sea, and sky hues ... what kind of deranged MONSTER had I become?! One existential crisis later, and I put together a mini mood board that captures the essence of what I'd begun collecting, and now I am prepared to share with you my ultimate humiliation ... 

Enjoy!

xoxo