Pantone Colour of the Year: 2021.

‘Aspirational and gives us hope.”

As people look for ways to fortify themselves with energy, clarity, and hope to overcome the continuing uncertainty, spirited and emboldening shades satisfy our quest for vitality. PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating is a bright and cheerful yellow sparkling with vivacity, a warming yellow shade imbued with solar power. PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray is emblematic of solid and dependable elements which are everlasting and provide a firm foundation.

- Pantone

I have to admit, when I first saw the Pantone Colour of the Year for 2021, I didn’t feel inspired at all. Maybe it was the image to promote the combination, I’m not sure. My initial feeling was definitely of pessimism. I would have definitely liked the colours individually. It was also, I think, the first time Pantone had two colours as their Colour(s) of the Year.

Throughout my career in the Fashion industry, these two colours always did well separately. They are actually pretty ‘safe’ colours to use and I wouldn’t have really associated ‘aspirational’ with the two.

As I trawled through some of my own research and good ol’ Pinterest, I started to warm a bit more to the two colours (together), I especially loved this Zadig & Voltaire Fall 2017 Ready-to-Wear image of this patterned yellow silk dress with lace inserts. If the lace was in grey, it could still work… or am I forcing it?

Nevertheless, below are some of my favourite interpretations of yellow and grey as separate pieces via the Resort and Spring/Summer 2021 catwalk shows.

I adore the idea of grey being used as a metallic, lamé, pleated, ruched, foiled and as diaphanous sheers which was paramount through various collections for the season. I also had similar feelings for the yellow, where I think worked best as a floral print base colour or with some shine, similar to the Zadig & Voltaire image.

Runway images from Vogue.com