The Fall/Winter 2013/2014 edition of Pantone View Colour Planner is now available. Looking at color as a total language, this multi-discipline color forecast, titled Happiness, highlights the key color palettes for women's wear, menswear, active wear, cosmetics and lifestyle, as well as industrial and graphic design.
Traditionally, there has been a divide in how the West and East view happiness. In Western society, happiness is often defined by feelings of delight and joyousness, and consumption is marketed as a quick route to instant gratification. In the East, happiness is believed to exist within oneself and is considered to be a deeper state of constant well-being, borne from the ideas of wholeness and togetherness.
From a color perspective, happiness is usually associated with bright colors. Although these bold color statements are still very present for Fall/Winter 2013/2014, they are balanced by a more peaceful range of shades that reflect a more contemplative attitude and feelings of thoughtful meditation.
"Happiness can be fleeting, and we wanted to express the idea of movement by presenting color stories that give the impression of fluidity," said Laurie Pressman, vice president of fashion, home and interiors at Pantone. "The season is not about presenting palettes in single story concepts that bear no relation to one another, but instead about color continuity and how the appearance of color can be dramatically altered by its interaction with different fabrics or surface treatments."
Pantone View Colour Planner Fall/Winter 2013/2014 contains seven palettes:
Endlessness
The colors of Endlessness are a blend of neutral tones. They are cloudy, smooth, osmotic, balanced, out of focus, shifting, vaporous, quiet and peaceful.
Preciousness
Preciousness highlights a new level of pastels, slightly aged and light-weathered for winter executions. Preserved color collected through the generations sees a gathering of shell pink, blotting paper, linen and vegetal greens.
Bliss
In Bliss, irresistible, deep and luscious darks are counterbalanced with three metallic highlights. These rich colors are ripe with mouth-watering temptation and enticing aromas...
Togetherness
Fire and sun gift their energy to the earth in Togetherness, creating a range of warm orange and toasted toffee shades, burnt and melting reds, balanced by two, almost icy tones.
Awareness
Neutrals move away from the gray landscapes of cities and travel a path back to nature... The colors we see in Awareness speak to motionless landscapes, nightfall or dawn.
Wholeness
Wholeness is a story linked to memories and the familiar: in other words, reassuring colors like reds, yellows, greens, cyans and browns that bring happiness and casualness to our lives.
Joyousness
You can trust the range of warm-hearted mid-tones, and the bright juxtaposition of colors in Joyousness, which are designed to illuminate and vivify everything they touch.
The division between how the West and East view happiness is reflected in seasonal color stories, featuring bright shades that are usually associated with an occidental view of joy, as well as veiled hues more reflective of the Orient's spiritual approach.
- Bright colors continue to play a major part in color thinking and bring a sense of solidity and self-assurance that has more to do with how we thought in the past than how we see the future.
- Veiled color stresses the importance of the fleeting and the ephemeral for blended cloaked color.
- Grays are important in the concept of veiling, layering and super imposition, which add to the process of focusing.
- Neutrals infuse warmth to cold, centered palettes and form a strong affinity with metallic color.
- Metallics remain imbued with color, but with a warmer, softer approach.
- Violets are more dominant in color statements, going along with the theme of inner contemplation and personal joy.
- Red remains a classic, while acquiring a darker, more bloodied hue, making it richer and deeper.
- Blue gains an extra importance this season, representing the deep calmness and linking to nature.
- Black and white are intertwined opposites, brushing together and encompassing a feeling of reflection, light and luminosity.
- Yellows move between sun-warmed neutrals to more aggressive highlights, giving a firm presence in the palette.