“Colour is the first element that is taken into account when buying a product, whatever it is,” says Encarna Ruiz, director of ESDi Color Lab, the center that represents Spain at Intercolor, one of the two associations that decides what they will be. fashion colors within 18 months. “Colour is not a whim, but rather what is happening socially is very important in its choice,” remarks this sociology professor.
The color of the year 2023, for example, is being Viva Magenta, a purplish-pinkish red that is not exactly the same as the latest Valentino couture collection, but a more saturated tone. For trend forecasters, this is an unconventional color for troubled times. “On the one hand it is an optimistic tone, which evokes childhood and acts as a regulator of emotions. In scenarios of political and social crisis, it represents an interesting energy to counteract the tension, as long as it is known how to dose it”, points out Ruiz. The general rule is: in situations of crisis and instability, strong tones triumph, while when the situation calms down, neutral colors return: beige, earth, grey…
Other colors that are becoming a trend in 2023 and that will be even more so next year are “aqua green, white (also in winter), acid lime and electric colors, since we are in the metaverse stage” reports Ruiz.
Likewise, for many people, for example, dyeing their hair can be a way to bridge the distance between who they are and who they are supposed to be. According to Fran Alemany and Luciano de Paoli, hair colorists at La Antesala, a boutique hair salon on Calle Serrano in Madrid, the most fashionable color this year is medium brown with reddish tendencies.
But color has more secret lives, for example, gray floors (Ultimate Gray was Pantone’s Color of the Year in 2021) have become a trend, winning over designers and real estate developers with their fresh and modern aesthetic.
In relation to the triumph of grey, a study by the Science Museum Group of the United Kingdom carried out among 7,083 everyday objects of 21 different categories, used between the years 1800 and 2020, concludes that black, white and grey, they have become the dominant colors since the 1980s, to the point of being present on 40% of surfaces. There are several theories about it. There are those who believe that this preference for greyish tones is related to the excessive use that advertising has made of color for decades, and that now has its extension on the internet. Encarna Ruiz also points out that the flats are getting smaller and smaller. “Painting the walls white or gray helps to relax and gives much more light and depth, while black provides elegance”, she colors her. But there are also those who detect a standardization of taste as a result of fashions.
This is the case of Victoria Finlay, a social anthropologist from the University of St Andrews (Scotland) who has traveled through time to unravel in Color (Captain Swing) the history of each hue and its social meaning. As Finlay explains via email, through interior design we project our ability to function in society. In relation to the color of the year, he reveals that magenta was previously called fuchsine or fuchsia, although its older origin is crimson, “a color that owes its name to the kermes worm that thrived in the Mediterranean shrub that we call scarlet oak,” he indicates. . This little insect measured about one centimeter. “They were wild, they were not cultivated, and they were scraped from the tree; sometimes Rome insisted that they pay tribute in sacks of kermes, which they dipped in vinegar and used for a dye that was the most expensive in Europe for centuries,” she continues.
The ships that arrived in Cádiz throughout the 16th century were loaded with these insects and they came to change the color of Europe. “Sometimes the color was exactly what we would call magenta, but sometimes it was pink, even what we would call scarlet: it depended on the mordant used (usually a metallic salt) to fix the color on the fabric”, reveals this anthropologist. “In the 16th century, this red meant power. And obviously optimism, in the sense of future wealth. And for those who were dedicated to it, a lot of extra energy! ”, She concludes.
2023 is also being the year of Viva Magenta and its court of honor: honey yellow, golden sand, pool blue and Caribbean green.
However, the color blue, a hue that “I have the feeling will be the color of fashion in 2025,” predicts Ruiz, is the hue that has the most followers in the world. The German sociologist Eva Heller explains it in Color Psychology (Gustavo Gili): 46% of men and 44% of women prefer it. And colorín, colorado…
