Pantone Colors Spring Summer 2019

The Warms Have It!

Happy day, reader dearest!

If you (like me) are in the Northern Hemisphere, you may be experiencing the winter greys… It’s that time of year when, even if your temperatures aren’t cold, all the color seems to have drained out of the landscape and the sky. There’s a good reason skies are termed “leaden!” At writing, we have had a stretch of grey, grey days, and so it’s time to add a little color back to the world! In the form of a chat about the Pantone Spring/Summer 2019 Color Trend Report… This is not new news, the report came out back in September, but since most of us aren’t retailers planning two seasons ahead, I waited until now to get to the subject.

So who cares what Pantone predicts? Well, retailers and fabric manufacturers do. And as consumers, it’s always helpful to know what will be showing up in the stores. Shopping is always less frustrating when you are prepared, and it looks like we cool complexioned lovelies may struggle to find lots of color choice this coming spring and summer. Don’t get me wrong, there is always retail lag; there will still be lots of last year’s purples and lavenders around. That will help, but this trend report is all about the warms! (And tons of colors we associate with fall.) If you need more information about what I mean by cool and warm colors, here’s a post to help, all about undertone and overtone!

Warm Colors

I’m not kidding when I say the palette in this trend report is predominantly warm, I am not kidding! No surprise to you if you are a runway watcher. The Spring/Summer 2019 shows were heavy on sunset colors, like you see in the top row of the image above, frequently blended with shades in the same family. Now unlike orange, which is always warm, greens and other colors can have a warm undertone, or cool. This year’s greens are definitely warm. Think palms and warm weather vegetation, rather than cool spruce and fir.

You could easily build a capsule wardrobe using all these warm colors. There are four neutrals here, Toffee, Terrarium Moss, Soybean, and Sweet Corn. Any two would be great to use as a capsule base, accenting with the other brighter interest colors, adding Sweet Corn as your white. I’d love to see Toffee, Terrarium Moss, Living Coral, touches of Mango Mojito, and Sweet Corn. Add a pile of brass (or gold) jewelry, some citrine gems, and there’s gorgeous for you!

Cool Colors

The math here for the cool complexioned is pretty simple. Sixteen colors total less ten colors with warm undertones leaves us with only six colors in the trend report with cool undertones. We don’t even have a white! Fortunately, the six are all relatively classic colors. (Classic as in lasting the seasons, not Classic personality!) The surprise here is a cool brown. These are hard to find, so brown lovers, rejoice!

These, too, would make a great basis for a capsule, although one with far fewer choices. Let’s build the base with the two neutrals, Brown Granite and Eclipse; any of the other four make great accents. I need to add white/soft white as another neutral, to create balance for high and low value contrast dressers. If you want a nautical vibe capsule, pull together Eclipse, Jester Red, Princess Blue and White. Make sure to add a big canvas tote! I might try building one on Brown Granite, Eclipse, Pink Peacock, Sweet Lilac and a soft white; add some pewter and silver. Presto! Coordinated wardrobe. (If capsule wardrobes scare you because the ones you see on Pinterest look very black/white/grey/denim, take a peek here!)

The biggest challenge I see with both of Pantone’s warm and cool selections is that the majority of these colors are very intense (bright or dark) which is not the most flattering for those of us with light, softer or more muted complexions, but manufacturers will be making many shades and tints of these colors, so we should find more variety in the shops. For the turquoise/teal and purple lovers out there, this is a rough trend forecast, with nothing in your wheelhouse, but there will still be some to be found…

So how about you? What colors are best on you? Warm or cool colors? Which do you like best? Do Pantone’s warm shades seem out of character for Spring/Summer to you, or like sunshine and tropical cocktails? Do let me know your thoughts in the comments below… I love to hear from you!

Stylishly yours,

Many thanks to Gail at Is This Mutton? for hosting her #wowonwednesday Link-Up! And to Cherie at Style Nudge for her Shoe and Tell Link-Up… Because you know how I feel about a good pair of shoes!