Who decides what colours you wear?

Published November 6, 2016
Elle Fashion Journey 2016
Elle Fashion Journey 2016

Around 500 guests sat stunned as the beautiful Miss Universe Vietnam 2015, Pham Huong, and renowned singer, Ngoc Giau, performed an extract from an opera play at the prestigious Gem Center in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

The performance was part of a fashion show and one of many events organised for Colour Futures 2017 — essentially a few days long marketing event organised by Akzonobel, the paint and chemicals corporation, to launch its ‘colour of the year’: a blue-grey hue aptly named ‘denim drift.’

Seriously, a colour launch? It seemed to be a ritzy, multimillion dollar event — or if we were to go by Vietnamese currency — a zillion dong event. Media from the region were flown into HCMC, who were wined and dined and taken on city tours. If paint giants can spend so much on a marketing initiative, there must be some truth in the magic of colour.


Paint giants spend millions on promoting colours for the year. But are they marketing or dictating?


And no expense was spared to remind Colour Futures 2017 attendees of the various ways we can incorporate denim drift into our lives. The Elle Fashion Journey 2016 showcased lithe models sashaying across the runway in collections by Vietnamese designers inspired by 2017’s colour of the year.

Dieu Anh showed 25 creations of ‘An old dream of a fabulous Saigon’ collection in the 1950s style with diverse colours of denim drift. Anh Ha, a brand from London started by two overseas Vietnamese designers, Viet Ha Dang and Anh Trieu, unveiled a collection inspired from the myth of the Sword Lake with 20 ready-to-wear items made from silk and viscose in theme colours of cobalt blue, emerald blue, black and white.

Ombre with blues
Ombre with blues

Who cares if there is a colour of the year or not? Apparently, paint companies do and so do architects and designers the world over. Paint giants push their particular hue for the year. For 2015, Akzonobel’s most prominent colour was copper orange.

This year, gold with all shades of yellow — from bright to mustard — are dominating the runways and cropping up in collections of high-end designers such as Christopher Kane, Stella McCartney, Roksanda and many more.

While Sherwin Williams, another paint company, chose Alabaster (white) as the colour for this year and Poised Taupe (a grey) is slated for next year.

Likewise, this year Pantone, which, according to its website, is “the world-renowned authority on colour,” chose two shades: rose quartz and serenity (baby blue) for fashion and decor. Pantone’s predictions influence everything from fashion trends to interior design, and rose quartz has been seen in Burberry and Chanel creations to furniture and buildings. For 2017, Pantone’s top 10 colours are inspired by nature and include hazelnut and kale.

It can be mind-boggling for us to decide what colour to follow but designers take their inspiration from all the suggested colours by paint companies.

There is no denying that colours influence us at multiple levels. A red handbag might cheer you up just like a brown-toned room makes you gloomy. We have innate reactions to colour. Red, for instance, is a stimulating colour that increases heart rate. It goes back to the caveman days of seeing fire or blood.

Colour studies have been done for the past 12 years. Would a gold-hued couch from 2016 be ‘in’ while a copper-orange one from 2015 outdated? Is it a way to get consumers back into the stores? Does it mean that paint companies dictate an official colour to us — based on their balance sheets — so that the particular hue sells the following year? Alena Amir, the communications manager of Akzonobel totally disagrees.

Pantone’s Rose Quartz and Serenity on the ramp last year
Pantone’s Rose Quartz and Serenity on the ramp last year

“It is a direction, not a dictation. The industry know-how is vital when millions are at stake for a new launch,” she says. “The input for choosing the colour of the year comes after extensive sessions with our Global Aesthetics Centre [GAC], a panel of independent design experts and future thought leaders who are architects, artists and interior designers. They have their fingers on the pulse of international colour and design. As such, they know what trends will dominate in the next year. Given their constant interaction with their own clientele, they represent the public.”

Is there a possibility of the colour repeating the following year? “Given the range of this input — and the fact that global trends in design and architecture, etc. vary from year to year — it is actually quite easy to ensure that each year presents a new trend and a new colour of the year. It’s the same as no two themes or trends are replicated annually in fashion or design across the board,” says Amir.

Once the colours are short-listed, these are cross-referenced with the company’s knowledge base to predict trends tailored to suit different personalities and styles.

“When we started working on Colour Futures we realised that colours were only impacted by society in the same way as when you decorate your home there is a reason why you choose the colour … you rationalise it subconsciously,” says Jeremy Rowe, managing director of Akzonobel paints.

Miss Universe Vietnam 2015, Pham Huong and renowned singer Ngoc Giau
Miss Universe Vietnam 2015, Pham Huong and renowned singer Ngoc Giau

“If you paint your room orange or blue, there is a reason why you are doing that. There is generally a mood behind the colours we choose. I think if people are seeking calmness, the choice would be calm colours. There is a connection in the general mood of the society and the colour chosen,” adds Rowe.

So with denim-drift being the colour for 2017, are people being told to use blue and not yellow or green per se?

“When people come and ask us what the trending colour is, we set out to try and answer that question,” says Rowe. “Colour is also connected with what is going on in society or broader societal trends and design trends, and the understanding of Colour Futures is born by putting those together. We break the overarching global theme down usually into four different trends with about 40 to 50 colours in it and from there we select the one colour for the year that would best represent global themes.”

Elaborating on the colour choice for 2017, he said, “Denim-drift is a colour of life. Blue is familiar to us because we know it so well. It reflects who we are. Since blue is a naturally soothing and restful colour, it relaxes the eye, and makes you introspect and think.”

Based on the study of people’s colour choice trends, four palettes were created around denim-drift with different themes for interiors and fashion designs: New Romanticism, Shared Individualism, Working Home, Considered Luxury.

Interior based on denim drift
Interior based on denim drift

The palette uses colour for zoning or creating dedicated spaces in different parts of homes. Colour can be used to show that a certain area is meant for doing something different, technically known as the split complementary scheme. They also highlight the strategic planning that goes into choosing a colour of the year.

New Romanticism is a palette based on people focusing on the simple things of life and connecting with nature. “Today that also means a connection with environmentalism and sustainability. Interestingly, what comes after being green is being blue, because blue is the colour of our planet when seen from outer space,” says Rowe.

Why has connecting with nature become important for people? “Well most of us live in cities, with digital lifestyles, which makes us yearn for a closer connection with nature to be physically and spiritually healthy,” explains Rowe. “It is also about creating spaces where you feel creative and comfortable.”

The purple and the violet in the palette brings in a Boho feel, while green helps create signs of nature in interior decor or fashion apparel.

Another palette, Shared Individualism, suggests that in the present day, in addition to traditional families, there are ‘families’ who spend a lot of time working together. “These are like-minded individuals sharing work spaces, becoming a little more eclectic,” says Rowe. “But you may still want to create a sense of community or commonality. Here we use triadic or contrasting colours from different sides of the colour wing so that each individual, instead of having their own space, will now have a common space where each individual is bound by like-mindedness but have their own individualism.”

The Working Home is a palette that highlights the shifting boundaries between home and personal life. “Home is where the laptop is!” quips Rowe. “You find a lot of homes have started to look like an office and the other way round too. We need individual spaces to work at home and new inspiration to work in office … We need some stimulating spaces to work at home while offices are no more boring.”

The Colour Futures study for 2017 also shows how consumer values are changing towards making lives simpler. There is a shift towards experiencing something and going somewhere for the experience rather than possessing something. In doing so, they want to get rid of extra stuff, own fewer possessions. Considered Luxury is a palette based on these trends.

“It is a whites and neutrals palette. More subtle and modest, focusing on little pleasures, like the less is more philosophy,” explains Rowe. “But we all need things, the trick is to buy less, choose well and make it last longer. It is about silent design that heightens the senses, is straightforward and classic, and doesn’t shout.”

If you are still not convinced about the influence of colour in our lives, think about Thailand where, according to tradition, each day of the week has special auspicious colour and an unlucky colour — for Sunday, wear red and stay away from blue.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 6th, 2016

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