There is a day I look forward to all year, and luckily it always falls on or near my birthday. (There’s a word for that kind of synchronicity and fate… oh yeah, KISMET.) I refer, of course, to the great unveiling of Pantone’s color of the year! Seriously, everyone texted me yesterday when the announcement came out (ok, three people, but still). You’ll recall I even foretold of my bubbling anticipation a few weeks ago when covering one of the several words of the year. At the time, I wrote “We better be getting something jazzier than the previous two year’s subdued hues.” (And yes, I’m quoting myself now, deal with it.) COTY 2024 was “Peach Fuzz,” a shade I believe we all recognized as the color of raw chicken breast, while this year’s reigning color has been “Mocha Mousse.” An improvement over “Peach Fuzz,” for sure, but overall still underwhelming compared to the vibrant choices of years past. Yes, I was pinning a lot of high hopes on this year’s selection. So how do y’all think I’m reacting to COTY 2026: “Cloud Dancer,” aka WHITE?
On Thursday, Dec. 4, the global color authority officially named Cloud Dancer (PANTONE 11-4201) as the defining shade of the year to come.
“A lofty white neutral whose aerated presence acts as a whisper of calm and peace in a noisy world. PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer symbolizes a calming influence in a society rediscovering the value of quiet reflection,” the company wrote on Instagram. “A billowy white imbued with serenity, it invites true relaxation and focus, allowing the mind to wander and creativity to breathe.”
The color, Pantone says, “drifts between light and ethereal, a living calm that invites renewal, vision in serenity and creative release.”
“In a world where color has become synonymous with personal expression, this is a shade that can adapt, harmonize, and create contrast, bringing a feeling of airy lightness to all product applications and environments, whether making a standalone statement or combined with other hues,” they added on their website. “Cloud Dancer gracefully blends into a veiled palette of softened hues that ultimately dissolve into shadowy shades, producing an easy and effortless contrast in color.”
Since 1999, the Pantone Color Institute has selected a hue for its annual Color of the Year announcement. According to an interview with the company’s vice president Laurie Pressman in 2023, the program was intended to “engage the design community and color enthusiasts around the world in a conversation about color.”
Pantone uses a global team of color experts to select each year’s tone. The panel combs through a variety of influences like film and TV production; art, fashion and design trends; new technologies, materials, textures; and even social media or upcoming sporting events.
“Anything and everything taking place in our culture during the year can influence our Pantone Color of the Year selections for the upcoming year and each source carrying a different weight from year to year,” Pressman said. “If you look back to 15 years ago, technology would have played an infinitesimal role. Today that is no longer the case.”
I asked for ONE thing, Pantone! Mix it up and give us a bold color again, for paint’s sake. Give me your radiant orchid, your greenery, your tangerine tango yearning to brighten our lives! But white?? It’s like they’re not even trying. And it’s not a crisp white, either; “Cloud Dancer” has gray notes in it that make for an overall muddled appearance. It’s an inoffensive and thus uninteresting particular shade of white that’s attempting to fade into the background even more than the color does naturally. Pantone has a video celebrating the pick on their website, and the first still is just a blank photoshoot backdrop. Further illustrating that the essence of the color exudes “just waiting for the actual main event to show up.” Pantone also loves touting the brand collaborations they’ve secured to tie into the COTY and, I kid you not, one of the companies is Command — as in the plastic hooks you stick to the wall with removable adhesive tape!! Pantone really dove deep… and delivered dorm room for COTY 2026. So for the third year in a row I sigh and lament, “maybe next year.”
