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‘Serenity’ blue and ‘Rose Quartz’ pink are the official colors of 2016

pantone color of the year
Rose Quartz and Serenity are the 2016 Colors of the Year, according to Pantone. Pantone

Pantone just announced its annual Color of the Year, and for the first time in the last 15 years, the team has crowned two colors instead of one.

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“Joined together, Serenity and Rose Quartz demonstrate an inherent balance between a warmer embracing rose tone and the cooler tranquil blue, reflecting connection and wellness as well as a soothing sense of order and peace,” Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, said in a press release.

Rose Quartz is described as a warm light pink that is “persuasive yet gentle” and conveys feelings of composure and compassion. Serenity, a lilac blue shade, inspires feelings of relaxation, weightlessness, and respite, according to Pantone.

Fashion Color Report Spring 2016 Pantone Facebook Campaign1
Pantone

Eiseman and her team ultimately decided to include two colors this year instead of just one because of the way the two hues play off one another.

“In many parts of the world we are experiencing a gender blur as it relates to fashion,” Eiseman added. “This more unilateral approach to color is coinciding with societal movements toward gender equality and fluidity, the consumers’ increased comfort with using color as a form of expression.”

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For the last 15 years, Pantone has made itself a “global color authority” that has a committee of color experts who travel the world searching for the next big color trends. Though the selection might seem immaterial to some, retailers and designers pay attention to the yearly selections.

rose quartz
Rose Quartz is described as a warm light pink that is “persuasive yet gentle” and conveys feelings of composure and compassion. Pantone

Pantone's Vice President of Consumer Licensing Lisa Herbert previously told Business Insider how the process works: "We deliver the news in a sealed envelope, and we have our representatives go out to [partner companies] in their trench coats with their suitcases. They have to sign a confidentiality agreement and the color cannot be revealed until we say so."

Ultimately, the color will go on to influence celebrities, designers, and retailers. In addition to clothing and home decor, Pantone said the two colors will also be popular in jewelry, handbags, footwear, and wearable technology.

serenity
Serenity, a lilac blue shade, inspires feelings of relaxation, weightlessness, and respite, according to Pantone. Pantone

“[The Color of the Year] becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy because people are going into the stores asking for it," Herbert said. "[Retailers] have to have it, even if they have to scramble to do it."

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For those curious, 2015’s color was marsala, a rich shade of reddish brown.

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