Purple Is The Colour Of The Year For 2018

The colour of the year for 2018 is a vivid purple, according to Pantone, which gives the title to a new hue every December. Specifically, “PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet” is the chosen hue. Each colour of the year encompasses something about fashion, decorating and design trends while also reflecting “what’s needed in our world today,” the Pantone Colour Institute’s vice president, Laurie Pressman asserted in a statement. Last year’s colour of the year was a “life-affirming” shade of green. The year before was a pairing of rose quartz and serene blue that was seen as anti-stress while also nodding toward gender fluidity. So What does purple have to say about our planet in 2018? It’s “a dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade,” Pantone says, one that “communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking that points us towards the future.” Think Prince, or David Bowie, or Jimi Hendrix, Pantone says. Think purple-toned pictures of stars scattered across the galaxy, the “vast and limitless night sky,” the “mysteries of the cosmos,” purple-lit meditation spaces. And in Alice Walker’s novel The Colour Purple, the colour purple is presented as an example of God-given beauty. Of course, there are more worldly associations with the colour as well. For centuries, purple has been associated with royalty, because of the extraordinary expense of dying fabric purple.