So what do you think? Do you wear it? Is it a luxury or a budget color?
Colors from the 70s are coming back stronger than ever - and they've been recycled with startling new names. Coincidentally, they just happen to be the colors we associate with fall in the Northern Hemisphere. Meanwhile, a new color made a surprising debut last week. I hope you enjoy the latest news.
Retro Colors
Back in the 70s you couldn’t escape these three colors: Avocado Green, Harvest Gold, and Burnt Orange (aka Pumpkin Orange). For those of us who still remember, it may not be a good memory. In some cases, it wasn't just the color itself; it was the color combination that permeated everything from kitchen interiors to fashion.
Here are a few of these “retro” colors that are making a comeback with a new name that may help you forget its past life:
Whether you call it mustard or ochre, it's an "elevated" shade of yellow. No, it's not subtle. It's an "in your face" version of mellow yellow.
Mustard yellow is so inescapable right now that it may be gaining an edge on "Millennial Pink". It's worth noting that English speakers have been calling this color “mustard” since the 1840s. Others call it ochre. Regardless of its name, this hue is a harvest color – a dark yellow – and it's definitely trending.
Color Marketing Group just announced that “Electrum” is one of the "2020+ Key Color" trends for North America and the beginning of a new decade. They describe it as a “complex green-influenced gold metallic" with a chameleon quality that allows it to shift between the two hues and take on altered energy in concert with other hues.
Note: Some illustrations of this color show more of a greenish tinge than "Harvest Gold". Perhaps it's a hybrid of the 70s "Harvest Gold "and "Avocado Green".
Another "2020+ Key Color" prediction from CMG is this dark avocado green. It’s a hue that evokes journeys into a primeval forest, and represents an increased awareness of nature and everything’s place on the planet.
Orange: Love it or hate it
"Pumpkin Orange" has arisen as a significant color trend for Autumn/Winter 2019/20 – but it’s always been a problematic color. It’s not easy to sell because people tend to associate some shades of orange with inexpensive branding (like Home Depot). On the other hand, "Classic Orange" is the signature color of luxury brand Hermes. As is the case with all colors, we should consider the specific shade of a color before categorizing it. In this case, the range of oranges covers everything from “Burnt Orange” of the 70s to “Living Coral”- Pantone’s Color of the Year 2019.
There’s much to love about this vibrant hue. It’s rich and earthy, reassuring and warm, with clear references to nature and appetizing food.
But what about wearing it? Some say that orange is the one color you should never wear to a job interview. It is definitely unapologetic and zings with enthusiasm. Plus, as an accent it goes with everything.
Consider this: In 1991 Russian abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky wrote: “Orange is like a man, convinced of his own powers
