For many publications, tastemakers and overly serious Letterboxd loggers, December is a time to reflect and choose the absolute and objective best pieces of art they encountered in the preceding calendar year. The color namers at Pantone veer from the work of your Rolling Stones and Oxford dictionaries, taking in the year that was and forecasting the hue of the upcoming year.
Pantone’s prognosticators searched their hearts after the first year of Trump 2.0 and found that the color that would set hearts ablaze in 2026 was…white.
Technically called “Cloud Dancer,” Pantone’s color of the year for 2026 is the terrifying face of a blank sheet of paper, the soul-crushing nothing of exurban townhome walls, the disorienting dazzle of a flash-bang hurled at protestors. But let’s let Pantone try and sell it:
“Cloud Dancer is a lofty white that serves as a symbol of calming influence in a society rediscovering the value of quiet reflection. A billowy white imbued with serenity,” they wrote. “Cloud Dancer encourages true relaxation and focus, allowing the mind to wander and creativity to breathe, making room for innovation.”
Pantone Color Institute Vice President Laurie Pressman compared Cloud Dancer to a “blank canvas,” saying it “signifies our desire for a fresh start.” Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman added that it offered “a promise of clarity” and stood as a “conscious statement of simplification.”
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Trend watchers on social media were far less kind to this “key structural color,” responding to Pantone’s announcement with jokes about rushed assignments and absentee landlords. Marketing magazine Adweek shared an image of Don Draper from “Mad Men” standing in front of a blank posterboard. Some X users joked that a return to minimalism was a “recession indicator,” while others found the choice of white to be pointed, comparing it to Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle controversy.
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