Trends

Forecasting Color Trends for 2006 and beyond

One of the major elements of any design is color. It reflects the influences of world events, politics, art, media, fashion, and music. From the avocado and harvest gold of the 1970s to the pink that echoes today's hopes for a rosier world, color punctuates our memories and scores our emotional lives. JQ takes a look at color trends forecasted through 2007, what influences the trends, and tips for jewelers to track trends in their own market.

By Deborah A. Yonick

Color trends for 2006
According to the Color Marketing Group (CMG), "Color Sells…and the Right Colors Sell Better." Warm, clear and bright colors lead the 2006 palette, according to the Alexandria, Virginia-based international association of color designers. Reddened oranges will replace coppery hues; yellows will gain notoriety; blues will dramatically recede; and complex neutrals will add sophistication and luxury to this year’s favorite consumer colors.

The CMG identified 30 color directions across six industries — sports & recreation, consumer goods, home, visual communications, transportation, and fashion. Among the hot colors named are a gender-bending neo pink for all seasons, dreamy lapis, avocado, warm clear blues, nature-based blue-green shades, high-energy orange, smiley yellow, and liquid crystal.

Britt Bivens, North American director for trends forecasting agency Promostyl in New York City adds that brightness, subtleness and rigor are the chromatic schemes of this season, including "loud combinations of bleached party brights, cool violets, faded flesh tones, mixes of dark opaque shades with signpost brights, acid brights, and strong pastels."

Recent color phenomena like lime green are being replaced by lighter shades of palm green and chartreuse, but the hot "now" color is a bright grass green with forest green not far behind, reports Dewey Sadka, president of Dewey Color System of Marietta, Georgia and author of The Dewey Color System for Relationships — The Ultimate Guide to Love, Friendship and Career Success. "The entire purple palette — purple, lavender, lavender pink, grape, and dark purple — remains in style. Black and grayish tones are the wave of the future, especially in combination with new colors that blend well like aqua, arctic blue, cranberry, cameo, and split pea."

Pink, purple, Kelly green, orange, and brown shades will be important through 2006, expects color consultant Leslie J. Harrington, principal of LH Color, of Old Greenwich, Connecticut. She recognizes purple’s proven staying power, indicating that it is no longer trendy. "It’s a usable color that has served us well and is hard to let go." Moving forward, she foresees deeper colors evolving like rich orchid and blue-purple. Her trend boards also show salmon peach emerging. She says Kelly green may be in now, but will not last long.

Pantone, a leading authority on color and provider of color systems based in Carlstadt, New Jersey, hails shades of blue as significant for Spring/Summer 2006, from aquatic Blue Tint to placid Skyway and seaworthy Deep Ultramarine. Other colors on its radar include breezy, carefree hues like Lily Green, fresh Viola, juicy Melon, French Vanilla, and Cameo Pink. Influences of the beach, desert, and natural, organic materials also are inspiring shades like soft Sand Dollar and warm Clove. Graphic black and white remain important when accented by other colors. Leatrice Eiseman, executive director, Pantone Color Institute, says key colors are not pastel, not bright, but nuances in between.

Coordinating gemstones
In gemstones, vivid pastels rule through 2006, predicts Douglas Hucker, executive director of the Dallas-based American Gem Trade Association (AGTA). He notes that inexpensive colored stones lead the way in fashion-forward jewelry design, including assorted pastels in beryl, quartz, garnet, and tourmaline gems. Most notable are pink stones such as rose quartz, morganite, pink opal and moonstone; and green materials like light tourmaline, serpentine, jade, and prehnite. In the more expensive sapphire, ruby and emerald, consumers are gravitating toward briolettes and beads.

"Because designers are having more fun with color in fashion-forward jewelry, consumers are considering forms they wouldn’t have ten years ago," says Hucker. "Women want color as an accessory. They want big, showy, colorful jewels and designers working for the accessory marketplace are showing lots of unusual colors, color combinations, and different textures in more affordable materials that you can get in bold looks."

For 2007
Looking to 2007, the CMG identifies 30 new colors that will be richer, cleaner and deeper in tone: purples explode; oranges have replaced reds; yellows shift to lower chromas; greens continue to be driven by natural forces, blues gain increased presence; warm neutrals cluster together as deep rich browns; and cool neutrals bring new life to next year’s color palette.

Among the recognized colors are a transparent watery blue, blood orange, yellow orange, glazed green (soft melon or kiwi), metallic mauve, a yellow pink, brown flushed pink (lighter, redder and cooler than past browns), and a natural fusion of berries. The association notes that classic and emerging greens will be important in grayer, softer tones like complex yellow-green and shades of aqua.

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