What does Pantone's 2024 Colour of the Year really mean?

Pastel colors divide the population into two, giving life to fierce feuds between lovers and opponents of sweet shades. Not many years ago, turquoise and peach pink ruled Instagram's feed, still stuck in the era of square-format posts, reflecting consumers' passion for DIY projects, including collages and cake decorating. Once the DIY boom faded, influencers and their followers began to appreciate branded outfits and fashion show stories. Now, although pastel colors are nothing more than a stain of a pastime, a package of fondant left to rot in a Millennial's pantry, we begin to smell them again. On the runway, we're appreciating turquoise again, and in cinema, photography, and styling in Yorgos Lanthimos' "Poor Things," inspiration is drawn from the sweet intensity of yellow. Meanwhile, Pantone, the world's most famous color company, has chosen Peach Fuzz as the Color of the Year 2024. It might seem like a bold choice, considering the contrasting feelings that peach color evokes, but Pantone's decisions never are. Peach Fuzz was a silent hue that lived in the shadow of the big Barbie pink this summer but has already made appearances on the runway and red carpet. 

Molly Goddard SS24

Sportmax SS24

Alaïa SS24

Diesel FW22

Rick Owens SS24

Kiko Kostadinov SS24

If among the motivations that drive Pantone forecasters to choose the Color of the Year are the most recent socio-political events, it's normal to have low expectations for 2024. In 2023, we witnessed the explosion of ferocious wars, the worsening of the climate and economic crises. If we could choose the color of the coming year, we might suggest dark blues and grays, but Pantone Color Institute experts argue that consumers will seek exactly the opposite. Peach Fuzz not only personifies an object that takes us back to summer memories but also evokes a certain sense of tactility. The softness of a ripe peach, the soft peel, its roundness; Pantone has captured in the fruit a hint of maternity and warmth that each of us seeks when in need of particular care. Pantone's keywords to describe the Color of 2024 were peace, sincerity, kindness, community, compassion, calm, and protection. "It focuses on the human experience that enriches and nourishes the body, mind, and soul," said the company, describing Peach Fuzz's role on our psyche. "But it's also a sophisticated and contemporary peach tone, capable of bringing significant and necessary beauty to the digital world."

Rihanna in Diesel and Off-White

The Rock in Dolce&Gabbana

Hillary Duff in Dolce&Gabbana

Florence Pugh in Chloe

Uma Thurman in Prada

Zoe Kravitz in Oscar de la Renta

Various shades of peach pink have painted the most followed events in pop culture in recent years. From Gucci, which presented silk and lace slip dresses in this shade for SS24, to Jil Sander, who featured it on a wide knit dress, and Sportmax, which chose it for satin suits and transparent tulle tops. A version of Peach Fuzz was chosen by Dolce&Gabbana for The Rock's ensemble at the March Oscars, for Hillary Duff's afterparty dress, and by Prada for Uma Thurman's outfit at the Women Making History Awards, while previously enveloping Rihanna from head to toe - makeup and jewelry included - at Off-White's FW23 show in Paris. The pastel shade also participated in the French premiere of Little Women in 2020, on Florence Pugh's look, and at the SAG Awards of the same year thanks to Zoe Kravitz, who chose a vintage Oscar de la Renta dress.

Balmain SS24

Hermès SS24

Amiri SS24

Gucci SS24

Diesel FW23

Karoline Vitto SS24

Jil Sander SS24

Like baby blue, peach pink perfectly tells the interplay between masculine and feminine that contemporary fashion seeks. It's not as bold as Viva Magenta, the color of 2023 that ruled our summer, amplifying the hyper-femininity that Barbie made us fall in love with, or Very Peri from 2022, dynamic and full of joy because finally free from pandemic restrictions. Instead, it slowly settles between elegance and modernity - although the material it's made of is mostly vintage. The meaning of Pantone Color of the Year 2024 is this: a meeting halfway, an embrace between two parts, a retreat into absolute calm, and a strong nostalgia for what has been. The best wish for those who don't see the end of 2023.