The Color of 2024
Pantone announced its Color of the Year 2018: Ultra Violet. According to Pantone Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking that points us toward the future. It was speculated that in interior spaces this color would take center stage; however, most viewing an Ultra Violet swatch would identify the color as purple, one of the least utilized colors in home furnishing, decor and quilting.
As far back as the 15th century, sea shells found around the Mediterranean Sea were harvested to produce the Tyrian purple dye with biblical references to the kings, priest, and noblemen who donned this color in their royal vestiges. More recently an association with counterculture in the 1960s and 70s by activists and musicians kept this color in the forefront of society.
The recent addition to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery of television icon Oprah Winfrey, painted by Chicago-based artist Shawn Michael Warren features a full-length image of Winfrey dressed in a violet taffeta ball gown designed by Christian Sirano.
Fans will recall Winfrey’s big screen performance as Sofia in Steven Spielberg’s 1985 adaptation The Color Purple-a role which culminated in an Academy Award nomination while they await the long anticipated 2023 remake of the same movie with Winfrey returning this time a musical producer.
The Color of the Year 2024: Purple
