Pantone’s boldest move yet names a white shade Color of the Year

Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, speaks to a group of local reporters at the Pantone Color of the Year 2026 event in Seoul on Friday. (Posan Industry)

Pantone has named “Cloud Dancer,” a soft, airy shade of white, as its Color of the Year 2026, marking the first time in the program’s history that the global color authority has selected a shade from the white family -- a decision its leadership acknowledges was both deliberate and controversial.

Speaking Friday at the Pantone Color of the Year 2026 event in Seoul, Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, said the choice reflects a cultural shift toward calm, clarity and restraint amid global uncertainty, digital saturation and emotional fatigue.

“It was very controversial in the sense that we’ve never picked a white shade,” Pressman said in an interview with The Korea Herald. “The closest we ever came was Sand Dollar in 2006, which was more neutral. So this was a very big decision for us, and we knew people would raise their eyebrows.”

Pantone’s Color of the Year program, launched in 2000, has traditionally favored expressive hues -- from vibrant yellows to deep reds -- that capture the cultural mood of the moment. Selecting Cloud Dancer represents a departure not only in color, but in philosophy.

Pressman emphasized that the decision was made without the use of artificial intelligence, despite growing industry interest in AI-driven forecasting.

“We do not look at AI to help make this decision,” she said. “We have a team of people who know their area of color and design expertise extremely well. If you can’t decipher what’s true and what’s not, it’s not a tool we would recommend using -- at least not for our team.”

Instead, the process relies on continuous, visually driven observation by a global team of 10 to 20 specialists who track cultural, social and design shifts across industries. Pressman described the Color of the Year as reflective rather than predictive.

“It’s not about us forecasting something new,” she said. “It’s about calling out something that’s already there and bringing attention to it.”

A model wearing apparel in Cloud Dancer, Pantone Color of the Year for 2026 (Pantone Color Institute)

Cloud Dancer, described by Pantone as a “natural white,” is intended to evoke serenity, balance and openness. Pressman framed the color as a response to what she called a 24/7 hustle culture, marked by overstimulation, constant noise and emotional overload.

In fashion and design, she said, the shift is already visible. Neutrals have moved to the forefront, evolving from minimal restraint into warmer, more tactile tones drawn from nature -- soil, stone and clay. Whites, in particular, are gaining importance.

“Colors in the white family provide scaffolding for the entire color palette,” Pressman said. “They go with anything and everything, and at a time when personal expression matters so much, they allow people to put their own unique stamp on design.”

She added that fashion remains a key influence in the color selection process. Designers, she said, respond intuitively to shared cultural emotions, which surface across fashion, interiors, beauty and product design.

As the world grapples with rapid technological change and the rise of artificial intelligence, Pressman said Cloud Dancer offers a visual counterbalance -- softening the emotional tone of technology while reaffirming the human need for rest, reflection and connection.

“True strength,” she said, “lies not just in doing, but also in being.”