The color of the year 2026, announced by the Pantone Institute. What does “Cloud Dancer” symbolize

The Pantone Color Institute has chosen a shade of white, “Cloud Dancer,” as the color of the year 2026.

Color of the year 2026 PHOTO: X

The Pantone Institute, which is considered a leading authority on color, forecasting trends and advising brands, described the shade as “a balanced white, imbued with a sense of serenity”.

As technology's influence on everyday life tightens, Cloud Dancer represents a “calming influence in a frenzied society, rediscovering the value of measured consideration and quiet reflection“, Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the institute, told CNN.

Color “it signifies our desire for a new beginning,” Eiseman said.

For the institute's team of experts, everything is filtered through the lens of color. Thus, every year since 1999, the program has attempted to “highlight how what is happening in our macroculture at any given time is expressed through the language of colorLaurie Pressman, the institute's vice president, told CNN.

To choose a color of the year, they go through current cultural, political and stylistic references, settle on a color family, and then zero in on the exact shade – paying close attention to its name, too.

“The name of the color is essential. The moment you hear a name describing a color, you instantly create an image,” Pressman said.

This precise shade of white, with “its equal balance of cool and warm tones”, it was carefully chosen, she added.

“Had we gone for an optically brighter white, not only would it take away from the natural feeling and the honesty and authenticity that we're looking for…but it almost speaks to sterility and isolationism, because it's coldshe said.

While various shades of white have long been ubiquitous in fashion, Cloud Dancer especially embodies flared silhouettes and natural fabrics like feathers, Eiseman said.

Some of these trends are already evident. Plenty of feathers were present at this year's Met Gala, including, most memorably, on the long train of Diana Ross' stunning white dress.

Emma Stone's Louis Vuitton dress at the Venice Film Festival had a bubble hem, while singer-songwriter Rosalía opted for clean, floaty white designs while promoting her critically acclaimed Lux ​​album last month.

And in interior design, Eiseman describes Cloud Dancer as “clightness without coldness, structure without severity”, which goes well with natural materials such as wood and stone.

Previous Pantone Color of the Year picks have included 2025's Mocha Mousse, “a soft brown infused with a sensory and comforting warmth”and Peach Fuzz, “a light, fruity tone that evokes peace and serenity”in 2024.