ALL WHITE THEN

Pantone’s Color of the Year Isn’t Really a Color

A shade of off-white known as ‘Cloud Dancer’ has been named the official color of 2026.

A shade of off-white known as ‘Cloud Dancer’ has been declared 2026’s ‘Color of the Year’ by Pantone. Described as “lofty white” by the color grading authority, Cloud Dancer is the first ever shade of white to receive the title and was described as “a symbol of calming influence in a society rediscovering the value of quiet reflection” in the announcement. Pantone deliberately chose the color in opposition to the vibrant ’90s palettes and maximalisms that have dominated much of the decade, instead harking back to a “whisper of calm in a noisy world.” Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, said Cloud Dancer is a “structural color” designed to complement any palette, from brights to pastels, and that its selection is not a “default to white.” Laurie Pressman, Pantone’s vice president, denied the selection had anything to do with skin tones in a year when white nationalism has been on the rise, and emphasized the selection was purely an aesthetic choice. “It’s not a pristine white, it’s not a technical white, it’s not a white that if we think about when we came out of covid, where people were looking for these very optically brightened white,” she said. “This is intentionally a softer white, a white that is not bleached, a very natural-looking white.”