🔗 Share this article

For anyone who has spent years living in rental properties, confronted by the same landlord-approved magnolia walls and yearning for injecting personal style to their home, Pantone's new Colour of the Year might feel like a direct affront.

This year, the renowned color company has chosen a shade of white as its annual hue.

More specifically, the shade is called Cloud Dancer – a white touted as "elevated" and "airy" which "acts as a symbol of calming influence in a society re-evaluating the value of stillness".

It signifies the first time white has been honored as the Colour of the Year, and it has generated significant controversy.

As stated by Pantone, Cloud Dancer "transcends mere pigment, it's a mindset" and reflects a collective yearning to decelerate, recalibrate and achieve serenity after years of visual overload.

But some critics have dubbed the decision as "insensitive", contending that promoting minimalist and pristine white spaces can seem distant from the smaller, messier homes everyday individuals call home.

Additional critics argue that positioning white as an ideal introduces racial undertones, creating unease amid ongoing societal conversations about inclusion and diversity.

Sterile or Serene?

Designer One design critic says the criticism transcends aesthetics, noting that white carries societal connotations and is rarely a neutral choice.

"The color white sends a message," he says, shaped by a ten-year period of minimalist celebrity interiors – most notably Kim Kardashian's austere home – that came to epitomize "wealth, control and distance from disorder".

He explains that white is "not intended to inspire but being careful not to cause upset", with Cloud Dancer embodying "austerity, moral minimalism and the notion that neutrality denotes virtue".

The designer points to the global health crisis as a turning point in how people interact with their homes.

"Overnight they transformed into our workspaces, sanctuaries and emotional anchors," he says, noting that against this backdrop, pushing the Colour of the Year towards "more visual emptiness seems rather disconnected".

Instead of offering calm, he contends white now risks heightening "a sense of bleakness", especially when paired with cool, clinical lighting.

'Sterile Sensations

An interior designer, a Surrey based interior designer, concurs and says Cloud Dancer "is not perceived as a colour" and is "firmly in the bin for me".

Although it may work in extremely sparse or structural spaces, she says bright whites seldom foster calm in everyday living spaces.

"What looks serene in a professional photo can readily seem sterile at home," she explains.

"White can feel stark and unforgiving and you don't want your home to emit a medical atmosphere."

She continues that "living spaces should elicit happiness and be inviting and lived-in, and this shade seems quite distant from that."

Beaumont hopes that homeowners will disregard the Pantone Colour of the Year in preference for "unabashed joyful interior design", using vibrant hues to express personality.

A representative of the Pantone Colour Institute commented that people "have varied interpretations" to the significance of the colour, but it was selected as it "integrates perfectly with everything around it, offering a refined neutrality that seems deliberate and versatile".

Since its launch in 2000, Pantone's Colour of the Year has become a powerful trend indicator.

Previous selections have featured the hopefulness of a vibrant pink-orange, the serene assurance of a deep blue, the vibrancy of a bold pink-red, and more recently softer, emotionally driven tones like Peach Fuzz.

These colours extend beyond style predictions - they show up in fashion collections, cosmetic products, home decor, product wrapping and even technology, shaping how products are marketed and how consumers imagine the coming year.

A style and trend expert, says Cloud Dancer is a "beautiful choice" and while it may seem basic, "this specific hue seems soft and refined rather than stark".

In contrast to those who say the colour is boring, the expert sees it as "flexible" and says it's best used in "bedrooms and communal spaces where you want a serene, calming ambiance".

"Even if you don't want to redecorate, you can incorporate the colour into a room with pillows, blankets and drapes."

Design expert Another professional says although he was surprised that Pantone's selection this year was "fundamentally the absence of colour", it is a bit like vanilla ice cream, in that "everyone likes it but it's nobody's favourite".

He can see its benefits, noting that white can work particularly well as a background for architectural details like panelling and arched doorways which is a "growing trend in contemporary houses".

In fashion, white has long been a basic rather than a statement and as a Colour of the Year it poses a unique test to designers more familiar with bold shades.

Luxury stylist Oriona Robb says championing white seems "not focused on newness and more about intention", reflecting a movement towards sophistication after years of fad saturation.

"White forces designers and wearers alike to focus on shape, scale and craftsmanship, there's really no room for error," she explains.

But she continues that it also holds assumptions around self-image, way of life and advantage, saying: "If white is viewed as something only a narrow group of people can wear well, it becomes exclusionary."

She says the fashion world is already cognizant of the problematic connotations associated with celebrating white as an ideal, especially during continuing discussions about representation and approachability, and the true challenge will be whether "companies address that nuance authentically, or simply aestheticise the colour".

A Societal Shift, Not a Fad

Stylist Katie Malik concedes the choice at first surprised her, considering Pantone's track record of bold colours, but says it reflects a genuine shift and aligns with a broader sentiment of "quiet luxury