As Pantone announces its colour of 2026, a vanilla off-white, here's more on the reasoning behind the choice – and what other trending colours can help you achieve greater domestic bliss.
Pantone has spoken – and the colour of the year 2026 is… white. Or more specifically, Cloud Dancer, a vanilla-whipped, fluffy off-white that appears less like a colour trend and more like the inside of a marshmallow. But can an achromatic shade capture the global mood? Stephen Westland, professor of colour science, at the University of Leeds, isn't convinced. "The colour of the year is a gimmick to promote commercial interest," he says. "Although Pantone are the most well-known predictor, there are at least a dozen others who choose a colour of the year, and they all typically disagree."
Cloud Dancer joins a long tradition of paint names that veer between quirky and absurd, a marketing strategy that has itself become an art form. Farrow & Ball have given us Dead Salmon, Elephant's Breath, Arsenic, and tasty classic Broccoli Brown. They're not alone: Benjamin Moore has Nacho Cheese, Dunn-Edwards Dangerous Robot, and the list gets stranger from there. Brands construct these abstract names because they're memorable and evocative, less about describing a colour and more about selling an atmosphere.
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