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It’s a new year and everyone wants to know what the hot new hues are for 2010. Well, it seems that the fashion icons of the entertainment industry are finally tired of neutrals and cleansing the palette with classic black, white, and gray. The red carpets are now blooming in tropical hues! In the visual below I have tracked the most popular hues being paraded at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Global blue continues to gain power as the driving unifying hue. See my article  “Blue is the new green.” But, get ready for a blending of blue and green. It’s time for an escape to paradise with turquoise added to Yves Klein International Blue and electric blue. Vibrant sunset purples and warm yellow golds along with hot hibiscus reds add to the joy and adventure. Bright cloud whites and pearly soft metallic golds reminiscent of sparkling beaches offer accent and balance. Just like nature, greens are assumed and are moving to the background.

All images in this post courtesy of Jack Bredenfoerder, Landor Associates.

2010 spring and summer forecast

So, where did this all come from?

Last month international color authority Pantone® announced that turquoise is the 2010 color of the year. Specifically, the color is Pantone® 15-5519 TCX from their textile color system. In the print and graphic arts world look at Pantone® 3262 C. This is a true green-side turquoise that bridges the blue and green color families. If you are familiar with the turquoise gem it is available in hues from green all the way to a bright cyan. A jewelry maker once told me that the green-side turquoise with gold veining is “the good stuff” and to stay away from the cheaper cyan blue stones that many people associate with turquoise. Here’s how Pantone® sells their color of the year: “Escape to a tropical paradise, even if only a fantasy—Turquoise, the luminous Color of the Year for 2010.”

Luminous escape fantasy! Sound familiar?

The James Cameron blockbuster Avatar is a luminous escape fantasy that takes us to the beautiful and seemingly-lethal planet of Pandora. Avatar’s blue Na'vi people are represented by the continuing Yves Klein International Blue color direction. The trend is expanded with a wide range of tropical luminous hues and particularly glowing turquoise. The binding biological and spiritual bond of the Na'vi to their planet and all its life forms has a strong holistic ecological and social message. The magical glowing night effects are not only beautiful but communicate a strong universal physical and spiritual bond. Two of the mega long-term influences that I have talked about in the past are the green movement and the building of a cooperative global community. These two influences are now blending into one—there are many global challenges and they aren’t all purely green. Avatar does a great job of unifying these two design directions into one Edenesque direction.

Lost sets in Oahu

Lost another ground breaking production just begin its final season and the viewers are all "returning to the island.” Lost is filmed almost entirely on the island of Oahu. I was lucky to tour the sets just a few weeks ago. The colors are amazing! While on the Lost tour there was a lot of conversation about Egypt and its ancient deities and how they may be involved in the final episodes. Specifically, Aton and Ra were discussed. Both are sun gods—Aton is a monotheist deity and Ra is a polytheist deity. Expect warm golden yellows and pearly gold metallics. A good representation of these colors would be in the gown that Nicole Kidman recently wore to the Screen Actors Guild Awards. It was reminiscent of an Egyptian lotus column in a textured soft pearly gold with accents of turquoise and hibiscus red. It gave the impression of a Luxor hippy earth mother and very 60s inspired, but very elegant. The colors and designs of the 60s have been creating a lot of buzz lately as we enter a new decade of change. I think Kidman’s hippy-lux may be the new incarnation.

Bobble Barack

Getting back to the tropics. it is also important to note that President Barack Obama is a favorite son of Hawaii and it looks like the new Western White House will certainly be on Oahu. We will most likely see at least three more years of winter escapes to Hawaii for our first family. On my recent trip to his favorite shaved ice shop I couldn’t resist buying a Hawaii clad and ukulele playing bobble Barack. How cool is that?

Finally, we sometimes see color and design directions emerge and then an unexpected event magnifies the impact even more. The recent earthquake disaster in Haiti could be just such an event. It will certainly support the blue tropics color direction. As we watch Haiti rebuild, there will certainly be interest in the colors of the Haitian culture. In the Caribbean, bright tropical blues are the color of protection. Blue is seen as guarding against evil spirits and many people paint their doors, window frames, shutters, and porch ceilings with bright blue hues.

The color forecast for 2010: Sunny and balmy with clear and vibrantly blue skies!