Long live magenta! – Style – Kommersant

The Pantone Institute has announced the official color of the coming year – Viva Magenta, carmine red. Kommersant Style figured out what this means for the fashion world and beyond.

The announcement of the color of the year is an event that designers, beauty brand art directors, magazine editors and fashionistas from all over the world are always looking forward to. After all, what shade Pantone calls will largely determine how new collections of clothes and make-up, fashionable interiors and even the urban environment will look. This year’s color was Very Peri, a cold “digital” lavender, a symbol of the virtual world that we have completely immersed ourselves in during the pandemic. And in a month, a completely different shade will rule the ball – Viva Magenta, a daring carmine red.

Its creation, as usual, is the result of many months of work by experts from the Pantone Institute. They study social trends, the current cultural context, the social and political agenda and decide which color will best reflect the near future. In recent years, the shade is not chosen from the existing palette, but is specially created using innovative technologies. This is how Viva Magenta was born. According to Leatrice Eisemann, CEO of Pantone, this color symbolizes fearlessness, cheerfulness and optimism – something that we all need so much in the near future. “For us, Viva Magenta is a changing world, it is the power of the human spirit. Last year was very challenging for everyone, so brightness is a must,” she says.

Magenta is the same changeable and contradictory color as the current reality: the average between red and blue, between warm and cold. It has many variations, from warm purple to electric fuchsia. It seems that magenta can only be created artificially, but in fact it is found in nature: even 2 thousand years before our era, carmine dye was extracted from insect shells. Magenta is in the world of bacteria, in space, in the rock art of the first people. “Connection with the environment and our animal nature is an important point of Viva Magenta,” Eisemann explains.

The meaning of magenta 2023 is clear – but how to wear it? In social networks, bloggers are exercising wit, calling the new creation of Pantone “the color of a herring under a fur coat” and “the color of a Russian passport.” In fact, Viva Magenta, of course, has the right to life – and a place in the wardrobe. “This is a powerful shade, it energizes and inspires,” explains Elena Yurina, stylist and image maker, stylist for the 2014 Winter Olympics. “On the catwalks, we saw magenta total look at Valentino, Raf Simons, Carolina Herrera, Vivienne Westwood. A dress of this color is perfect for a party, and in everyday life you can experiment with magenta accessories. By the way, carmine red looks great in makeup, suitable for any age and skin tone. A make-up using Viva Magenta can be both classic and slightly futuristic – remember the signature fuchsia arrows of Clea, the heroine of Charlize Theron from the Marvel universe.

Magenta fans include Duchess Kate (she has appeared in public in suits of this color more than once), Emily Blunt and Harry Styles. Actress Hart Evangelista wears a carmine red Hermes bag, and Selena Gomez dazzled in a magenta Rodarte gown at the November premiere of her documentary My Mind and I. Elena Yurina recommends combining the Viva Magenta shade with chocolate, beige, gold, silver.

Eisemann is sure that Viva Magenta, despite the apparent complexity, is a universal color that looks equally advantageous on nails and a sports car. Pantone experts suggest experimenting with magenta in interior design and festive home decoration: it can successfully replace the slightly boring traditional red.

Viva Magenta evokes memories of the 1990s with its crazy color scheme – it’s no coincidence that there are so many magenta in Lisa Frank’s famous clothing collection dedicated to American schoolchildren of that era. It seems that this is what everyone needs after the rather gray and monochrome 2000s. “Viva Magenta, for all its brightness, is a very delicate color,” explains Eisemann. “There is no aggressive sexuality or excessive femininity in it, it is warm, but not scalding. He simply says: live and rejoice. And this call in our difficult time is especially desirable to heed.

Natalia Inshakova