GA, meet Cloud Dancer, the new Color of the Year for 2026 from Pantone

In colors making headlines news, the Pantone Color Institute has picked its “Color of the Year” and the choice is causing a fair amount of controversy.

Cloud Dancer, a soft, creamy white, that Pantone claims to channel calm, clarity, and a collective reset after years of chaos, will officially be 2026’s color and some people are underwhelmed at the pick.

Why Cloud Dancer?

Cloud Dancer is described as a “pure, unadulterated white” with subtle warmth. Pantone says it embodies “optimism through simplicity,” while others, like the Today Show’s Al Roker say, is just “otherwise known as white.”

The company’s experts said they chose it to reflect a desire for peace, purity, and renewal, mirroring current cultural moods around slowing down and focusing on essentials. Others, like design expert Emily Butterill say it’s “ultimately insignificant — a backdrop rather than a trendsetter.”

What Pantone is and why it’s a thing

Pantone is a color-matching system created in the 1960s that helps designers, manufacturers, and artists ensure colors look the same across materials and media.

The institute started announcing its annual “Color of the Year” in 1999 and has since become a major trend driver, influencing many things in the cultural mainstream.

The color choice affects many aspects of:

• Fashion and beauty
• Interior design
• Product packaging
• Graphic design and branding
• Marketing and advertising. 

The controversy around Cloud Dancer

Critics slammed the choice as tone deaf, dubbing the institute “Pantone-deaf” and Forbes reports some detractors say it evokes white supremacy and is a dog whistle for the recent anti-DEI initiatives.

Many opponents of Pantone’s choice speculate that it was made without a person of color in the room. One commenter on Pantone’s Instagram wrote, “SO… you all sat down and had some meetings. Rolled around some ideas. And in all those meetings, not a single one of you ... in this moment where white supremacy is in the news every day ... thought, ‘maybe now isn’t the right time for this.”

Some see the concept as elitist or out-of-touch, and another Instagram user wrote it was an indicator of the current economic situation, calling it a “recession indicator,” joking, “Pantone can’t afford color this year and neither can anyone else.”

Laurie Pressman, vice-president of the Pantone Color Institute, told the Washington Post, “Skin tones did not factor into this at all,” noting similar reactions to past picks.

“With Peach Fuzz and then with Mocha Mousse, people were weighing in and asking if this was about skin tones…. for us it’s really about, at such a basic level, what are people looking for that color can hope to answer,” she added.

Past Colors of the Year

• 2025: Desert Twilight: a soft lavender-gray symbolizing reflection.
• 2024: Peach Fuzz: a gentle peach tone chosen for its warmth and compassion.
• 2023: Viva Magenta: a bold, pinkish red representing strength and self-expression.
• 2022: Very Peri: a periwinkle blue hue with violet-red undertones symbolizing creativity and digital possibility.

Does Cloud Dancer feel like the color of 2026? Email me at srose@ledger-enquirer.com or find me on social media.