Viva Magenta, the color of the year 2023

Fashion changes over time. Trend watchers such as Lidewij Edelkoort from the Netherlands and Hilde Francq from Belgium are closely following social changes and their influence on fashion and colours. They translate the developments into trend forecasts that are made about two years before the clothes hit the stores. Color trends and trend colors are part of these forecasts. An example: Lidewij Edelkoort announced the comprehensive (re)launch of Braun more than two years ago. In June 2019, she reported that brown would replace black as the IT color in the next 30 years. And meanwhile, brown can be found in almost every fashion collection, in many fashion shops and wardrobes.

In addition, there are leading color experts/institutes such as Pantone and Coloro that deal exclusively with color advice and prediction. The US color institute Pantone, for example, nominates a color of the year every year and draws a balance in the form of color cards after leading fashion weeks such as New York and London Fashion Week. They analyze the fashion collections presented by the designers and record what the color palette will look like.

In short: trend watchers and color institutes have a direct influence on fashion. On the other hand, fashion also has a direct influence on color trends. Because trends are dictated by the catwalk. The ready-to-wear industry is inspired by catwalk designs. The designs are tailored to the taste of fashionistas. So it works both ways.