What is the 2024 color of the year?

Mood-enhancing color isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

Energetic, gender-inclusive and commercially viable for several product categories, trend forecasting firm WGSN and sister color system company Coloro named Apricot Crush the Color of the Year for 2024. 

While dopamine dressing has spread like wildfire since 2020—resulting in a veritable explosion of pink this year—the vitamin-rich orange hue was chosen for its restorative and refreshing qualities. 

“Apricot Crush signifies the importance of nourishing the mind and body,” said Clare Smith, WGSN color strategist. “It is the perfect hue for a world seeking calm and optimism, bringing a necessary pick-me-up as consumers continue to grapple with a range of emotions and uncertainty about the future.”

Shifting from Digital Lavender, WGSN’s Color of the Year for 2023, Apricot Crush resonates because it “ticks a lot of the boxes,” added Sara Maggioni, WGSN head of womenswear. “It’s an energetic, vibrant color while at the same time it preserves a nourishing, reassuring and familiar quality; it’s extremely versatile as it works across seasons, as well as genders, market levels and product categories.”

Apricot Crush offers a sweet spot between pastels, brights and neutrals. It brings a “warming luminosity” to home and injects playfulness and joy into beauty products, fragrance, skincare, and hair color. In fashion, it serves as a middle ground, Maggioni noted, evolving warm neutrals while also offering designers a brighter shade that retains commerciality.

The color is already filtering into Spring/Summer 2023 collections. Gabriela Hearst sent open-knit apricot ponchos down the runway at New York Fashion Week, while La Pointe explored the color’s sultry side with peachy slit silk dresses. Pamella Roland’s chiffon frock mimicked a beautiful sunset. Marni’s satin apricot suit glowed. Vince kept it simple and practical with monochromatic apricot separates.

Other designers paired Apricot Crush with shades of green. Jonathan Simkhai used abstract prints to combine the warm hue with pale green. Holo paired an apricot knit top with lime green joggers. Studio 189 channeled vacation vibes by using the color in floral and striped coordinates. 

As a color with many sides, Apricot Crush is here for the long haul. 

“At Coloro, we are seeing brands take ever more care in choosing palettes with lasting appeal to minimize environmental impact,” said Sansan Chen, Coloro managing director. “It’s exciting to see orange, with its gender-inclusive and transseasonal flexibility, gaining—and maintaining—momentum as a key color.” 

The Color of the Year for 2024, according to WGSN and Coloro, is Apricot Crush—a restorative, refreshing, and energetic hue that provides an antidote for consumers who continue to grapple with a range of emotions and uneasiness about the future. Care, connection, and community underpin the color choice, which also calls to mind the nutritional properties of vitamin- and antioxidant-rich oranges and apricots.

"Color in 2022/23 was rooted in uncertainty, a search for optimism and escapism. As society has progressed and is continuing to find its feet in a post-pandemic world, color will lean more towards a holistic approach of regenerative, digitally-infused wellness colors that are sensorial and energizing. This focus on healing also lends itself to quiet and clean colors, and in contrast, near-neon dopamine-inducing brights that are inspired by the metaverse and the fusing of IRL and URL," Megan Bang, Beauty Analyst at WGSN, shared.

Forecast as a key color for A/W 23/24, Apricot Crush (Coloro 024-65-27) will bring a warming luminosity to the home, both indoors and outside, effortlessly with neutrals and presenting a playful side that will connect with beauty products across categories.

Bang continued, "Apricot Crush is the embodiment of this color evolution through its youthful, regenerative, and optimistic energy. These values translate to beauty in a multitude of ways that go far beyond traditional color cosmetic applications. From packaging, product coloration or attitude, Apricot Crush bursts with a sensorial freshness. The dynamic colour also inspires fresh finishes in packaging and makeup applications such as restful frosted packaging or what we have highlighted as a glowing skin finish."

Apricot Crush is versatile and gender inclusive, making it great for application across fashion categories, while its restorative attributes make it relevant for health- and wellness-led consumer tech products.

Sansan Chen, Managing Director of Coloro, adds, "It's exciting to see orange, with its gender-inclusive and trans-seasonal flexibility, gaining—and maintaining—momentum as a key color. At Coloro, we are seeing brands take ever more care in choosing palettes with lasting appeal to minimize environmental impact. Apricot Crush is a highly achievable color that can also deliver an emotional lift to consumers in uncertain times."

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