Cloud Dancer - Pantone's 2026 Color of the Year: Ethereal or Uninspiring?

Pantone's 2026 Color of the Year: Cloud Dancer

Pantone's choice of a toned-down white, caught designers by surprise. Past CotY have been, well, colorful! The controversy on any given year, is usually about one of the bolder colors. Pantone's Cloud Dancer is an exercise in restraint, and some argue is not a "color" at all. This is a soft white with a touch of warmth, and a slightly green cast.

Pantone's yearly forecast encompasses color for consumer products, and Cloud Dancer is already being featured in small appliances and personal tech which is a good use of this simple white. For fashion and home products, deciphering Cloud Dancer's undertones can help you figure out how to use, and hopefully appreciate, this unassuming neutral. Let's dive in!

If you know color, you know that every color has an undertone -- even white. Undertones are crucial to choosing the right colors for your wardrobe, and your home. There's a misconception that "neutrals" are easier to choose, but what makes them neutral makes them more difficult to choose. Let me explain: neutral colors are predominantly created by mixing colors together. To get the browns and beiges that we all love, it takes a marriage of green and red -- seems simple, right? And perhaps your red color has a blue undertone, that changes your (what you thought was,) basic neutral, because your neutral color now looks kind of purple. It's not as easy at it seemed. Right?

For me, undertanding undertones in neutral colors, is the realization that the term "neutral" means "neutralizing" the colors involved by adding them together. And if you know your RGBs, (that's Red, Green, Blue) you know that it shows a value for each color in the mix. A white color like Cloud Dancer has an RGB of R-240, G-238, and B-233. The red and green are close, and almost neutralize each other, giving Cloud Dancer just a touch of warmth but also a little extra bit of green. The almost-there blue, gives it a slightly gray cast. I'd watch for pink or green undertones when paired with decidedly warm colors.

For your home, Cloud Dancer would be good for fluffy throws, and ceramic decor. I'm not fully on the Cloud Dancer bandwagon for textiles, as its undertones are ambiguous and could give a vibe like your sheets and towels need more bleach in the next laundry load.

For fashion, Cloud Dancer is best used for clothing that has texture, like a plush coat or a lush sweater. The same principal applies as home linens, in that you don't want a murky white tee or shirt, lest it look dingy.

The idea of Cloud Dancer as Pantone's 2026, may have incorporated that mindset. There's a global mindset with the turn of the year, that can best be described as "murky." 2026? It's anyone's guess.