The Magtone Color of the Moment: Pretty in Ink

You know how Pantone has a color of the year? For 2024, Pantone chose “Peach Fuzz”. I like it in small quantities, but it is just too soft for my taste, so I countered with the Magtone Color of the Moment, Sherwood Forest Green. Today I’m here to report the latest color to gain Magtone status: Ink blue.

First, allow me to explain. I choose my Magtones by feel. I see a color and it sends a bolt of emotion through me. It isn’t a cerebral choice, or a color that I would pick just because I like it.

A screen capture from the presidential debate

My choice came to me when I saw Vice President Kamala Harris in what I thought was a black suit, but then I saw its true shade: Ink blue. It’s a sober but not somber color, classic with a modern edge, elegant and powerful. It feels like it meets the moment right now, with the current cultural and political climate.

Here are some vintage picks from Etsy in my new favorite shade. You can find these and more in my Etsy collection Pretty in Ink (affiliate link).

Clearly this is a versatile color, used for formal gowns, trench coats, and everything in between. Depending on how accessorize it, ink can look light hearted or deeply serious. Look how white changes ink’s mood on this 1950s cocktail dress offered by the wonderful VintageVixen. It’s a crisp and classic pairing.

I have a 1960s ink blue silk dress with bright pink rose appliqués in my shop. Coral, blush pink—all pinks seems to work with this color.

Look at the energy lemon yellow bring to this 1960s dress in the VintageGwendolyn Etsy store. Mustard works great too.

Gray brings classic dignity to ink blue, gold demands respect—possibly because of the connection with military dress.

A tip about this color: It can look like black in photos, especially if it is velvet, suede, or any fabric with a nap. You have to search “midnight blue” and even just “navy blue” as well as “ink blue”—don’t just go by the look.

Do you wear ink blue? How does it feel to you? Please let me know in the comments.

The Magtone color of the moment: Sherwood Forest Green

After a number of years of activity, The Magtone Color of the Moment declaration has been sitting on its hands for two years. Why? I like Very Peri (Pantone Color of the Year for 2022) and Viva Magenta (2023) just fine.

But right now, I can’t keep my mouth shut. Pantone’s Peach Fuzz? I would be fine with a vibrant peach verging on papaya, but this super desaturated soft peach, while well-intentioned, is just too soft for me.

I have something diametrically opposite in mind this year.

First, allow me to explain. I choose my Magtones by feel. I see a color and it sends a bolt of emotion through me. It isn’t a cerebral choice, or a color that I would pick just because I like it.

This year the color that sent that bolt through me is surprising. It’s a deep, dark bluish-green called, among other things, Sherwood Forest Green. Hex code #364e4c. It’s close to a bottle green, and it is especially nice to see it with some iridescence or luminescence. I love it in velvet, suede, satin and patent especially. As of this writing, these items are all available from Etsy sellers. You can find them in my collection, Sherwood Forest Green. (affiliate link)

Why am I feeling this color?

I see Sherwood Forest Green as enduring, calm and rich in quality. It is like a deep dark woods in which you feel both safe and at peace. The trees around you represent life, majesty and continuity.

How do you feel about this color? I’m planning to offer for sale all I can in this shade, so I’d really like to know if you feel it too! Let me know in the comments.

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This blog post contains an Etsy affiliate link, which can help me keep my business afloat at no cost to you.

The Magtone Color of the Moment: California Poppy

You’ve probably seen the Pantone Color of the Year—for 2021, it’s the pair Ultimate Gray and Illuminating. They make a fine team.

But as usual, I have something else in mind. A good name for the color is California Poppy because it is a love letter to California and its hills covered in wildflowers. It is both urgent and hopeful. It’s also just plain beautiful.

Photo: Philip Bouchard via Flickr

Are you feeling California Poppy too? Here are some Etsy vintage fashion picks featuring this vibrant shade. You can see more in my Etsy favorites list California Poppy.

The Magtone Color of the Moment: Jazzberry Jam

The highly vetted Pantone Color of the Year for 2018 is Ultra Violet. Where Pantone is going for next year is not yet known, but I have my own Magtone prediction, which is a blend of shocking pink, red and violet, called Jazzberry Jam. I didn’t make that name up—go google HEX color #BD0048—yet it seems appropriate because I got the idea from jam.

How do I vet my color choices? Well, this one came to me when, on a late summer Sunday, I was having a piece of toast and the black currant jam clinging to the side of a jar was sparkling in the sunlight at our kitchen table. My eyes started tearing up, and I felt it in my soul. That’s it.

Black currant jam. Photo by Coprid/iStock

I guess it would be possible to rationalize my feeling for this color. Right now we are a couple of years into what can be argued is a new feminist movement with bright pink often being used as a symbol of women’s strength. Red is a color of urgency, and purple is a color of authority and power. Mix them together, and you might just have the place we stand in history—and possibly with a color that symbolizes women’s rise in politics. (Need proof of that rise? A record 185 women have been nominated for House seats in 2018.)

So, with this beautiful shade in mind, of course I had to go looking for vintage fashion that showed it well. Feast your eyes on shades of Jazzberry Jam from vintage sellers on Etsy. As of today these are currently for sale and the links are in my Etsy favorites collection on the subject. It makes a very rich formal shade, looks lovely in velvet, iridescent fabrics and jewelry. In short, it makes a great color going into our Northern Hemisphere’s winter—and the November midterm elections in the U.S.

And hey, I may actually be on to something with this Jazzberry Jam thing: Elle Decor showed a beautiful interior in this shade, looking toward the predictions from Pantone for 2019. I may not be the only one feeling this!

What about you—Do you like this color? Do you wear it? What does it say to you?

The Magtone color of the moment: Hollywood Cerise Pink

Hollywood Cerise Pink—technically Hex Color #ED0990

Oh, I know there are well-researched and ever-so-vetted Pantone colors of the year, but it seems there is always a color pulling me in a different direction. This year, their color is Greenery, and it's quite lovable. It seems to evoke a feeling of hope. (It was chosen before those November elections!)

For me this year it’s Hollywood Cerise Pink. There is a femininity in pink (since the 1930s anyway), and there is an urgency in bright pink. It seems not only a beautiful hue but a necessary one. Fearlessly feminine.

Feast your eyes on shades of Hollywood Cerise Pink from vintage sellers on Etsy. As of today these are currently for sale and the links are in my Etsy favorites collection on the subject. 

Face it...Hollywood Cerise is not just a color, it's an attitude!

The Magtone color of the moment: Robin's Egg Blue

Oh, I know there are well-researched and highly-vetted Pantone colors of the year, but there is always a color pulling me in a different direction. Last year I went on about Zing Green (my name for bright spring green) and Palatinate Blue. 

I still love those colors, but this year it’s Robin’s Egg Blue. (Another strong favorite I will save for another time.) 

Feast your eyes on shades of Robin’s Egg from vintage sellers on Etsy. As of today these are currently for sale and the links are in my Etsy favorites collection on the subject.

Robin’s Egg Blue vintage on Etsy I mean, come on, this color and a Spring-o-later? Be still my vintage-loving heart!

from VintageVixen on Etsy

Do you have a color that stirs your heart right now?