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.

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: This is an image from Elle Decor, 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?