From Gucci to Balmain, designers recently presented Spring ’19 metallic apparel, footwear and accessories that oozed effortless elegance.
However, achieving those desired metallic colorways more than likely required a high level of detail, communication and vision. The latest product from Pantone aims to eliminate the guesswork—and risk—in selecting the right metallic color.
Pantone on Tuesday launched Metallic Shimmers, a collection of 200 new metallic colors for fashion, interior and product designers.
Displayed in nitro-cellulose coating on paper to showcase the brilliance of metallic shades, Pantone Metallic Shimmers are ideally suited for use in fashion accessories and trim, footwear, housewares, electronics, color cosmetics and any other surface or finish where metallic colors are applied.
“In a world of sheen and shine, where the aim is to achieve an even greater degree of luminosity, metallic shine is being seen across every single category from fashion and furnishings to cars, consumer electronics and color cosmetics,” said Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute.
Pressman said the 200 new colors were “thoughtfully curated to enable a finish that is directional and chic with a timeless application.” Colors span core basics like PANTONE 20-0002 Ice Palace and PANTONE 20-0034 Golden Egg, to PANTONE 20-0146 Magnetic Blue and PANTONE 20-0131 Purple Sequin.
“People are turning to color to forge their own identity,” Pressman said. While fashion ebbs and flows, Pressman said the current “excess and maximalisim” in fashion is intensifying and she expects to see more exploration given to surface and material textures with metallic. “This is true of the core metallic shades of silver, gold, bronze, copper and rose gold, as well as more colorful metallic shades in all tints and tones across the color spectrum,” she said.
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Rather than sourcing material samples and losing time due to reproduction limitations, the new color system acts as a visual reference and enables consistent color communication for pearlescent and metallic finishes. One of the common issues designers encounter working with metallic color is its appearance.
“Being able to physically see how a finish will look on color versus having to imagine this same color with a particular finish is vitally important to any and all product creation,” Pressman said. “It saves time, energy and potentially costly mistakes.”
When it comes to the specific integration of the metallic color palette into textiles and soft fibers, Pantone Metallic Shimmers can be used for color application to material, as accents for thread, or strictly as a color reference for how a particular shade will look with a metallic or pearlescent finish.
Additionally, brands and their software and systems providers can license the color identities for the 200 new Pantone colors. These color names can then be used to call out the new Metallic Shimmers colors in design solutions, product lifecycle management (PLM) systems or as part of a specification to suppliers.
Pantone Metallic Shimmers are intended to complement the existing elements in the Pantone Home and Interior color system. The colors are available in three formats: as a portable fan for quick color reference and inspiration; a single three-ring binder with one color per full page of perforated chips to add to mood boards; and as full sheets of color that streamline communication, specification and evaluation throughout the production process.
The Metallic Shimmers color system follows the launch of Pantone’s color solution for polyester. In June, the company debuted 203 new colors curated for polyester materials for the athleisure, footwear, swim wear, sleep wear, home and fashion accessories markets.