Viva Magenta Is Pantone's "Powerful and Empowering" Colour of the Year for 2023

Feeling bold to start 2023? Brave? Fearless? Ready to take on a new year, embrace life and show your spirit? That's the standard January vibe, but this year has a colour to match: Viva Magenta, aka the hue of the year according to the Pantone Colour Institute.

Each year, Pantone's colour experts pick a tone for the 12 months ahead. As announced back in December 2022 but supremely relevant now that 2023 is actually here, its latest selection is Pantone 18-1750. This hue from the red family — a colour that Pantone says "vibrates with vim and vigour" — is meant to both set the trend for and sum up the year ahead.

Pantone is never short on words for its picks of the year, and has also dubbed this tone as "a pulsating colour whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative".

Viva Magenta is meant to be powerful and empowering, too, and a colour that "revels in pure joy, encouraging experimentation and self-expression without restraint — an electrifying and a boundaryless shade that is manifesting as a standout statement".

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"Viva Magenta welcomes anyone and everyone with the same verve for life and rebellious spirit. It is a colour that is audacious, full of wit and inclusive of all," Pantone's announcement continues.

Explaining the decision, Pantone Colour Institute Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman said that the tone has a natural, primordial, galvanising feel to it. "Viva Magenta descends from the red family, and is inspired by the red of cochineal, one of the most precious dyes belonging to the natural dye family as well as one of the strongest and brightest the world has known."

Expect to see all things Viva Magenta popping up around the place throughout 2023, with Pantone suggesting how it can be used in fashion and accessories, home decor, design and beauty, too.

The new shade takes over from 2022's Very Peri, and 2021's Ultimate Gray and vibrant yellow Illuminating before that. In 2020, Pantone went with Classic Blue, while 2019's colour was Living Coral, 2018's was Ultra Violet and 2017's was Greenery.