Pantone’s Colour of the Year is usually a global signal, a preview of what shades people may gravitate towards. But 2026’s pick, a “billowy, balanced white” called Cloud Dancer, feels unusually intimate. It arrives at a moment suspended between overstimulation and exhaustion, a shade that feels like a welcoming, clean canvas amid complex times marked by grim, jarring notes.
This year’s choice belongs to a different lineage — one probably shaped by burnout, minimalism, and the craving for sensory relief. From an artistic point of view, Jitha Karthikeyan, visual artist, curator and art writer, shares, “As an artist, I have always seen shades of white as colours that symbolise calmness and minimalism. Pantone’s Colour of the Year Cloud Dancer is the perfect choice for 2026, in my opinion.”
Echoing the thought of many consumers like Jitha, the institution’s note announcing the colour states, “The cacophony that surrounds us has become overwhelming, making it harder to hear the voices of our inner selves. A conscious statement of simplification, Cloud Dancer enhances our focus, providing release from the distraction of external influences.”
After years of shades that asked us to feel something, this one simply asks us to pause and breathe. The reveal, however, split the internet instantly. Reactions swung from “this is just laundry white” to allegations of ‘white supremacy’. Actor and designer Poornima Indrajith was “surprised” when she first saw the announcement. Coming off a year that tilted toward maximalism, she feels the shift will test the industry.
The designers here engage at multiple levels with the global markets. Hence, there is a growing pressure to translate local material cultures into a language that global fashion systems recognise. These often short lived trends can sometimes act as a bridge, but they rarely emerge from our country’s own textile histories or craft logics. For creative director, designer, and artist, Purushu Arie, the effect of these colours have an impact beyond the fashion industry. He says, “Indian palettes are shaped by local materials, craft, labour, climate, culture and history, not by seasonal abstraction of aesthetics. The challenge is finding a balance between participating in global conversations and staying rooted, without allowing one to dilute the other.”
Chennai is one of the cities where these fashion trends do not usually have a direct impact. Purushu adds, “Chennai does not operate on the same fashion timeline as global capitals. It is shaped far more by its cultural memory, climate, and everyday pragmatism than by runway-driven trends. Western fashion movements typically reach Delhi and Mumbai long before they make their way into Chennai’s streets, and even then, they are absorbed selectively.”
Even so, Poornima sees an advantage: Indian wardrobes, unlike Western ones, rarely confine themselves to a single trendy colour. “We Indians are quite conditioned to colours. Our wardrobe is blessed with not having to stick to any particular shade even if that’s the colour trend — and that’s a saving grace for designers,” she smiles.
Drawing connections to the city, Purushu says, “Chennai may not be conventionally fashion forward, but it has a strong sense of individualism and personal style.”
Stylist and creator Veena Surendran reads the pick as “a reset point — the colour you reach for when the mind craves clarity in stillness”. Its versatility lies in how it brightens soft warm complexions, balances muted undertones and even suits high-contrast features. That adaptability makes it “not loud innovation, but quiet evolution”. It leans naturally gender-neutral, opening space for “structured co-ords for men, fluid drapes for women, and minimalist unisex silhouettes where form and texture do the talking”.
Veena believes the shade is far more intuitive than its online reputation suggests. “Our climate has always favoured breathable whites,” she notes. “And this softer tone lifts the complexion rather than washing it out, especially against warm-neutral undertones common across the country.” To keep it compelling, she recommends combinations like linen with raw silk, matte cotton with organza, tone-on-tone embroidery.
Going beyond fashion
Artist Shalini Menon sees the colour as “a blank canvas” that invites exploration. The shade, she says, “opens up a lot of opportunities and possibilities.” In a world crowded with stimuli, she values how the shade offers balance: “There is a bombardment of colours… this neutral shade does not influence you, but you can influence it.”
Poet and academic Syam Sudhakar approaches it philosophically. “The name sounds soothing and peaceful. I believe the hue was always here among us, long before Pantone declared it,” he says. Syam reflects on how meaning shifts for colour. “Red may symbolise danger to some, whereas a red rose symbolises love. I would stress this shade carries no racial reading. White is not a white man’s colour.” In his view, its role is simple and almost meditative: a presence that can “restore peace, even if briefly”.
On the contrary, culturally speaking, Jitha notes the colour has put individuals, especially women, in boxes, socially restricting them and reinforcing hierarchies. She says, “Although globally, white is regarded as a symbol of purity, in the Indian context, we also have a tradition of widows wearing white and then being shunned for their inauspicious presence.”
Nithya Mariam John, a poet and assistant professor of English, has a different take. “The very concept of assigning one particular colour to express a fresh start may also be homogenising,” she says. “Can one shade be considered an umbrella colour that paints millions of feelings about serenity, clarity, mindfulness and close reflection, all across the globe? White or not VIBGYOR, let us start afresh. That’s the bottomline.”
Inside homes, colour certainly takes on yet another function. Designer Midhun Babu finds serenity in the colour’s cosiness. “It has a soft, airy warmth that diffuses light gently,” he says, noting that unlike harsher whites, it stays stable in Indian lighting.
What ties these perspectives together is the shade’s ability to step back rather than stand out. Instead of demanding attention, it creates room — for interpretation, for texture, for quiet. Purushu sums it up by saying, “A Colour of the Year does not really ask to think differently. It asks them to keep up. The emphasis shifts from exploration to response time, from questioning to compliance.”
The story is reported by safahath C N, Sonu M Kothari of The New Indian Express
