In Living Coral

The only color I ever saw fit to write a whole blog post about was salmon—the pastel hue that lies somewhere in the no-man's (but not, apparently, no-fish's!) land between pink and orange. In that post, I also mentioned that its darker, more intense sister is commonly known as coral. I complained, in fact, that my personal idea of what the color coral should look like seemed to differ greatly from the more popular usage, which reserved coral mostly for deep, orange-tinged reds. Well, the debate is finally over, because in 2019, Pantone's color of the year is "Living Coral."

Pantone describes this color as a "coral hue with a golden undertone," which is a not-so-helpful circular definition. But if we go beyond words to analyze the color swatch and the background hues on Pantone's color page, I can say pretty confidently that coral – at least this shade of it – is a slightly reddish orange that leans ever so slightly toward the pastel end of the tonal range. Eat that, all you product peddlers who've been using the term without my approval to describe a deep vermilion!

As in 2018, this year I wanted my very first outfit to feature Pantone's Color of the Year; and, as in 2018, I waited until the second day of the year to actually do it. The only really coral thing in my closet – a pair of crisply creased crêpe slacks (tongue twister not intended!) – was much better suited to the office than a New Year's Day breakfast.

Whatever could not be coral in today's look had to be neutral, so I donned a flesh-toned sweater and matching nude shoes. For jewelry, I chose the only other truly coral item in my collection: my 3-D filigree necklace. I like to think the swirling, branching design somewhat resembles the structure of a live coral colony.

The sweater is slightly see-through, and I'm glad it is, because it forced me to add a camisole underneath. That opened an opportunity to diversify my color choices! Since the pants and necklace were more on the pink side of things, the soft orange hue of the cami helped realign my color palette closer to its Living Coral theme. And of course, a touch of sequin is never unwelcome!

Once again, my hair quite coincidentally participated in the theme—while yesterday I claimed that it had faded to pink, in full-spectrum lighting, it clearly still sports an orange tint. All this time I've been calling my hair "orangey-pink," and I could have just called it "coral!"

I was about to finish off the look with some unobtrusive gold stud earrings when I noticed these goldfish on the rack nearby. My mental gears started clanking: my color scheme was orange; so were these fish. Fish live in the ocean; so does coral! I had unwittingly stumbled on the cleverest accessory to complete my ensemble, representing the theme not only in color but also motif! What luck!

I said it yesterday, and I'll say it again—2019 is going to be a great year!