The Color of the Year" is "radiant orchid"

At a time when anything goes in fashion, Pantone's heavily marketed "Color of the Year" announcement can raise eyebrows. These days, there is no 'It' hem length or cut or wash of jeans. So is there still any such thing as the color?..

Pantone, owned by Washington, D.C.-based Danaher Corp., each year polls graphic, industrial, fashion and other designers around the world, as well as manufacturers and retailers, asking what colors they plan to use in coming seasons. A color committee made up of Pantone executives and clients makes a pick based on the surveys, sales of color swatches and its experts' opinions.

By the time Pantone unveils its color of the year, designs for the year ahead are already in the works. But given the company's insider access—which amounts to a cheat sheet from style leaders—its choice tends to show insight. Emerald really did turn out to be a big color last year, and so did the red-orange "tangerine tango" the year before...

Ms. Eiseman hastens to note that odd color pairings are popular today. She declares this a new era in color, where people's clothes and even kitchen appliances are no longer matchy-matchy, and radiant orchid can share space on the counter with 2010's turquoise and other shades.

More at the Wall Street Journal, where you can see what "radiant orchid" looks like.

If you care.  (I'll be wearing blue, brown, green, and white.  For the seventh decade in a row.)