As it is with New Year’s resolutions, so the fashion world begins the new year with a fresh start.  It is a re-set, if you will, on the color themes that will dominate clothing, accessories and interior decorating.  Just as in literature or art, the color of the year represents our social culture and what we are longing for at this time in our lives.

Last year’s key colors were rose quartz and serenity blue.  Both soft and inviting colors, they offered a sense of finding peace and calm in a chaotic world. While they did invite contemplation, both had blue undertones and an icy feel that lacked warmth.

According to Pantone, this year’s color is quite different.  Called Greenery, it has a yellow undertone and is drenched in warmth.  Green is the symbol for new life and rejuvenation.  Speaking about this color, the Pantone website describes it as “nature’s neutral” and goes on to explain, “the more submerged people are in modern life, the greater their innate craving to immerse themselves in the physical beauty and inherent unity of the natural world.”  So within this color is the recognition of a move in our society to seek newness but also to escape the cold, sterile city environments for the natural environment.

Coming from Wyoming, I have been blessed to grow up in a state that celebrates the natural and offers ample opportunity to experience it.  An avid backpacker, I have found that my annual trip with my husband offers a re-set to my soul that no other vacation can match.  There is something about exerting myself amid towering mountains and the smell of pine that cleanses my mind.  This is my “greenery,” if you will.

I recently read an article that shocked me.  We have a whole generation of children growing up who have never experienced the out doors.  New programs are sprouting up with the goal of giving children experiences in the natural world.  Many outdoors advocates are worried that if we sit by and do nothing, these children will one day be legislators voting about preserving our great outdoors with no knowledge of why we must protect them.  How sad.  Having grown up camping in the the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, I can’t imagine a childhood without those experiences.  At 45, I am not a child of the plugged in generation, but now more than ever, we need to get kids out in nature where they can separate themselves from their devices and remember what true imagination looks like.

So personally, I am so pleased to see that my industry is celebrating this very idea in the color that I will see gracing my store for the next twelve months.  I say, bring it on and implore you to get outdoors!