September 30, 1997

from Pantone, Inc.

October's Color Combination: PANTONE® 1998-16 C and PANTONE 1998-28 C from PANTONE ColorTrends™ 1998.

Together, misty rose and Montana grape are transitional colors that move us gently from one season to the next. As we are not ready to let go of summer, these colors ease us into fall, without jumping into the riot of autumnal color. The misty rose is a quieting down of summer color, while the Montana grape is an opening of new vistas, in anticipation of what the winter will bring.

Note: RGB values are given here as percentages based on a scale of 100. PC users will want to convert those values to percentages of a scale of 255.

Misty Rose

Color

PANTONE 1998 - 16 C

Ink Formula:

PANTONE Yellow	6.6
PANTONE Rubine Red	5.7
PANTONE Reflex Blue	1.7
PANTONE Trans. Wt.	86.0

CMYK equivalents: Cyan: 10, Magenta: 30, Yellow: 25, Black: 5

RGB (percentages based on a scale of 100): R:79, G:67, B:62

HTML: CBAC9F

(Editor's note: Remember that the PANTONE Misty Rose color differs from the X11 color MistyRose, which has an HTML value of FFE4E1.)

Montana Grape

Color:

PANTONE 1998-28 C

Ink Formula:

PANTONE Yellow	7.9
PANTONE Rubine Red	1.1
PANTONE Violet	18.9
PANTONE Black	6.3
PANTONE Trans. Wt.	65.8

CMYK equivalents: Cyan: 40, Magenta: 50, Yellow: 0, Black: 50

RGB (percentages based on a scale of 100): R: 41, G: 32, B: 41

HTML: 6B546B

Facts relating to the pink and purple

The PANTONE Consumer Color Preference Study tells us that purple is now third on the list of America's favorite colors. It follows blue as #1, green as #2, and nudges red to fourth place.

The Maharajah of Jaipur was so enamored with the color pink that he constructed an entire pink city. Miles and miles of pink buildings were contrasted only by splashes of brilliant green on the doors. Did the clever Maharajah know that by decreeing complementary green accents, his pink city appeared to be even pinker?

In the 1890s a popular violet powder came on the market. Made of arrow root, orris root, oil of cinnamon, lavender, and extracts of violet and musk, it was applied with a powder puff. Women were assured that it could be used with "charming results upon the neck and arms."

Do you ever wonder why pink is referred to as a lighter tint of red, but red is never referred to as a darker shade of pink? It's because the reference point in color starts with the focal or "mother" color. Red is the matriarch, and all the pink offspring emanate from her.

De rigueur at the Ritz: Renowned hotelier Madame Ritz had one rule that always brought her guests back again and again . . . "In doing a room, always line your lampshades in pink."

The color that most exemplified turn-of-the-century fashion luxe was in the purple family -- mauve, as the French called it. The Impressionists particularly loved the complementary coupling of mauves and yellows. This lush combination later became the symbol of Art Nouveau.

Of all the colors in the spectrum, purples are the most complex. They are called psychologically oscillating - a marriage of red's passion and blue's tranquility, two divergent emotions existing within the same hue.

In Kabalaism, an ancient form of Judaism, color symbolism was significant. It was believed that combining the strength of red and the mercy of blue led to the foundation of purple, the basis of all that is.

In early Christianity, purple was symbolic of endurance and penitence, and was later worn by many orders of nuns.

The presence of light violet in the human aura has long been interpreted as spirituality.

Until the invention of aniline dyes in the 19th century, purple was the most expensive color for cloth because it came from a rare mollusca. It was so pricey that only those of noble blood could afford it. To be "born to the purple" literally meant to be born to wealth.

When chemical dyes became more readily available and affordable in the 1860s, women luxuriated in wearing purple. However, because it faded so quickly when exposed to light, many women were reduced to "turning" their purple garments. Literally picking the stitches out, turning the clothes inside out and re-sewing them so that they could get more wear out of them.

As a reaction to the garish purples brought on by the chemical dyes, purples were softened by the end of the 19th century. The era of the "swooning mauves" and Lalique's amazing Art Nouveau dragonfly designs, typically executed in orchids and opals, was ushered in.

At various times, the amethyst gemstone has been a protection against evil and a cure for insomnia. In Greek, amethyst means "not drunk." Legend has it that the color of ecclesiastic rings were amethyst, not solely for religious symbolism, but to protect the wearer from imbibing too much of the fermented grape.

In nature, purple is most abundant in flowers. Most of the color's nomenclature comes from flowers: violet, lavender, mauve, lilac, orchid, cyclamen, pansy.

The regal connotations to purple have hung on through the years for many socioeconomic levels. In The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, the main character, Celia, chooses a dress for her friend and mentor, Shug. She says: "I think what color I should wear. She like a queen to me, so I say . . . somethin' purple . . . "

 

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