And the 2023 Pantone Color of the Year Is…Viva Magenta

Magenta magic: This shade is a perfect match for reddish gemstones like rubellite and spinel.

Welcome to a new year and a new hue. Pantone, the global arbiter of color, revealed its shade for 2023 in a livestream from December’s Art Basel Miami show: an “animated red” titled Viva Magenta. 

The enormous changes the world has undergone in the past few years have shaken up the status quo, said Pantone Color Institute vice president Laurie Pressman at the launch. She called Viva Magenta — aka Pantone 18-1750 — a bold color “that highlights our change of perception…and helps us to face a new pathway with confidence.” 

Other adjectives people have applied to this chosen hue — which will now dominate palettes across the design world — include optimistic, empowering, audacious, witty, rebellious and inclusive. Pressman described it as a balance of cool and warm tones, “a hybrid color that comfortably straddles the physical and the virtual, evocative of our multi-dimensional world.”   

The choice is welcome news for jewelers. With undertones that take inspiration from nature, this berry red is most certainly what one would call a classic jewel tone. As such, there are many natural gems that can effortlessly mimic its earthy vibrancy, including rubellite, spinels, rubies and sapphires. Expect to see it everywhere.

Image: A digital artwork by Huge, titled Magentaverse. (Huge/Pantone)