Pantone, the self-styled color experts, have been predicting a “color of the year” since 1999. Their pick for what everyone will be wearing, wanting, eating and otherwise consuming in 2026: Cloud Dancer, officially PANTONE 11-4201. Either way, it’s a pretty fancy name for … white. Or “a symbol of calming influence in a frenetic society” as well as “a blank canvas” on which we can all start again.

Have they gotten it right? Reporters for the Styles desk sat down to debate. Let us know what you think in the comments.

VANESSA FRIEDMAN The announcement heralding Cloud Dancer as next year’s color features a woman, all in white, looking dreamily into a cloud-filled sky. Serenity is clearly the vibe. But given the recent political discourse, when I hear “white,” less salubrious associations also leap to my mind — ones that I doubt Pantone took into consideration but that could be twisted to pretty uncomfortable ends.

CALLIE HOLTERMANN It’s certainly a conspicuous choice following a year in which D.E.I. programs have been dismantled and the party in power has been debating how friendly to be with a white nationalist. That may not be what Pantone means by “peace, unity and cohesiveness,” but I have to imagine it will come up for some viewers.

ALEX VADUKUL In terms of meaning, I wonder if there are some clues in its title: Cloud Dancer. What’s going on there? Sounds like a 1980s one-hit wonder track.

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