Coloro x WGSN introduce the Key Colours for S/S 26

Key Colours for S/S 26
Art by Lena Charobay [IG: @charobay] for WGSN
May 08, 2024
Categories
Colour

Discover the colours that will resonate across all industries and regions in S/S 26 and beyond, plus our pick of the five Key Colours for the season. Want to know more? Watch our on-demand Coloro x WGSN webinar: Key Colors S/S26: Color Redirected through this link.

2026 will be a year of redirection, when old ideas will be challenged as people push for urgent change in how we treat our societies, arrange our industries and work with our environments. For colour, this will be reflected in a mix of urgent brights, earthy and offbeat naturals, and calming tinted tones.

Transformative Teal

Art by Lena Charobay [IG: @charobay] for WGSN
Transformative Teal / Art by Lena Charobay [IG: @charobay] for WGSN

Colour of the Year 2026, Transformative Teal aligns with the eco-accountability that will increasingly be demanded by consumers. It is a fluid fusion of blue and green that recognises the diversity of nature and an Earth-first mindset, helping build resilience in the face of complex climate changes. It reflects a new outlook on biology that can be organic or synthetic, natural or post-natural, depending on what is ultimately best for the planet

This blue-green shade is cooling, calming and restorative, with a transformative and regenerative character inspired by redirecting our efforts to find collective and novel solutions for our planet. It evokes ‘the overview effect’ coined by space philosopher Frank White, which expresses the life-changing experience of witnessing our home planet from space.

Electric Fuchsia

Art by Lena Charobay [IG: @charobay] for WGSN
Electric Fuchsia / Art by Lena Charobay [IG: @charobay] for WGSN

Electric Fuchsia is a vivid neon with a kinetic and digital quality. This luminous hue, sitting between pink and purple, has its heart in progressive and provocative attitudes, rallying into themes of Rebellious Resistance.

Against a backdrop of anger and frustration at social disparities, Electric Fuchsia brings a nuanced edge as frivolity becomes a necessity in everyday life. It has an exhilarating and intoxicating effect, fuelling a sense of escapism, but it is also unnerving and unsettling, playing into post-human aesthetics sparked by synthetic creativity.

With AI continuing to challenge perceptions of what’s real, Electric Fuchsia is a trippy and psychedelic neon that brings a multisensory edge to our virtual future.

Blue Aura

Art by Lena Charobay [IG: @charobay] for WGSN
Blue Aura / Art by Lena Charobay [IG: @charobay] for WGSN

Blue Aura is a tinted pastel with a soothing yet modern character. This serene greyed blue has a healing quality as its name suggests, inspired by light and shade. It can be layered or left unfinished and applied to the trend for designing with light. It has a shimmering, vaporous quality that touches on biodegradable designs that disappear as well as recycled industrial waste or tinted plaster.

Fluid in tonality and application, Blue Aura is gender-inclusive and transseasonal. It is cosy and cocooning but also futuristic and industrial, and we see it being used in velvet as well as finishes that range from powdered and sheer to anodised, metallic and lacquered.

Amber Haze

Art by Lena Amber Haze / Charobay [IG: @charobay] for WGSN
Amber Haze / Art by Lena Charobay [IG: @charobay] for WGSN

Amber Haze is a green-toned yellow with a rich and radiant quality that feels both embracing and energising. It has an aged appeal reminiscent of stones and crystals, connecting with the search for spirituality and guidance as people look to ancient wisdom in times of uncertainty.

Amber Haze has a slightly strange and bewitching quality that will appeal in a world of screen-based, digitally disconnected lifestyles, encouraging us to slow down and pay attention to regenerative resources.

This primal hue also draws inspiration from more earthy themes and long-term lifespans, being a colour and material with both a long past and a futuristic outlook. It aligns with the search for more sustainable ways to create colour, as designers and brands explore ancient, earthy pigments and processes.

Jelly Mint

Jelly Mint / Art by Lena Charobay [IG: @charobay] for WGSN
Jelly Mint / Art by Lena Charobay [IG: @charobay] for WGSN

Jelly Mint is a buoyant hue with a youthful quality. This hue propels us to embrace all things ‘kawaii’ (cute), appealing to kidult consumers and the cartoonification of product design. Its power lies in its ability to not only challenge the norm, but to transform it. Once considered infantile, unserious and inconsequential, cuteness has been revealed to be one of the most influential forces in contemporary culture.

Jelly Mint is a nostalgic and playful hue feeding into the theme of Glimmers – the micro moments of joy that shine through to reframe our thinking, which can help us feel calm, build resilience and boost mental health. Play with this colour's otherworldly and digital escapist character by applying it to bio-resins, iridescent finishes and glass.

About the Coloro code:

We decode colour as the human eye sees it – by hue, lightness and chroma. 

Each of our 3,500 colours is specified by a unique seven-digit code, representing the point where hue, lightness and chroma intersect, allowing you to organise and analyse colour like never before. The Coloro logic provides creatives with a new way to objectively view colour and create responsible palettes with longevity. 

About Coloro:

Coloro is the new way to work with colour. Pairing unlimited colour, with complete control, our logical colour system gives designers the freedom to create and execute colour with total confidence.

Coloro provides unlimited actionable colour opportunities — all logically organised and easily searchable by hue, lightness and chroma. Move from indigo to teal in a breeze, knowing every colour represented could define the next sellout product. The Coloro Universal Color System works everywhere, on everything, with everyone, making sure you start every project with the world’s most accurate colour system, trusted by leading brands and innovators. 

Discover more on coloro.com

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