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You are here: Home / Essays / Why Brown Deserves a Place with The Colors of the Year for 2021

Why Brown Deserves a Place with The Colors of the Year for 2021

January 12, 2021 By Lindsay Curren

A 1960s Jack Valentine fabric in ultimate gray, blue, and rich brown.

Designers, makers, curators, bloggers, and boutique owners have been abuzz with news of Pantone’s 2021 “colors of the year.” Even venues like Etsy issued their own “color of the year,” too.

Pantone went with two colors this year — “illuminating yellow” and “ultimate gray.”

Etsy settled on sky blue.

Both style-making authorities cited optimism in choosing uplifting colors, though Pantone said the gray, “provide(s) a firm foundation.” Still, one wonders if optimism can just be forced right now, that we can “fake it till we make it?”

A rosy outlook can help keep your spirits up when you most need it. But too much optimism at the wrong moment risks looking out of touch. A depressing reality can feel that much grimmer if an overly hopeful picture doesn’t quite pan out.

Americans are an UP people. But there needs to be a bit more balance these days to guard against toxic positivity, or optimism at all costs.

Full Disclosure — I Wasn’t In The Room

So at the risk of sounding like an upstart, I’m going to take issue with both outlets’ colors, but only in the spirit of good fun.

I get it that, like Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, years of expertise and multiple factors converge when tastemakers set the style tone for the times. (See this video excerpt of Miranda really laying into Andy over the color origins of her cerulean sweater.)

Yet even with a few years of style prescience baked in, unexpected immediate events can play a role in switching up the mood, fundamentally altering the color-feeling state by what’s really happening.

That’s why, unlike Pantone, I don’t see ultimate gray as creating a “firm foundation” right now. Or at least not one for this time and this historic moment.

Gray is like a rainy day, the planet Neptune, brain fog, and diffuseness. Rocks issue in gray, which some might interpret as gravitas. But when we’re in a landscape dominated by rock outcroppings it’s usually more moon-feeling, thus a little too dreamy for the larger moment at hand.

I love Pantone’s ultimate gray, but while it has a place in our times, it’s not the color story we need most right now.

I Lift up My Eyes to the Hills

Like so many people in these turbulent times, I too want to feel optimistic. I’m actually kind of eternally optimistic, probably a result of a strong faith life, a generally sanguine outlook, and being American.

And I love yellow like nobody’s business.

So as for illuminating yellow and Etsy’s sky blue offering a much needed upward glance on a buoyant horizon, I’m all in. Add this to Pantone’s ultimate gray lending a bit of softness around the edges of life right now, toning down all the yucky stuff, and I can work with it. Totally.

But there’s a marked lack of grounding here, the element of earth utterly missing.

It’s my style argument that on color that —groundedness — is what’s needed more than anything else in the world right now.

The Earth Beneath My Feet

A Scalamandré Silks cotton sateen chinoiserie in rich brown tones.

In a culture too mired in lies, hotheaded opinions, rash action, and passions run amok, I believe we’re desperately in need right now of standing on terra firma, Earth, the humble ground of truth and consequences.

As the surreal and insane 2020 drew to a close, I actually expected wholeheartedly that a brown — with some kind of zeitgeist-nailing name of course — WAS going to be hailed as the color of the year. I was heartily shocked for calling that so wrong.

Or maybe they called it so wrong.

So as Lady Virginia I’m issuing my upstart decree to formally-informally allow brown as an honorary color of the year for 2021.

Stability. Reliability. Groundedness. Reality. Yielding. Humble. Fertile. Rich. Nurturing.

Yes, the ground can sometimes give way to earthquakes — there’s always a risk of ungroundedness in the acceptance of the unknowns in life. But we have to know that and yet move past it right now.

The real earthy theme is looking for common ground, planting seeds in the generous earth, and nurturing the fertile field we’ve laid. This sets the tone for harvesting our highest yield.

Sure this takes sun — illuminating yellow — and rain, from sky blue mixed with ultimate gray. But the place where it takes place is the ground beneath our feet.

On the prosaic side we simply need to get out of our fanciful, spacey, Internet-addled minds and put one simple foot in front of the other, the ground on which we stand. That, and no more crazy.

The Ground of Reality

For giggles some proposed names for this perfect brown are:

  • Ground — an uncomplicated assertion of where we stand.
  • Pecan — it’s got a hint of “we can.”
  • Russet — more than the potato, this slightly reddish brown imparts spark and energy to the otherwise quiet brown.
  • Espresso — we all get the depth of this, and the energy. Our brains come together around espresso, and all the comfort that is coffee.
  • Mushroom — calling it “Mycelium Brown” would be too confusing but mushroom hits the hint, that the intelligence of fungi, coupled with its extraordinary communication ability, sprouting up unexpectedly, is just the kind of psychic power that’s needed right now. A little bit — but not too much — and only the right kind, of woo woo.

Whatever you call it, I believe brown has a vital, fecund, stabilizing, and encouraging role to play in 2021. In that spirit, here’s some great vintage fabrics from my shop with Lady Virginia’s Color(s) of the Year — Newfoundland Browns:

  • scalamandrechinoiserie
    Gorgeous Scalamandré Silks cotton sateen chinoiserie.
  • browncoloroftheyear
    Rich browns give weight to a topsy-turvy year.
  • BassettMcNabRobertLesterRipple
    A Robert Lester Mid Century brown striped linen fabric for Bassett McNab.
  • baileyandgriffinpekinfabric
    Bailey and Griffin "Pekin"chinoiserie fabric.
  • bailey&griffinchiswickfabric
    Bailey & Griffin "Chiswick" fabric.
  • brownchintz
    Gorgeous browns on a lovely taupeish background from the late 60s/early 70s.
  • brunschwig&filsmoghalfabric
    Stunning Brunschwig & Fils Moghul fabric is among the most stunning in my collection and features a rich brown background.
  • davidanddashsarifabric
    This Mid Century David and Dash features a graphically intense peacock pattern on a deep brown background.
  • Bailey&GriffinWeymouthFabric
    Color pops off of the brown background of "Weymouth," a vintage Bailey & Griffin chintz.
  • browndragonfabric
    a 5th Avenue Designs fabric featuring a dragon ensconced in an earthen brown lair.
  • brunschwig&filsfabric
    Pecan browns define the vertical stripes of this Brunschwig & Fils piece with nods to 18th century fabric design.
  • BassettMcNabFoliageFabric
    Deep brown provides the groundedness on which beauty and fertility thrive.
  • clarencehousefabric
    Buried in the details, brown adds depth to multi-hued designs, as in this hand printed Clarence House Karachi fabric.
  • chocolatejerseyfabric
    Even a simple jersey as for a wrap dress conveys grounding and joy when rendered in brown.
  • clocksfabric
    A 1950s cotton fabric with a novelty clock print gains structure from its brown background.
  • davidanddashfabric
    A 1960s David and Dash with russet brown highlights to the tiny Jacobean flowers.
  • duraleefabric
    This Duralee Fabrics cotton velveteen offers an array of sumptuous browns.
  • equestrianfabric
    This Greeff Fabrics equestrian fabric features sturdy brown horses and an overall setting of earthy brown.
  • greeffbavierfabric
  • equestrianfabrics
    A stunning 1940s equestrian fabric barkcloth with a range of lovely browns.
  • greeffalcottfabric
    Rich browns meld with ultimate gray and illuminating yellow for a fabric of rare elegance and splendor.
  • greeffdancingfiguresfabric
    A documentary piece, this Greeff Fabrics toile features a nutty brown background with a luminescent quality.
  • greeffmoreaufabric
    From the Westerfield Collection, this Greeff piece offers browns in multi-hued profusion.
  • greeffsemerufabric
    While this Mid Century exotic piece of fabric with its Indonesian nods features lots of color it all happens on a deep brown background
  • jasonwesterfieldfabric
    From the famous Peggy Westerfield Collection, this Greeff Fabrics and Henry Ford Museum reproduction was named after Peg's husband, "Jason Westerfield."
  • JackValentinePinkBrownFloralFabric
    Actually one of my favorite pieces, the browns mixed with the pinks and grays in this fabric make it a standout on all fronts.
  • jackvalentinefabric
    Browns and blues make a striking interplay in this mid century bird chintz by Jack Valentine Designs.
  • jofabirdfabric
    Browns from tawny to chocolate in this Jofa Fabrics piece from the 1950s.
  • leejofaasianimmortalsfabric
    A lee Jofa chinoiserie in a lovely musical theme is rooted in its various browns.
  • luthertravisfabric
    A 1970s Luther Travis piece features the loveliest muted brown background.
  • moghulfabric
    A 1960s S. M. Hexter linen features Moghul figures in blues and greens tied together with various browns.
  • scalamandrefabric
    Subtle brown color notes define this Scalamandré linen in 18th century decorative motifs.
  • smhexternegrafabric
    "Negra," a mid century S. M. Hexter offers graphic design drama on the high seas tied together by mocha browns.
  • schumacherblenheimfabric
    Metallic bronze is featured in this vintage Schumacher linen.
  • schumachersukaratafabric
    A fantastic piece, the chartreuse and brown pops on "Sukarat," a vintage Schumacher fabric.
  • smhexterfabric
    This piece screams, "the 1960s." Am. S. M. Hexter in cotton velveteen with brown at the center.
  • schumachertradewindsfabric
    An exquisite brown background called "cocoa," on "Trade Winds," a vintage Schumacher cotton sateen.
— Lady Virginia, Lady Virginia Vintage 

Filed Under: Essays Tagged With: #AmericasGotProblems, color, consumerism, happiness, lifestyles, shopping, simplicity, vintage fabric, vintage fabrics

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