Happy New Year babes!!! I’m so excited for a new day, year and decade and couldn’t think of a better way to kick off the new year than with the 2020 color of the year: classic blue.

I’ve always thought it would be an incredibly fun job to play with color all day long and even more fun to choose the color of the year, which, if you haven’t heard, for 2020 is classic blue. When I worked for Belk years ago, I did trend forecasting. Part of that role was working with all of the product development teams on private brands and choosing the color palette for each brand’s monthly and seasonal deliveries. From there, we worked the line out into basics and fashion and so on. If you want to know more about product development and private brands. Let me know in the comments. I’m happy to dive deeper in a separate post. For now, to keep it brief, I’ll just say that it was amazing. I’ve never been so overjoyed as I was when I stood in front of the color chip wall trying to find just the perfect shade and matching it back to the right brand. My job title has changed a bit since then but my love for color remains.

Two years ago I shared a post on how to wear ultraviolet. I loved dedicating a post on the color of the year and plan to make it a regular thing here on RH. I did skip over last year’s color because I’m not a fan of anything coral and Living Coral just wasn’t hitting on much for me. I also think it’s a very difficult shade for most people to wear. I do realize that some of you may like colors I don’t, so I promise I’ll do better about being more objective here on out.

Lucky for me, any shade of blue is high on my list of favorites so I’m very excited that Classic Blue is the 2020 color of the year. In addition to sharing some of my favorite blue looks, I wanted to chat a little bit about why the color of the year is so important and why it matters. I’ve also rounded up all the classic blue items you can shop right now.

Color of the Year + Pantone + About Classic Blue

Some of you may be wondering, “what’s the big deal?!” Let me tell you about it, both from my perspective and from the industry professionals. Pantone has been selecting a color of the year for 20 years now. The Color of the Year is chosen to represent a moment in time. Each color is a reflection of what is going on in pop culture, politics, and economics. Laurie Pressman, the VP of the Pantone Color Institute, which selects the color of the year, said classic blue “Is a color that anticipates what’s going to happen next. What is the future going to bring as we move into the evening hours?” I would ask, what is going to happen as we move deeper into the next decade? We are undoubtedly in a very unstable environment right now and I can’t help but wonder if the world is going to fall apart before my child makes it to college. CNN reported, “The Pantone Color Institute said [in comparison to Y2K] it recognized similar feelings of instability gripping the world today, from the United States to the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Syria and across the globe. It settled on a shade that offers the reassurance, confidence, and connection that people may be searching for in an uncertain global milieu.”

In their official announcement of the color, Pantone said, “Imprinted in our psyches as a restful color, Classic Blue brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the human spirit, offering refuge. Aiding concentration and bringing laser-like clarity, Classic Blue re-centers our thoughts. A reflective blue tone, Classic Blue fosters resilience.” I couldn’t’ have said it better myself. As a born lover of all the blue shades, this classic hue serves as a neutral and base color for so much. It is a calming color and, in terms of fashion, a way to wear color without wearing too much color.

Importance of the COY

The color of the year has been a staple in multiple industries for the past 20 years. The color experts at Pantone look to several different sources for inspiration and consideration when deciding on the next color. They look globally at films in production, traveling art collections, new artists, fashion, all areas of design, popular travel destinations, as well as new lifestyles, playstyles, socio-economic conditions, technologies, materials, textures, and effects that impact color, relevant social media platforms, and worldwide sporting events. In turn, the color of the year then impacts all of those things as it becomes a more defined trend. Over the course of the year and the next design cycle, the color of the year will emerge more and more and before you know it, classic blue or other similar shade has replaced millennial pink as the new “it” color.

Halo Effect

As with any major color trend, there is going to be a halo effect from classic blue. Millennial pink grew into all pink and brought the much-loved lavender onto the fashion radar. You can definitely expect to see a surge in all things navy blue and maybe even teal as classic blue, in more general terms, is closest to navy blue but with a green undertone. I predict navy blue will be huge and will have an even bigger moment than it already does as a staple and love of many already. Key complementing colors will also grow in popularity as accessories (fashion & home) will enter the market to go with the blue staples. Look for rich greens, more lavender, citrus colors and of course, white.

More Blue & Classic Blue Looks