It’s called Cloud Dancer, and it promises “a whisper of tranquillity and peace in a noisy world.”
But actually, the real name of the Colour of the Year is…White.
…as White as the background these very words are printed on. As White as…the driven snow…and as White as Christmas because “May all your Christmases be Cloud Dancer” doesn’t really scan.
I don’t know what prompted the Pantone people to choose the one colour that billions of people loathe for reasons stretching back centuries, aside from giving their PR people the chance to see how well they could make a silk purse from an artisanal, authentic and alluring sow’s ear.
Like this, from the Colour of the Year website:
“Cloud Dancer, a lofty white that serves as a symbol of calming influence in a society rediscovering the value of quiet reflection. A billowy white imbued with serenity, PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer encourages true relaxation and focus, allowing the mind to wander and creativity to breathe, making room for innovation.”
Of course I’m not talking about White the colour being a bad choice for Colour of the Year as it applies to walls, and snowballs and billowy gowns, but White the colour as it applies to people. Which got me thinking just how many colours are banned from polite company when they describe certain people.
Of the 10 most popular colours in the world, three of them, Red, Yellow and Black are rife with racial politics. Then there’s Pink with sexual politics; Green with environmental politics; Blue with party politics; and Orange with religious politics. Only Gray seems to be free of mass formal politics though it’s been in medical politics for decades, as in “….turning gray.”
This means that nine of the world’s Top 10 colours signal something other than themselves when they’re mentioned or read.
That’s a lot. But the fear or favour of their use is nothing compared to the
one colour that some experts don’t even think is a colour, and that, of course, is
White.
But maybe that’s the point. White is shrinking — demographically, culturally, metaphorically. Choosing it now doesn’t feel aspirational; it feels downright archival, like naming Sepia the Colour of the Year at the dawn of Kodachrome.
Maybe Pantone didn’t mean harmony at all. Perhaps they meant elegy: a quiet, tasteful white space where something once was.
So…may all your Christmases be Cloud Dancer.
Meanwhile…
1. 52 things I learned in 2025. Tom Whitwell’s annual list of odd and beguiling facts is, at age 3, a worldwide phenom. Here’s this year’s edition, including…”A gram of silica gelhas almost the same surface area as two basketball courts…” and, “51% of the animals in farms across the world are shrimp”…and “…food spending drops 5% in households where at least one person is on Ozempic or other GLP-1 drugs.”
Speaking of compilations, here are 12 years of plants growing…in 20 minutes. All you dragon fruit, walnut and stone pine fans, go wild.
2. Exactly and officially how the U.S. scorns Europe – and us. The White House released its new National Security Strategy last week. It’s worth reading if only as a reminder of how fast revisionist history is written these days, i.e. “America is strong and respected again – and because of that, we are making peace all over the world.” Here’s the European and Canadian bits to chew over, plus Henry Farrell’s critique of how America has become its own worst enemy.
3. The past sits patiently in our pockets…“waiting to be tapped open. Old songs, old pictures and old videos. All available in seconds. Nowhere is the digital revolution’s impact on nostalgia more apparent than in the BBC Archive.”
4. How travel can grow your soul next year. Jean and I love taking our friends on big trips to fresh places. Next summer we’ll be doing the same. These three holidays share the hallmark of all Bob&Jean trips: we never just do one thing.
5. Robert Moses hated public transit. The result is the Port Authority Bus Terminal.Moses would have really not liked Frank Gehry, though he would have loved these transmission lines. Plus, how the devil hates the next generation. New York loves its iconic driving instructor. Some people love the first night of their marriage. Others love to crash Indian weddings. Still others yearn to keep their love alive.
6. Santa Claus is coming to town. Dave Barry’s gift list ranges from a toilet mirrorand Norwegian fish balls, to the world’s manliest mug and a big red car bow. The tonier list from The New Yorker includes a pocket-sized AI gizmo, an in-home hologram machine, and human-sized robot servants…up to a tech-addiction breaker and Meta Ray-Ban Glasses.
The toniest list of all comes from The Financial Times’ HTSI (How To Spend It), and includes Franchi Seeds seed packets, Fortnum & Mason honey bears, and a 1960 Aston Martin (£435,000).
At the other end of the dollar-teeter-totter, is…mac and cheese.
7. The good, the ad and the ugly. Typewriter artist unpacks Central Park. John Lewis, the Brit department store chain, has a gift for Christmas adverts. Normal people vs. influencers, eating cake. When are belts no longer belts? When they’re waistwear. What AI talks about when it talks about AI. GAP goes 0% cashmere; 100% vegan leather. Plus how to prepare lunch for 100. And what to do when a loved-one is grabbed off the street.
8. If they can scam them, they can scam us. Last year, Charlotte Cowles, New York Magazine’s financial advice columnist, put $50,000 in a shoebox and handed it to a stranger. Last month, Yascha Mounk got a call from someone on the “Google Safety Team.” It didn’t go well.
Speaking of truth, a nostalgic view of when fact-checking meant something.
9. Carol Season officially begins…with Little Drummer Boy. Then morphs into Firelight Jig, then changes gear at a Christmas version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.Then goes completely over the top with Renée Fleming and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Speaking of music, this concert pianist lost 100 pounds in a year…and this version of “Rhapsody in Blue” is…new.
10. The perils of high-functioning depression. Seeking joy through work can become joyless when it becomes, as my mother would say, too much of a muchness. Maybe it’s better to just give in by giving things up.