Did you hear? This year, the world was handed a white and told it was the future. The internet LOUDLY disagreed and reached, almost in unison, for something richer: aubergine, teal, burgundy, deep indigo. The jewel tones came back.
We think the pushback was right, but for a reason no one's saying out loud. The problem was never just the shade. It was the source. A color chosen in a boardroom and handed down to millions will always feel borrowed, because it is. Color doesn't work that way. It never has - it belongs to fruit, earth, sky, trees, and sea. It belongs to all of us.
Color is lived before it's named. For example, the deepest indigo in the world wasn't invented by an oversight committee; it has stained fingers in Asia for centuries, was dyed by hand in the Sea Islands, and was carried across an ocean in memory. Aubergine isn't a trend; it's the color of fruit you may never eat, of dusk and twilight, of specific places that specific people call home.
So instead of crowning singular colors, we are doing the opposite. We name them and show them in their best light so you can make them yours. Here are three jewel-toned palettes from our library, each saturated, each yours to choose, and each with a named credit.
Haudenosaunee Wampum, inspired by the purple and white wampum beads of Haudenosaunee treaty belts, records of covenant worked in shell.
Mardi Gras Velvet Night, deep violet, purple, gold; reflecting the purple and gold of Mardi Gras Indian suits hand-beaded over months, worn once.
Patagonia Glacier Wind, glacier blue, pale aqua, deep teal; echoing icy blues and windswept landscapes of southern Patagonia.
A single overlord doesn't decree color. It's lived experience. Pick the one that's already yours or be open to seeing something new.
Shop The Palettes
FACT: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) wampum belts, made from white and purple quahog shell beads, are sacred diplomatic documents. The Two-Row Wampum Belt records the 1613 treaty between the Haudenosaunee and Dutch settlers.
The palm frond and tropical leaf motif appears across cultures that share tropical geography. In Caribbean tradition, it represents abundance and resilience. In Pacific Island bark cloth (tapa), it marks ceremonial occasions. In West African kanga, it signals connection to the natural world.
Technique
Printed onto cotton using woodblock or screen printing. In Pacific Island traditions, designs are beaten into bark cloth using carved wooden beaters.
Cultural significance
Tropical frond patterns are deeply diasporic patterns; they connect communities whose ancestors were displaced from tropical homelands to their geographic and cultural roots.
0 commentaire