Helen Barrett, fashion journalist, wrote recently about how colours affect mood, especially during a pandemic:

“Locked down at home and recovering from Covid-19 in the dark of winter, the old rules no longer made sense. Late last year, I found myself drawn to Stella McCartney’s Kind Intarsia jumper – a deranged, psychedelic dream of a garment in a riot of acid shades, with “SMILE” written on the front. It was not just me. The jumper has sold out on McCartney’s website and in its stores. Ms. Barrett is on the waiting list for one of the sweaters.

None of this is accidental – brights are rational for these times, according to Karl Johan Bertilsson, one of the world’s leading colour trend forecasters. Bertilsson is creative director at NCS Colour the Swedish standardisation system used by companies like H&M to predict hues that consumers will demand in the months and years ahead, driven by cultural trends.

He links fashion’s chromatic infatuation with the ‘radical optimism’ movement – an ‘enormous push’ of joyous defiance in the face of global crises, particularly climate change.

Designers in all disciplines espouse the theory that bright colours evoke joy, even in dark times. But is there any evidence? Some, according to Professor Byron Mikellides of the Oxford School of Architecture and a leading expert in colour psychology. Humans perceive more colours than most mammals (only some of our nearest relatives, monkeys and apes, share similar abilities) and that sense evolved because it contributes to our biological survival.

Neuropsychologist Nicholas Humphrey writes how the colours of nature – bird plumage, pigments in fruit and flowers – act as visual signals, an evolutionary heritage to which we still respond. Whatever the message, signal colours commonly have three functions: they catch attention, they transmit information and they directly affect the emotions of the viewer.”

While the pre-pandemic colour of 2020 was Classic Blue 19-4052, it’s not surprising that the colours of the year for 2021 are a lot more upbeat.

This year, Ultimate Gray 17-5104 and Illuminating 13-0647 are the Pantone colours of the year. These colours were chosen for their warmth and dependability but also for their bright, cheerful, and vivacious nature. As if imbued by solar power, sprinkled with gray pebbles, emblematic of solid and dependable elements which are “everlasting and provide a firm foundation.”