After years of pent-up energy from being, well, pent up, the post-pandemic world is ready to get bold and brash. Pantone set us all up for COLOR in a big way by declaring ‘Viva Magenta’ the hue for 2023.
What’s interesting about Viva Magenta is that this zesty crimson-bordering-on-purple hue toes the line between warm and cool tones. Basically, we designers can have our cake and eat it too! While Viva Magenta is not going to take a back seat to any other color in a bouquet, it will play nice with just about everybody in the rainbow! Pantone calls it a “pulsating color”; “an animated red that revels in pure joy, encouraging experimentation and self-expression without restraint.”
Love it or hate it, you know Pantone’s on to something. Viva Magenta signals a shift from that seemingly never-ending parade of cream and blush of the past decade to something more creative and fun. We surveyed PFG buyers in November to see what trends were hitting their radars as they turned their focus to 2023.
Here’s what you all had to say:
“More bold colors!!”
“Seeing more color, still pastels but more saturation.”
“Lots of color-friendly brides!”
“Lots of contrasting tones and bright colors.”
“Next year is a mix – requests for warm/earthy colors and bright/energetic designs.”
“Quite a bit of color though still those romantic pastel palettes.”
“Lots of vibrant colors for my brides, like oranges and pinks!”
“Seeing more requests for reds! And lots of different textures.”
“Definitely going to be a colorful year!”
“I have funky brides, doing lots of bright colors in delicate ways, bud vases, ikebana.”
“Moody colors.”
“Seeing more reds, anywhere on spectrum from rusty to plum!”
“At long last the color train has arrived and I’m thrilled!”
Ultimately, couples will want to be more expressive and daring in their celebrations. Encourage them to think outside of the box with less traditional looks, particularly on guest tables and for bridal party flowers. Not just color, but also funky bits in bouquets are going to be welcome additions to those mood boards. Hello allium, talinum, celosia, tiny tomatoes on the vine and fruit on the branch!
Assure couples that they don’t need to perfectly match the flowers to those shiny new Viva Magenta bridesmaid dresses and table linens. Instead, make those fabrics the launching pad for the rest of their dynamic color story. Take an energetic warm route with rich orange, flirty peach, bright coral and sage green. Or get moody and mysterious with cool tones of plum, violet, deep blues, and emerald green.
With all of this new energy also comes a rising anxiety about the state of our planet. Customers will want to know that the choices they are making for their celebrations are good for the earth. Locally-grown flowers can be a big selling point! Talk up how you’re sourcing from a number of local PA and NJ farms that are working together to steward land in our region in the most sustainable and ethical way possible. Our small diverse flower farms are havens of critical habitat for myriad life forms. Shopping with PFG drastically reduces your footprint in terms of carbon burned and packaging that goes in the dumpster.
Cheers to a colorful 2023 together!
