Yazhini ManimudiAhead of every new year, Pantone announce a colour of the year. At the end of 2024, Mocha Mousse was announced the colour of 2025. As we near the end of 2025, Pantone have announced Cloud Dancer, a shade of white as the color of 2026.
Every year, the color of the year announcement is followed by online outrage. Colour is very subjective after all. The choice of Cloud Dancer isn’t without controversy. Pantone call Cloud Dancer “a billowy white imbued with a feeling of serenity” and “a symbol of calming influence in a frenetic society rediscovering the value of measured consideration and quiet reflection” while others call it ragebait, a recession indicator, a dogwhistle.
It’s a safe color, devoid of adventure and fun, a symbol of the times. Few people are taking risks, rolling back to safer choices in everything from fashion to financial decisions. Will the dsm-firmenich fragrance collection inspired by Cloud Dancer play it safe too?
Cloud Dancer Fragrance Collection
Dsm-firmenich’s Cloud Dancer Fragrance Collection includes 10 fragrances that will be found in the form of eau de parfum and eau de toilette perfumes, but also in other scented products like scented candles, face and body lotions, room spray, and liquid hand soap.
Serenity seems to be the theme and the use of the term “a breath of fresh air” in their announcement builds expectation for something fresh and light.
This airy feeling is brought to fragrance through white patchouli. Perfumer Coralie Spicher on Cloud Dancer eau de parfum:
“Cloud Dancer is such an inspirational name and color with poetic facets, it is a color in motion — not fast, but slow and delicate, carried by the wind, deeply connected to nature. I wanted something white to reveal patchouli in a softer light. It’s my interpretation of a white patchouli – something that quiets the noise yet awakens the imagination. I was inspired by the notion of contrasts when creating Cloud Dancer and so I mixed coconut with an overdose of Clearwood® Prisma for intensity.”
The dsm-firmenich ingredients used in the collection include Patchouli Heart SFE, Coconut NaturePrint®, and the ingredient mentioned above– Clearwood® Prisma.
Pantone and Perfumery
White invokes a certain style of perfumery. Usually musks, clean girl scents, the ‘fresh laundry’ fragrances that were very popular just a while back.
Every year, the color of the year is decided after a long process that factors in the cultural landscape, including fashion, art, trends, and even politics. The naming process is just as rigorous as colors and their names are licensed and hence paywalled for commercial use– explains why it’s Cloud Dancer and not simply White.
That is why the choice feels odd from both a general and perfume perspective. Minimalism has had an explosion in popularity, but it is on its way out. That begs the question…Will 2026 look or smell like Cloud Dancer?
Did 2025 look like Mocha Mousse? Can Pantone really be considered an authority on which colors trend? They predicted Peach Fuzz, a shade of beige, for 2024 but Brat Green stole the spotlight anyway.
Yazhini Manimudi
