Classic Blue is Pantone Color Institute’s color of the year

In these uneasy times, as we move along to a new decade, the Pantone Color Institute has reached back in time to calming, confident Classic Blue as its color of the year for 2020.

The color is an anchor offering stability, constancy and connection, said Laurie Pressman, vice president of the global purveyors of color consulting, trendspotting and analysis.

“It’s a reassuring presence,” she told The Associated Press ahead of Wednesday’s reveal.

Akin to maritime blue — not indigo and brighter than navy — Classic Blue evokes a feeling of vast expanse, Pressman said of the shade also known as Pantone 19-4052, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

Pressman and her team scoured the worlds of art, fashion and home decor, along with commercial, graphic and industrial design, to come up with the pick, as they have since Cerulean became the inaugural color of the year for the milestone 2000.

But Classic Blue isn’t just about nostalgia, she said. Creators around the globe are putting out modern takes for runways, mobile phones, kitchen appliances and the paint of pricey, forward-looking cars and motorcycles.

At Wednesday’s launch event, Pressman insisted the color was in no way a nod to the hue associated with the Democratic Party, though she knew the question would surface.

“This was not a political move for us. This is global. We do not look at color through a political lens. We look at our life through a colorful lens,” she told the AP.

Pantone chose Living Coral for 2019 and Ultra Violet the year before that.