A Walk in the Clouds

Pantone’s Colour of the Year, Cloud Dancer, captures 2026’s design mood quiet elegance, visual calm, and the luxury of restraint over display

- By RIA GUPTA

Every year, Pantone's Colour of the Year distils our collective mood into a single hue. For 2026, that shade is Cloud Dancer-a feather-light white that signals a clean slate, a return to restraint, and a luxury rooted in calm rather than spectacle.

Airy, creamy and effortlessly adaptable, the hue is the antithesis of the stark, clinical whites. "It diffuses light softly and pairs beautifully with wood tones, stone textures and brushed metals," says Akshita Mehra of Studio Goya. Designer Minnie Bhatt echoes the sentiment, noting that the shade "brings serenity, openness and a sense of calm," making it especially effective in compact apartments, rooms with limited natural light, or homes craving visual ease.