in case you missed it ….

The Pantone Color of the Year for 2008 is ….

Blue Iris!

What’s this all about? Tut, I dunno!

Here’s what someone said about this most important choice for our country during this, an election year:

In a statement, Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, said: “Blue Iris brings together the dependable aspects of blue, underscored by a strong, soul-searching purple cast. Emotionally, it is anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic.” (Ohmmmm-weeee!)

Ms. Eiseman said the selection process had been very thoughtful, based on various influences, and that indeed the final choice reflected a “need for thoughtfulness.” Five individuals were involved in the selection process. “With blue iris, we felt that it answered several needs, hopes, desires, that kind of thing,” she said.

(Sure, Peaches. I feel my needs being met just looking at it, that kind of thing.)

Apparently, though, Pantone’s choice caused some controversy in Colortown! Look!

Pantone provides standardized palettes for a number of industries, mainly graphics, fashion textiles and interior design. Not surprisingly, Pantone’s competitors in the area of forecasting are skeptical of its choice, if not the motive behind it.

“It’s very good for publicity, and it certainly shows a lot of bravado,” said Margaret Walch, the director of the Color Association, a forecasting group founded in 1915, when the vast majority of its members were milliners, glove makers and hosiery suppliers. Because consumer tastes and values are under a variety of influences — economic, environmental, global — anointing one color isn’t all that meaningful, she said. Is there a color she might have picked instead? Ms. Walch laughed lightly, as if to say, “O.K., I’ll play along.” She answered, “My color for 2008 is bamboo.” A yellowed green, chosen from the association’s interior palette, she said, it “represents the stable green that is most on people’s minds.” She said it’s similar to a hue called Vineyard, adding: “I feel it just has a power. You know, these are very insecure times.”

(Bamboo?! Seriously? Bamboo??? Drat! I knew everything in the end would involve the dreaded panda somehow. Feeling insecure? Look to the panda, people, buried under their bamboo security blanket! Be the panda! Slow-moving, stupid lumps.)