2007 Pantone Color of the Year: Chili Pepper

After a year of beige caution, Pantone turned the heat back on — literally. Chili Pepper 19-1557, named Color of the Year for 2007, is a deep, spicy red, and the announcement wasted no time on understatement: whether expressing danger, celebration, love or passion, red will not be ignored.

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, framed the choice as a taste of the times. In 2007, she said, there is an awareness of the melding of diverse cultural influences, and Chili Pepper is a reflection of exotic tastes both on the tongue and to the eye. Nothing, she added, reflects the spirit of adventure more than the color red — while the same shade speaks to a certain level of confidence and taste. Food, travel and fashion were converging, and this red sat exactly at the crossing.

Exotic Tastes, On the Tongue and to the Eye

The food metaphor was the freshest part of the 2007 rationale. By then, ingredients and cuisines once considered exotic — chilies of every origin among them — had moved into ordinary supermarkets and restaurant menus across the West, and fashion's palette was following the pantry. Naming a Color of the Year for a chili pepper made the connection literal: a shade you could taste, carrying heat, depth and a hint of danger, arriving in wardrobes just as global flavors arrived in kitchens.

Eiseman's pairing of adventure with confidence is the shade's dual pitch. Chili Pepper is not a beginner's red; its darkness signals discernment, the difference between a fire-engine shout and a smolder. Pantone was telling consumers that sophistication in 2007 meant embracing intensity knowingly — spice ordered by someone who understands spice.

A Red With the Lights Low

Chili Pepper's depth comes from a touch of darkness inside the red, the color of dried chilies and ripe peppers in shadow rather than in noon sun. That depth changes its social behavior. Bright reds read young and declarative; this one reads evening, appetite and experience. It holds its own against black instead of being outshouted by it, and it has a natural affinity for the rich materials of colder months — velvet, leather, heavy silk, dark denim.

It is also a flattering red for many wearers precisely because of that depth: the slight muting keeps it from clashing with either warm or cool complexions as aggressively as a pure scarlet can. In cosmetics it became the thinking person's red lip — present, but not costume. In interiors, Pantone predicted, it would add drama to living spaces, and it did, most often on single walls, cushions and lacquered pieces where its stimulation could be dosed.

Dosing the Drama

Pantone's own guidance was about effect: incorporating this color into your wardrobe and living space adds drama and excitement, as it stimulates the senses. Stimulation is a seasoning, and the styling rule follows — treat Chili Pepper as the chili in the dish. One piece flavors an outfit: a red heel with a black dress, a red bag with a gray suit, a red knit under a dark coat, each reading as confidence rather than effort.

Full-length Chili Pepper — the evening dress, the tailored suit — belongs to occasions built for entrance-making, and on those it is close to unbeatable, especially in fabrics with movement or a low sheen. Partners that respect its depth include black, charcoal, espresso, deep navy and antique gold; bright white is its sharpest contrast and its riskiest. Wear it where you intend to be remembered. That was the assignment in 2007, and the shade has kept the job ever since.

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