2012 Pantone Color of the Year: Tangerine Tango

The Pantone Color of the Year for 2012 was Tangerine Tango, PANTONE 17-1463. "Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it," said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. "Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy."

Orange had been building for years — over the past several years it had grown in popularity and acceptance among designers and consumers alike. In 2012 it stopped being the daring option and became the headline: a provocative attention-getter, especially appealing in men's and women's fashion.

Spring 2012, Dressed in Orange

The runway evidence arrived immediately. Fashion designers featured in the PANTONE Fashion Color Report Spring 2012 — including Tommy Hilfiger, Nanette Lepore, Cynthia Steffe by Shaun Kearney, Elie Tahari and Adrienne Vittadini — incorporated this attractive orange into their spring collections. That list matters: it spans American sportswear, occasion dressing and contemporary labels, showing the shade working at several price points and ages at once.

On the body, Tangerine Tango behaved like a neutral with courage. A tangerine dress needed nothing beside it; tangerine trousers carried white, navy and denim; a single tangerine bag or shoe turned a gray suit into a decision. Because the hue has depth — red underneath the orange — it photographed richly and held up in wool and leather as well as in spring cottons.

The Autumn Carry-Through

Most spring colors fade by September. Pantone predicted the opposite for this one: a fun, lively take on a traditional autumnal hue, Tangerine Tango would surely carry through to fall fashion as well. Fall is orange's ancestral season — pumpkins, leaves, harvest light — and the 2012 shade simply arrived early and stayed, moving from spring dresses into autumn coats, knits and boots without changing its number.

For retailers that double life was commercial gold: a color bought in March still looked current in October. For wearers it meant the tangerine purchase was a two-season investment, styled bright against white in spring and deep against brown, burgundy and charcoal in fall.

Tangerine in the Makeup Bag

Pantone called Tangerine Tango a winner in cosmetics because of its versatility — a bit exotic, but in a very friendly, non-threatening way. Add a sultry flair to lips, cheeks and nails with Tangerine Tango: the same shade family warms all three, and a tangerine nail became the year's lowest-cost way to wear the Color of the Year.

The boldest note was for eyes. An unexpected eye shadow color, Tangerine Tango is a complementary opposite that flatters blue or green eyes — orange sits opposite blue on the color wheel, so each intensifies the other. When paired with brown eyes, it brings out an amber cast. Few Colors of the Year came with instructions this specific, or this wearable.

Men's fashion, often slower to adopt a crowned color, took this one at speed: tangerine ties and pocket squares against navy and gray suiting, tangerine sneakers and watches for weekends. The shade's friendliness — the yellow in its makeup — kept it from reading as a dare, and its visibility did the rest. A color that can be spotted across a room will always find work in a wardrobe.

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