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| Giant 1970s paisley grouping from the book, Pantone: The 20th Century in Color. |
Pantone, the New Jersey company that standardized color production and gives the world seasonal charts of what colors are trending in manufacturing, produced an interesting book, Pantone: The 20th Century in Color ― and paisley is treated as part of the 1970s.
The copy opines that just as van Gogh escaped some of his woes by moving to the Provençe of the late 1880s, the visual remembrances of that countryside have also soothed some of the stresses of the 1970s for everyone. And paisley, with the popularity of Pierre Deux and Laura Ashley, was part of that treatment.
The book features giant 1970s lavender motifs against a Mediterranean blue-green. Provençe-based fashion professional, Deanna Littell, said that from her view on a recent trip to St. Tropez, the sea was indeed aquamarine, the painter's word for blue-greens. What she likes about Provençal paisleys is the mix of monotone colors. She pointed out that Pantone's example of a Mediterranean blue ground with lavender paisleys made her think of fields of lavender against a deep blue sky.
It is also interesting that blue-greens have been on the fashion Pantone charts for a few seasons now. JP
