Pondering the Next Hot Color

By now, you have likely heard that the 2015 Pantone Color of the Year is Marsala.  I typically don't give much thought to the Color of the Year, if only because I'm focused on other things.  But this year, I did slow down long enough to look at and ponder next year's hot color, and I have come to the conclusion that Marsala isn't really piquing my interest at the moment.  Although I do appreciate a range of wine tones, Marsala seems a little tepid, almost like a watered down shade of wine.  It lacks the full-bodied robustness and edge that I like to see in colors.  And, it doesn't have enough "oomph".  Shall I go on?

I'm trying to keep an open mind here, so I perused my old design books in order to find bygone examples of Marsala-accented decor.  I learned a few things.  First, Marsala is a difficult color to identify, with its slightly dusty quality making it appear quite similar to other shades of wine, red, and even brown.  Old photography makes identification even more difficult.  Also, Marsala does not seem to have been a terribly popular shade in years past.  I looked through books from the 1930s onward, and it seems that the color did make occasional appearances in interiors of the 1940s and later during the 1980s, when the Neo-Edwardian look, which embraced deep shades of red and wine, was considered quite the thing. 

You can find what I found below.  Truth be told, many of the examples are not terribly attractive, which is a shame because I prefer to feature attractive interior images on my blog.  The one image that I do find appealing is the McMillen-decorated living room.  Technically, the color in that photograph is dusty aubergine, so I don't know if it qualifies as a Marsala-driven interior or not.

And it's back to beauty later in the week.

The two images above depict 1940s interiors which may or may not depict Marsala. I simply can't tell.

A McMillen-decorated living room with walls and curtains covered in a "dusty aubergine" fabric. I believe the fabric is not deep enough to be Marsala, but it's a good looking room so I included it anyway.

Marsala might be in this Renzo Mongiardino-designed room. Then again, maybe not.

Two 1980s-era French homes, which were decorated with fabrics in shades similar to Marsala.