An Ode to Very Peri

I didn’t expect to be back here so soon…

But holy cow! Did you see this? That’s right. Pantone has announced its 2022 Color of the Year and it is not just periwinkle. It is called, I kid you not, Very Peri.

Please allow me to quote the Pantone color gods for a moment:

Encompassing the qualities of the blues, yet at the same time possessing a violet-red undertone, PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri displays a spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expression.

Spritely, joyous, dynamic. Courageous creativity, imaginative expression. OMG. I love how they write about color.

Do you remember this photo?

I will have you notice two things: the little t-shirt peeking out from the bottom of my sweater was my favorite t-shirt, one from Express where I worked at the time…It was periwinkle. Also. Do you see my cabinets? I painted them periwinkle because I loved periwinkle.

Remember, I viscerally hate purple. But I was definitely on board with periwinkle from my most tender youth.

What made me squeal with delight when I saw Pantone’s Color of the Year was, beyond how much I adore the color, the name.

Come. On. The circles I run in circulate memes that say, “A very peri Christmas” and it shows an image of a woman having a hot flash on an iceberg that is melting around her.

So “peri” to me does not immediately remind me of a color. But now it does.

I have so many thoughts about how the color gods have a sense of humor, how what goes around comes round, how that old woman who gave me this periwinkle yarn was delightfully prescient about 2022…

But I can only giggle as I hold an ice cube to my forehead and wish you all a “very peri new year.”