On Thursday, Pantone announced its 2023 color of the year: Viva Magenta. A tone with desire to live. Not the aggressive synthetic of Barbie, not the intense luxury of Valentino couture, not tired millennial salmon, but as New York Times critic-at-large Jason Farago put it, “a saturated hue that honks in the threshold of fuchsia, definitely not organic but not electric enough.”

The hue was selected by human trend forecasters who examine fashion and design, and then interpreted by the AI ​​tool Midjourney to create what Pantone described as an “endless new ecosystem to explore, called ‘Magentaverse’.” In a press release, the company called Viva Magenta, also known as Pantone 18-1750, “an unconventional shade for an unconventional time.”

Some members of the Times Styles…