Pastels are light, soft, pale colors that have become associated with a delicate, feminine aesthetic in art, fashion, and design. The pastel color palette emerged in the 18th century and consists of desaturated versions of bright hues. Some of the most common pastel shades are pink, mint green, pale yellow, lavender, and baby blue. The appeal of pastels lies in their prettiness, nostalgic associations, and versatility. While pastels can have a juvenile connotation, they can also give projects a romantic, vintage, or minimalist look when used strategically. Let’s explore the history and use of pastels more deeply.
The Origins and Meaning of Pastel Colors
Pastels first became popular in the mid-1700s as a reaction against the intense, saturated colors used in Rococo art and design. Artists and consumers wanted softer, more delicate hues suitable for depicting pastoral scenes and aristocratic portraits. The pastel pigments themselves date back much further, however. Pastels consist of pure powdered pigment combined with just enough binder to hold a shape. Pastel pigments were described as early as the 15th century, but the cumbersome nature of early pastels limited their artistic use.
In the 18th century, pastel pigments were more conveniently packaged into sticks. This innovation made them ideal for sketching. Pastels allowed greater spontaneity and a lighter touch than heavy oil paints. The French masters Jean-Baptiste Perronneau and Maurice Quentin de La Tour helped elevate the artistic status of pastels in their society portraits. Meanwhile, in fashion, both men and women donned pastel-colored clothing and accessories as the Rococo aesthetic fell out of favor.
Culturally, pastels took on connotations of femininity, romance, and youth. The pastel palette evoked the colors of flowers, springtime, and confections. Soft, desaturated hues also suggested delicacy and innocence. During the Victorian era, pastels continued to be associated with femininity. Women frequently wore blush pinks, mauves, and rose colors. Young girls would wear paler versions of pastels that were seen as sweet and childlike. Despite periodic resurgences of brighter, bolder colors in art and fashion, pastels retained their connection to traditional ideals of womanhood.
The Pastel Aesthetic in Design
Today, pastels remain a staple option for paint colors, apparel, and accessories. They allow designers to create looks that are soft, nostalgic, romantic, or minimalist. Many designers use pastels to evoke memories of childhood. For example, baby shower decorations and nursery designs often incorporate a pastel palette. Mint green, buttery yellow, and soft lavender suggest youthful innocence. Pastel Easter colors like robin’s egg blue and lemon chiffon represent springtime renewal. They convey hopefulness without being too bright or gaudy.
Pastels can also create a romantic, feminine mood. Blush pinks and mauves are ideal for bridesmaids’ dresses, bridal showers, and weddings. Off-white, powder blue, and pale pink make up a popular combination of wedding colors. Pastels work beautifully for vintage-inspired bridal styles. Decor items like flowers, linens, and candles frequently come in softly romantic pastel shades. Pastels are also ubiquitous in Easter, baby shower, and ladies’ luncheon decor because of their delicate femininity. Their softness creates an airy, welcoming environment.
Some designers use pastels in minimalist, modern, or Scandinavian styles. Clean, airy pastels counterbalance sharp lines and simple silhouettes without overwhelming a space. For example, baby blue paired with bright white and natural wood evokes a calm, minimalist aesthetic. Pastel pinks and greens work beautifully in modern, sparse spaces to create a sense of tranquility. Pastel grays, lavenders, and taupes make up a sophisticated neutral palette without seeming cold or stark.
Pastels tend to have youthful, feminine, romantic connotations, but they can be adapted to suit many styles. Their versatility and timeless appeal help explain the endurance of pastels across eras and cultures.
Common Pastel Color Palettes
Certain pastel color combinations have become ubiquitous and can instantly evoke a style or mood. Here are some of the most popular pastel color palettes used in fashion and design:
Blush Pink and Sage Green
This combination pairs super-feminine pink with the calming effect of green. It’s popular for weddings, bridal showers, and events with a boho, romantic aesthetic. The sage green serves as an earthy neutral that allows the blush pink to really pop.
Robin’s Egg Blue and Butter Yellow
These playful pastel shades represent the bright colors of springtime. Robin’s egg blue is also known as Tiffany blue, the iconic robin’s egg color used by the luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. Butter yellow brings out the cheerful brightness of the blue. This combo is perfect for Easter arrangements, bridal showers, baby showers, and children’s birthday parties.
Lavender and Mint
Cool lavender and bright mint green strike a bold contrast while remaining soft and feminine. Pairing these pastels together creates an invigorating spring or summer look. Add white or metallics to really make them pop. Use this palette for Easter, bridal showers, or any youthful, romantic design.
Seafoam Green and Peach
These tasty pastel shades evoke seashells and peach iced tea on a beach vacation. Seafoam green is a pale aqua that goes beautifully with muted peach. Together they have a beachy, laid-back mood that fits summery minimalist spaces or tropical wedding themes. White or natural wood accents enhance this soothing, naturalistic palette.
Pale Pink, Pale Blue, and Pale Yellow
For designers seeking an ultra-feminine, delicate look, combining several light pastels can’t be beaten. Palest pink, blue, and yellow have an ethereal beauty perfect for vintage shabby chic styles. These pastels go together seamlessly in accessories, clothing, wall paints, or decor items. Add white and metallics like bronze or copper to complete the look.
Pastel color combinations provide a quick shortcut to achieving soft, romantic, or vintage aesthetics for all kinds of events and spaces.
Using Pastels in Apparel and Accessory Design
Clothing and accessories allow people to incorporate pastels into their personal styles. Here are some tips for effectively using pastels in fashion design:
– Soften brights and bolds with pastels. Pair a vivid color like ruby red or emerald with a pastel like blush pink or mint green. The pastels temper the bold colors and create a rich, complex palette.
– Use pastels to create an ethereal, angelic look. A pale pink ballgown has a magical, romantic quality. Add antique silver or pearl jewelry for an ornate feminine style.
– Choose pale neutrals over stark whites and blacks. Soft grays, taupes, and oatmeals flatter most complexions. Their subtle depth creates a more interesting neutral base than harsh black and white.
– Mix cool and warm pastels. Combine a cool tone like powder blue with a warmer tone like peach or coral. This contrast adds visual interest.
– Add pastel handbags or shoes to dress up neutral outfits. A tan outfit pops with a mint clutch or lavender heels. Pastel accessories have a playful, feminine vibe.
– Use pastel tie-dye or ombre effects. These techniques blend the colors for a soft watercolor look on t-shirts, sundresses, or athleticwear.
– Choose pale floral prints. Floral patterns on an airy pastel background epitomize vintage femininity. Gardens, botanicals, and watercolor florals all work beautifully.
Pastels allow fashion designers to create nostalgic, romantic, minimalist, and vintage looks that resonate across eras. Adding pastel clothing or accessories is an easy way to incorporate color into anyone’s wardrobe.
How Lighting Affects Pastels
One important consideration when decorating with pastels is how lighting affects their appearance. Here are some tips for illuminating pastel colors successfully:
– Opt for soft white light bulbs. Houses often use warm yellowish light bulbs. While these are cozy, they can dull and muddy pastel colors. Soft white bulbs show off pastels’ pure hues.
– Use natural light when possible. Sun streaming in from windows reveals the subtle depth and luminosity of pastel paints, textiles, and accessories.
– Avoid fluorescent lighting. Fluorescent bulbs have a flat, clinical effect that accentuates the paleness of pastels in an unappealing way.
– Use dimmers. Dimmers allow you to lower light levels and create a romantic, inviting ambiance. Candlelight is flattering for pastels.
– Experiment with colored bulbs. Try a pink or blue bulb to saturate a space with pastel tones. This works well in nurseries or little girls’ rooms.
– Add lamps for warm directional lighting. Point lamp light onto display shelves, artwork, or focal walls to create cozy pools of light.
Take lighting into consideration when designing pastel spaces. Illuminating pastels properly helps enhance their delicate beauty and subtle hues. Test out lighting options before finalizing your design scheme.
Pastel Color Meanings and Associations
While pastels share common associations like femininity and romance, individual pastel shades also have their own unique symbolism and meanings. Here are some typical associations with popular pastel colors:
Pink – love, romance, feminine energy, sweetness, childhood innocence
Mint Green – revival, vigor, vitality, clarity, fresh beginnings
Lavender – grace, elegance, calm, soothing, spirituality
Yellow – joy, optimism, sunshine, renewal, hope
Blue – tranquility, spring, new life, calmness, relaxation
Seafoam Green – rejuvenation, balance, flow, water, renewal
Peach – warmth,welcoming, sincerity, gratitude, admiration
Gray – sophistication, nostalgia, whisper, settlement, endurance
Coral – fun, playful, whimsical, energetic, vibrant
Designers can tap into these symbolic associations to create strategic color schemes. For example, a website selling floral arrangements could use pastel pink, lavender, and seafoam to emphasize freshness and renewal. Pastel yellow and peach would create a joyful, friendly mood for a baby shower.
Creating Cohesive Pastel Looks
Done right, pastels have a peaceful, rhythmic beauty as the colors subtly echo and complement each other. Here are some tips for creating cohesive looks with pastels:
– Limit your palette – For harmony, choose 3-4 pastels at most. For example pale pink, mint, yellow, and robin’s egg blue.
– Vary textures – Use glossy, matte, sheer, and metallic finishes. For example, pair a shiny pastel vase with frosted pastel cupcakes.
– Repeat colors – Use one pastel shade in different elements. For example, pale pink flowers, tablecloth, and macarons.
– Sequence colors lightly to dark – Gradient pastel sequences are pleasing. Arrange items from lightest to darkest pastel shade.
– Use white as a bridge – White serves as a fresh neutral between pastels. Sprinkle in white plates, flowers, linens to connect the colors.
– Display together – Group pastel items to form vignettes. Create color harmony even in small doses.
A skillful use of pastels creates a feminine, romantic atmosphere that feels effortlessly chic. Follow these tips to ensure your pastel designs have a lovely cohesive quality.
Pastel Color Blocking
Color blocking, or grouping solid blocks of color together, provides an easy way to incorporate multiple pastels into a space. Here are some color blocking tips:
– Group 3-4 pastels in even proportions. For example, paint each wall in a room a different pastel. Or section decor items like vases into pastel color groups.
– Alternate between warm and cool pastels. Contrast a cool purple with a warm peach, for example. This makes the colors pop.
– Outline blocks of color with white. White trim along edges creates clean delineation between pastels.
– Use soft neutral backgrounds. To make pastels stand out, pair them with beige, gray, or taupe backgrounds.
– Choose at least one bright pastel. Balance soft, dusty pastels with a bolder robin’s egg blue or mint green.
– Consider graduated color schemes. Transition from light to dark pastel shades across walls, tablecloths, etc.
With their pleasing, gentle hues, pastels lend themselves beautifully to color blocking techniques for walls, apparel, decor, and more.
How to Decorate with Pastels
Decorating with pastels may seem intimidating. But just following a few basic guidelines will help you create stylish, cohesive looks. Here are top decorating tips for working with pastels:
– Anchor with neutrals. Off-whites, beiges, taupes, and grays nicely offset powdery pastels. They provide a neutral foundation.
– Mix glossy and matte finishes. Use porcelain vases alongside frosted candles, for example. This adds depth versus all matte or all glossy.
– Add in metallics. Rose gold, copper, and bronze add glamour to pastels. Metallics mirror the shimmery quality of satin pastel fabrics.
– Sprinkle in white. White plates, flowers, trim, and furniture keep spaces feeling fresh and light. White prevents murkiness.
– Display collections of objects. Group vases, candles, and trinkets in centerpieces or vignettes to show off colors.
– Frame artwork in white. White picture frames help pastel artwork pop while uniting the elements.
– Choose young leafy greens. Mint, chartreuse, and lime add a burst of playful color and tie into nature’s pastels.
Pastels may have a reputation for being challenging to decorate with, but they can actually be adapted to create a wide variety of charming looks.
Pastel Color Palette Ideas
Here are some suggested pastel color schemes to spark inspiration for your own pastel designs:
Easter Palette
Robin’s egg blue, butter yellow, grass green, lavender
Vintage Nursery
Buttery yellow, robin’s egg blue, peach, sage green
Spring Wedding
Blush pink, mint green, pale yellow, silver
Ice Cream Shoppe
Mint, peach, pale yellow, robin’s egg blue
Tea Party
Pale pink, lavender, peach, seafoam
Spa Retreat
Seafoam, peach, oatmeal, gray
Garden Soiree
Lilac, sage, robin’s egg blue, chartreuse
Pastel Rainbow
Pink, coral, lavender, mint, sky blue
Shabby Chic Cottage
Rose, robin’s egg blue, gray, ivory
Customize these suggestions by choosing 3-5 coordinated pastels for your own projects. Vary hues and saturations for interest. Add white and metallics to unify and elevate.
Choosing Wall Colors
Wall color has a huge impact on the overall look and feel of a space. Here are some tips for selecting pastel paint colors:
– Lighten existing colors – Many brands offer lighter pastel versions of popular paint shades. Benjamin Moore’s “Whisper White” is a misty gray-blue.
– Consider undertones – Cool blues and lavenders complement warm peaches and corals. Keep undertones in mind.
– Limit vibrant pastels – Paler shades of pastel work best for large spaces. Robin’s egg blue can overwhelm a room.
– Test paint chips – View at different times of day since light affects pastels. Glossy paper chips can skew lighter.
– Compliment architecture – Soft blue-grays enhance Craftsman style homes. Coral lends a tropical feel.
– Sample paint test patches – Painter’s tape off sections to get a true sense of how the colors will look.
– Use white creatively – Try painting door trim, the ceiling, or an accent wall crisp white. This makes pastels pop.
– Consider sheens – Flat finishes hide flaws but absorb light. Eggshell and satin offer gentle sheen. Gloss makes walls vibrant.