Citrus Orange
History, Fashion + Interior Design, Branding, Pantone® & More
Continuing with my summer color theme, this week I’m highlighting the bright shade of orange you see below:
Color Psychology
A dopamine hit in color form, orange evokes optimism, sociability, spontaneity, and confidence. The color is also linked to risk-taking, creative flow, and unstructured thinking.
Brief History
When it comes to symbolism, oranges represent good fortune, health, fertility, and abundance across both centuries and continents.
In Renaissance art, for example, orange fruits represented divine generosity. The still-life below, painted by Romero Barros in 1895, isn’t from the Renaissance, but still echoes the style of that era:
And in the 1960s, the color orange took on a whole new life, and its sudden popularity amongst other bright colors was not random.
This was a time of radical change in politics, society, and visual culture. And bright colors like orange were somewhat of a visual break to coming-of-age boomers, a sign of post-war optimism.
Advancements with dye technologies and pop art influences like Andy Warhol only further contributed to the color revolution.
The sun-ripened orange we’re exploring today has been around for centuries, was reborn through the rebellious spirit of the 60s, and continues to be refreshed in modern design today. Let’s take a look!
Fashion Design
Today I’ve selected a couple Pre-Fall 2025 collections that feature our citrus orange. In case you didn’t know, “Pre-Fall” is a mid-season collection designed to bridge summer and fall.
Saint Laurent Pre-Fall 2025
Orange shows up in Saint Laurent’s Pre-Fall 2025 collection as both a satin slip and a lace cami. Shows the shade can be both sultry and sharp, especially when layered with tailoring or elevated textures.
Hervé Léger Pre-Fall 2025
With Hervé Léger’s Pre-Fall 2025 collection, on the other hand, citrus orange dress adds a fun, structured twist to their signature bandage style.
Interior Design
A lot of the interior examples I found with our color of the week are retro-inspired, if that tells you anything. Orange brings warmth and vibrancy to interiors through elements like leather seating, curtains, and bold wall art.
Pairing it with wood tones, chrome accents, and lush greenery further elevates the space, making it feel playful and grounded. Color palette-wise, orange works well with creamy whites, terra-cotta, sage green, or blush pink.
Branding
Orange signals freshness, youth, and effervescence in branding.
Fanta, for example, uses orange to mirror the product itself, creating sensory association. Nickelodeon, on the other hand, leans into youthful energy, while Substack’s usage of the color is intended to be serious, yet creative.
Pantone® & More
If you’re looking to work with Citrus orange, the best color match is Pantone 16-1355 TSX, perfectly named “Orange Slices”.
HEX: #FF773D
RGB: (255, 119, 61)
CMYK: 0, 53, 76, 0
As usual, thank you so much for reading, and hopefully you learned something new today about citrus orange. If you enjoyed reading, please give this post a like so I know what you guys want to see more of:)
Or tell me: what color should I feature next? See you next week!
One of my very favorites colors! Thank you for highlighting it!