Cloud_D

 This year's Pantone color of the year is Cloud Dancer, a shade of White and

something of a bore in artistic and design circles. My objection to a White is 

how do you tell it apart. Hard for me to say this white and not that  one... 

Below, Copilot found a palette of whites so one might tell the difference.

                                                                                  

Went to perplexityAI and asked for the complementary color to Dancer. Turns out,

it is a burgundy. Below:

                                                                                   

That burgundy doesn't have an accepted name. But i did have the surprise to see it

is the precise color of the sweat pants and hoodie ensemble I bought this Autumn!!

So there it is, marketing is ahead of the game, as usual...😎

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Is it fair to say that a color's complement is precisely what it is missing to form a perfect white?

In additive color theory (light), that description is very close to correct, but there are caveats. In subtractive color (paints/inks) and in practical design, it becomes more of a helpful metaphor than a precise definition.

Additive color (light)

For RGB light (screens, stage lighting), a color’s mathematical complement is the color you add to it so that all three channels reach full intensity, which produces white. In that sense, the complement is “what is missing” from the spectrum to reach white, component‑wise:

Red’s complement is cyan (full green + blue).

Green’s complement is magenta (full red + blue).

Blue’s complement is yellow (full red + green).

So under an idealized RGB model, yes: the complement is precisely what you add to get perfect white.

Subtractive color and real-world mixing

With pigments (paints, inks, dyes), mixing complements tends to give a neutral gray or brown rather than a clean white, because pigments absorb light and are not perfectly pure. The “what it is missing” idea still works conceptually (you are filling in gaps in the spectrum), but the physical result is a dark neutral, not white.

Perceptual and design use

In design and traditional color wheels, complements are defined as hues opposite each other on the wheel and used for maximum contrast and vibrancy, not strictly to generate white. The “missing piece to make white” explanation is a useful intuition for digital color and for thinking about contrast, as long as it is treated as an idealization rather than a universal physical rule.

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To be fair, I've worn this color before and already owned a t-shirt in this shade. After all, 

how many colors go with white hair??