It's a new year and a new hue. I always look forward to hearing the annual Pantone Color of the Year announcement.

This year, for the first time, it blended two colors: Rose Quartz and Serenity. These baby-hued colors speak to blending of gender, cultures, races and people in our society.

"Joined together, Rose Quartz and Serenity represent an inherent balance between a warmer embracing rose tone and the cooler tranquil blue, reflecting connection and wellness as well as a soothing sense for wellness and peace," Pantone stated on its website, www.pantone.com.

We see the blending resonating throughout designer collections this spring. This androgynous approach to fashion is demonstrated in design, colors and patterns this season.

Pantone went on to explain, "In many parts of the world we are experiencing a gender blur as it relates to fashion, which has in turn impacted color trends throughout all other areas of design. This more unilateral approach to color is coinciding with societal movements toward gender equality and fluidity, the consumer's increased comfort with using color as a form of expression, a generation that has less concern about being typecast or judged and an open exchange of digital information that has opened our eyes to different approaches to color usage."

Rolls of custom-ordered fabrics at The Golden Needle show Pantone 2016 Colors of the Year Rose Quartz and Serenity Blue. (Photo submitted by Sheryl Winschel)

Serenity, calm, peace and unity seem to be the year's mantras, so I wanted to find out how two of our local style emporiums, The Golden Needle and Ophelia Boutique, are embracing the 2016 colors, and their perspective on this new design coalescence. I spoke with Sheryl Winschel, owner of The Golden Needle, who showed me some knitting fabric and yarns that she custom orders from designers that are always on trend. Winschel just finished her successful "Club Ed" sewing and embroidery event Jan. 15 and 16.

"There were 50 attendees on both days, and 14 variations of six different items were made," she said. In total, all 84 creations will be donated to various charities in Cape Girardeau.

Patrice Parson of Ophelia Boutique stays on the latest in fashion, and she keeps her boutiques in Cape Girardeau and Farmington, Missouri, stocked with must-haves for every age, including looks that speak to the Pantone Colors of the Year.