Let’s start by saying that we went into this process with no idea that Pantone was going to declare Marsala—a reddish hue, of sorts—the color of 2015. When she began brainstorming about the cover, creative director Jamie Laubhan-Oliver had a few things on her mind. First, she was seeing tons of red while scouting product. Second, she was more than a little obsessed with the red lipstick and oxblood nail polish she sports daily. Third, she had a certain scarlet on the brain—Miss Scarlett O’Hara, to be specific—having watched Gone with the Wind four times in a single month.
“For January, I wanted to create a really rich room,” she says. “But red can be a really hard color.” She knew she wanted something a little more earthy and was leaning toward a burgundy with some reservations. “Burgundy can scare people,and it can go badly. It can be really 1990s Tuscany,” she says. “But if you mix in more modern pieces, the color becomes more relevant. I like how textural and natural it feels. I think it really works.”
