If you’re someone that likes to be on trend with your photography, you might like to know that Pantone has announced its colour forecast for spring 2011.

“Exotic hues spice up the spring palette, transporting consumers to foreign locales,” reads the rather excited press release, sent out as Fashion Week opens in New York. 

And the colour names are somewhat exotic too, such as Peapod, Silver Cloud and Blue Curacao (that’s green, grey and turquoise to you and me – and, by the way, turquoise was Pantone’s 2010 Colour of the Year, so it was clearly ahead of curve on that one).

But, as many photographers who shoot stock, or who are concerned with selling display frames and albums with their pictures, have found, it pays to bear such things in mind.

So, according to Pantone, the top colours for women’s fashion for spring 2011 are:

Honeysuckle (PANTONE 18-2120)             
Coral Rose (PANTONE 16-1349)
Beeswax (PANTONE 14-0941)
Regatta (PANTONE 18-4039)
Lavender (PANTONE 15-3817)
Blue Curacao (PANTONE 15-4825)
Peapod (PANTONE 14-6324)
Silver Peony (PANTONE 12-1206)
Russet (PANTONE 18-1235)
Silver Cloud PANTONE 15-4502

The full report, with contributions from fashion designers, retailers and industry commentators, can be downloaded here. And, if the report can be believed, there’s intelligence that could be useful to travel photographers too, with experts citing destinations such as Africa, India, Peru and Turkey as inspiration for its colour choices – although with their mix of vibrant spring and autumnal tones, BJP thinks Mexico, Morocco and Tahiti might be a better pointer.

Whatever. Just have in mind, colour is the new black.