Musk (January)

Pantone is the proprietary company that standardizes colours for matching internationally, its existence premised on the belief that the spectrum can be calibrated. William Blake would have written a terse verse about Pantone, as if science could explain away the rainbow. Musk, for example. The SOED says it’s from Sanskrit for the reddish-brown scrotum of the musk deer and/or the deer’s glandular secretion used in perfume. Which came first, scent or shade? It’s all some distance, and calibrations, from the bright pink musk sticks we bought from the Milk Bar during January holidays. Pantone, understandably, has not yet numbered musk.