#B85C86
Soft fuchsia
A True Summer color
anchor color 6 of 10 in True Summer. Also called Cool Summer in other systems.
By Kathleen Olsen · Updated November 11, 2026
Soft fuchsia is the strongest pink in the True Summer palette: a cool, slightly greyed fuchsia that has color without glare. It sits apart from the other palettes; the nearest color anywhere is True Summer's own cool rose, fourteen points away. It is what a True Summer wears in place of hot pink.
Soft fuchsia is an anchor color in True Summer. The nearest color on the same side of the warm–cool line is Soft cool raspberry #9E5C6B, a Soft Summer color, at a distance of 17: close enough to mistake for it on a hanger, far enough to tell apart on a person.
At RGB 184, 92, 134 the red leads, the blue is well above the green, and the green is low. The blue sitting far above the green is what makes it a cool, purple-leaning pink. The red being held back is what softens it. It is the color of a foxglove. Push the saturation and it becomes the hot pink and fuchsia of the Winters; add grey and depth and it becomes Soft Summer's soft cool raspberry.
A True Summer wears it as a statement: a knit, a dress, a silk blouse, a lipstick. It is the brightest thing the season can carry without the color arriving first. It works with soft white, cool grey and grey-taupe, and it pairs well with bluebell and dusty blue.
Retail calls it orchid, mulberry rose, raspberry sorbet, magenta haze and berry pink. Names are unreliable, because most fuchsia in stores is the Winter version. The test is saturation: if it looks electric on the hanger, it is a Winter's. The True Summer version looks like the same color seen through a thin veil.
Nothing sits close. True Summer's own cool rose is fourteen points off and lighter, and her cool raspberry is sixteen and deeper. Soft Summer's soft cool raspberry is seventeen points away and greyer. The colors it gets mistaken for are much further: Bright Spring's hot warm pink at twenty-four points, and True Winter's hot pink and fuchsia at twenty-seven, all far more saturated. Those are what most stores sell as fuchsia, which is why this one takes looking for.
The nearest named colors in other seasons, by perceptual distance (ΔE in CIELAB; under 10 is hard to tell apart on a screen, over 25 is a different color).
Soft cool raspberry #9E5C6B
Soft Summer anchor · ΔE 17
Hot warm pink #F0568C
Bright Spring anchor · ΔE 24
Hot pink #E23B8A
True Winter anchor · ΔE 27
Fuchsia #D0247A
True Winter and Bright Winter anchor · ΔE 27
Warm fuchsia #E0409A
Bright Spring anchor · ΔE 28
Cranberry #8A1538
Deep Winter anchor · ΔE 28
As of November 11, 2026, nothing in stock samples close to #B85C86. The guide below has the nearest colors that do. The dot on each card is the color we sampled from the garment itself; trust it over the photograph. Links are affiliate links: we earn a commission when you buy through them, at no cost to you.
Yes. Soft fuchsia (#B85C86) is an anchor color in the True Summer palette. No other palette on the same side of the warm–cool line has a color near it, which makes it a reliable test for the season.
No. Hot pink is far more saturated and belongs to the Winters; True Winter's is twenty-seven points away. Soft fuchsia is the same idea with the brightness turned down. On a True Summer, hot pink wears her.
With care. Soft Summer's soft cool raspberry is seventeen points away and greyer. On a Soft Summer this one reads a shade bright. It works better as an accent, in a scarf or a lip color, than as a whole garment.
For a True Summer: soft white, cool grey, grey-taupe, bluebell, dusty blue, periwinkle and spruce blue-green. Fuchsia with cool grey is the pairing to try first. Avoid black, which pushes it toward Winter, and orange or camel, which clash.
Cool. The blue sits well above the green, which pulls the pink toward purple. A warm fuchsia has red in it and leans toward coral. Against white, this one shows a violet cast.
The True Summer guide · All in-stock True Summer pieces · ← Dusty blue · Cool mint → · All colors