Wholesome Cape Lagoon

An adjectival form of whole — used as a color modifier since the sixteenth century for hues that read as healthy and unadulterated. Wholesome cream, wholesome wheat: moderate saturation combined with the optical impression of a natural origin. Sits at the crisp-bucket alongside genuine.

Latin cappa, hooded-cloak. As a color modifier, cape implies a hooded-cloak-and-shoulder-cape quality, the visual register of Spanish-capa-and-Italian-cappa-magna hand-hooded-cloak-and-shoulder-cape Spanish-capa-and-Italian-cappa-magna-and-Portuguese-capa cape-and-hooded-cloak-and-shoulder-cape surfaces under Spanish-capa-and-Italian-cappa-magna-and-Portuguese-capa Iberian-and-Italian-Renaissance Iberian-cape-light. Sits at the modifier-and-textile end of the grid, parallel to cloak and cope in usage.

A shallow body of saltwater partially or fully enclosed by a barrier — coral atoll lagoons in the Pacific, Venice's Laguna Veneta, the Florida Keys' backcountry. The color refers to the average reflectance of a calm tropical lagoon at midday: a saturated, slightly muted blue-green with the optical clarity of shallow water over white sand. Brighter than reef, cooler than aquamarine, with the postcard weight of a Pacific atoll seen from above.