diff --git a/_plotly_utils/basevalidators.py b/_plotly_utils/basevalidators.py
index c1f0d193341..2e69546e546 100644
--- a/_plotly_utils/basevalidators.py
+++ b/_plotly_utils/basevalidators.py
@@ -1033,6 +1033,7 @@ class ColorValidator(BaseValidator):
     """
     re_hex = re.compile('#([A-Fa-f0-9]{6}|[A-Fa-f0-9]{3})')
     re_rgb_etc = re.compile('(rgb|hsl|hsv)a?\([\d.]+%?(,[\d.]+%?){2,3}\)')
+    re_ddk = re.compile('var\(\-\-.*\)')
 
     named_colors = [
         "aliceblue", "antiquewhite", "aqua", "aquamarine", "azure", "beige",
@@ -1229,6 +1230,11 @@ def perform_validate_coerce(v, allow_number=None):
                 # Valid rgb(a), hsl(a), hsv(a) color
                 # (e.g. rgba(10, 234, 200, 50%)
                 return v
+            elif fullmatch(ColorValidator.re_ddk, v_normalized):
+                # Valid var(--*) DDK theme variable, inspired by CSS syntax
+                # (e.g. var(--accent) )
+                # DDK will crawl & eval var(-- colors for Graph theming
+                return v
             elif v_normalized in ColorValidator.named_colors:
                 # Valid named color (e.g. 'coral')
                 return v
diff --git a/_plotly_utils/tests/validators/test_color_validator.py b/_plotly_utils/tests/validators/test_color_validator.py
index 0ffb31a2f14..480bd0ef625 100644
--- a/_plotly_utils/tests/validators/test_color_validator.py
+++ b/_plotly_utils/tests/validators/test_color_validator.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def validator_aok_colorscale():
 # Array not ok, numbers not ok
 # ----------------------------
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('val',
-                         ['red', 'BLUE', 'rgb(255, 0, 0)', 'hsl(0, 100%, 50%)', 'hsla(0, 100%, 50%, 100%)',
+                         ['red', 'BLUE', 'rgb(255, 0, 0)', 'var(--accent)', 'hsl(0, 100%, 50%)', 'hsla(0, 100%, 50%, 100%)',
                           'hsv(0, 100%, 100%)', 'hsva(0, 100%, 100%, 50%)'])
 def test_acceptance(val, validator):
     assert validator.validate_coerce(val) == val
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ def test_rejection(val, validator):
 # ------------------------
 # ### Acceptance ###
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('val',
-                         ['red', 'BLUE', 23, 15, 'rgb(255, 0, 0)', 'hsl(0, 100%, 50%)', 'hsla(0, 100%, 50%, 100%)',
+                         ['red', 'BLUE', 23, 15, 'rgb(255, 0, 0)', 'var(--accent)', 'hsl(0, 100%, 50%)', 'hsla(0, 100%, 50%, 100%)',
                           'hsv(0, 100%, 100%)', 'hsva(0, 100%, 100%, 50%)'])
 def test_acceptance_colorscale(val, validator_colorscale):
     assert validator_colorscale.validate_coerce(val) == val