diff --git a/3d-viewer/3d_canvas/board_adapter.cpp b/3d-viewer/3d_canvas/board_adapter.cpp
index cab9d70398..c96ff33ba3 100644
--- a/3d-viewer/3d_canvas/board_adapter.cpp
+++ b/3d-viewer/3d_canvas/board_adapter.cpp
@@ -561,7 +561,10 @@ void BOARD_ADAPTER::InitSettings( REPORTER* aStatusReporter, REPORTER* aWarningR
                 {
                     if( aColorName.StartsWith( "#" ) )
                     {
-                        return KIGFX::COLOR4D( wxColour( aColorName ) );
+                        /// Keep only the non-alpha channels of the color string,
+                        /// i.e. first 6 hex digits and the '#'
+
+                        return KIGFX::COLOR4D( aColorName );
                     }
                     else
                     {
diff --git a/common/gal/color4d.cpp b/common/gal/color4d.cpp
index c9980ecc64..2ce99a1fab 100644
--- a/common/gal/color4d.cpp
+++ b/common/gal/color4d.cpp
@@ -110,6 +110,13 @@ COLOR4D::COLOR4D( EDA_COLOR_T aColor )
 
 
 #ifdef WX_COMPATIBILITY
+COLOR4D::COLOR4D( const wxString& aColorStr )
+{
+    if( !SetFromHexString( aColorStr ) )
+        SetFromWxString( aColorStr );
+}
+
+
 COLOR4D::COLOR4D( const wxColour& aColor )
 {
     r = aColor.Red() / 255.0;
diff --git a/include/gal/color4d.h b/include/gal/color4d.h
index e5cad3bcb3..7d91ad77a4 100644
--- a/include/gal/color4d.h
+++ b/include/gal/color4d.h
@@ -146,6 +146,13 @@ public:
     COLOR4D& FromCSSRGBA( int aRed, int aGreen, int aBlue, double aAlpha = 1.0 );
 
 #ifdef WX_COMPATIBILITY
+
+    /**
+     * Defines a color from a CSS or HTML-type string
+     * @param aColorStr input string
+     */
+    COLOR4D( const wxString& aColorStr );
+
     /**
      * @param aColor is the color type used by wxWidgets.
      */
diff --git a/pcbnew/board_stackup_manager/panel_board_stackup.cpp b/pcbnew/board_stackup_manager/panel_board_stackup.cpp
index 024d75015e..89aafaa92a 100644
--- a/pcbnew/board_stackup_manager/panel_board_stackup.cpp
+++ b/pcbnew/board_stackup_manager/panel_board_stackup.cpp
@@ -545,7 +545,7 @@ void PANEL_SETUP_BOARD_STACKUP::synchronizeWithBoard( bool aFullSync )
 
             if( item->GetColor().StartsWith( "#" ) )  // User defined color
             {
-                ui_row_item.m_UserColor = wxColour( item->GetColor() );
+                ui_row_item.m_UserColor = COLOR4D( item->GetColor() ).ToColour();
 
                 if( bm_combo )      // Update user color shown in the wxBitmapComboBox
                 {
@@ -799,7 +799,9 @@ BOARD_STACKUP_ROW_UI_ITEM PANEL_SETUP_BOARD_STACKUP::createRowData( int aRow,
     if( item->IsColorEditable() )
     {
         if( item->GetColor().StartsWith( "#" ) )  // User defined color
-            ui_row_item.m_UserColor = wxColour( item->GetColor() );
+        {
+            ui_row_item.m_UserColor = COLOR4D( item->GetColor() ).ToColour();
+        }
         else
             ui_row_item.m_UserColor = GetDefaultUserColor( item->GetType() );
 
@@ -1478,7 +1480,7 @@ wxBitmapComboBox* PANEL_SETUP_BOARD_STACKUP::createColorBox( BOARD_STACKUP_ITEM*
         if( ii == GetColorUserDefinedListIdx()
                 && aStackupItem && aStackupItem->GetColor().StartsWith( "#" ) )
         {
-            curr_color = wxColour( aStackupItem->GetColor() );
+            curr_color = wxColour( COLOR4D( aStackupItem->GetColor() ).ToColour() );
 
             // NB: wxWidgets 3.0's color.GetAsString( wxC2S_HTML_SYNTAX ) pukes on alpha
             label = getColourAsHexString( curr_color );
diff --git a/pcbnew/exporters/gerber_jobfile_writer.cpp b/pcbnew/exporters/gerber_jobfile_writer.cpp
index c2d42d6603..b3461338ec 100644
--- a/pcbnew/exporters/gerber_jobfile_writer.cpp
+++ b/pcbnew/exporters/gerber_jobfile_writer.cpp
@@ -650,7 +650,7 @@ void GERBER_JOBFILE_WRITER::addJSONMaterialStackup()
                     if( colorName.StartsWith( "#" ) ) // This is a user defined color.
                     {
                         // In job file a color can be given by its RGB values (0...255)
-                        wxColor color( colorName );
+                        wxColor color( COLOR4D( colorName ).ToColour() );
                         colorName.Printf( "R%dG%dB%d", color.Red(), color.Green(), color.Blue() );
                     }