diff --git a/ChangeLog.adoc b/ChangeLog.adoc
index 765e7b79c..9723c27cb 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.adoc
+++ b/ChangeLog.adoc
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ Bug fixes::
   * core: fix forced highlight on messages sent to other buffers (issue #1277)
   * buflist: add alternate key codes for kbd:[F1]/kbd:[F2] and kbd:[Alt+F1]/kbd:[Alt+F2] (compatibility with terminals)
   * buflist: fix warning displayed when script buffers.pl is loaded (issue #1274)
+  * irc: fix encoding of italic attribute when colors are removed
   * irc: fix parsing of "time" message tag on FreeBSD (issue #1289)
   * relay: fix memory leak in connection of client
 
diff --git a/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.c b/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.c
index 9a38bf52b..240c7a58c 100644
--- a/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.c
+++ b/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.c
@@ -374,6 +374,11 @@ irc_color_encode (const char *string, int keep_colors)
                     out[out_pos++] = IRC_COLOR_REVERSE_CHAR;
                 ptr_string++;
                 break;
+            case 0x1D: /* ^] */
+                if (keep_colors)
+                    out[out_pos++] = IRC_COLOR_ITALIC_CHAR;
+                ptr_string++;
+                break;
             case 0x1F: /* ^_ */
                 if (keep_colors)
                     out[out_pos++] = IRC_COLOR_UNDERLINE_CHAR;