'Gen-Z Green' Is Officially the New Millennial Pink

October 22, 2021 by Rachael Thompson

Millennial pink has certainly had a hot run as the colour du jour of the last few years. From fashion and interiors to packaging design and advertising, the blush-toned hue has permeated our lives.

The millennial pink shade is most typically described as 'blush' but it covers a broader spectrum of hues which Esquire magazine describes as “...a pink that encompasses barely-there dusty rose, faded peach, muted apricot, dull salmon and charged terracotta shades.”

And while the shade is still highly popular, it's beginning to feel dated, and our attention is turning toward the other end of the colour spectrum in what has been dubbed, 'Gen-Z Green'.

Why has millennial pink been so popular?

This delightfully nostalgic shade evokes images of Paris Hilton, Clueless, design tropes of the 80s, and Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel.

In 2016, Pantone announced its colours of the year as 'Rose Quartz', a pink hue, and 'Serenity' a blue hue. The colours were selected to reflect societal movements toward gender equality and fluidity. "We are experiencing a gender blur as it relates to fashion," Pantone said in a statement. Since then, the pink hue in particular has been wholeheartedly embraced by designers.

The playful colour quickly took over the fashion industry as well as residential and commercial interiors before making its way to more mainstream design. “In the 20th century, it took seven years for a colour to migrate from fashion into the home,” Leatrice Eiseman, a colour consultant and executive director of the Pantone Colour Institute told Eater. “Today it’s almost instantaneous.”

The shade has appeared in countless runway shows from Marc Jacobs to Gucci and in iconic restaurants like 'Sketch' in London. Millenial-loved brands such as Acne Studios and Glossier centred their branding around the colour while artists like Tyler the Creator and Drake featured the hue on their album artwork. All of which has meant the shade has flooded our social feeds. To that end, it's unsurprising that this shade has become such a go-to colour for millennials.

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What is the new trending colour?

“As we enter a new decade, there’s already a new haute hue: green,” wrote Vogue in 2020. And we couldn't agree more.

The new colour of the moment has being driven by generational consumer trends and is appearing everywhere. And it's not just one shade of green specifically that's trending. From sage and mint to emerald and olive, all shades of green have been taking over everything from MAC Cosmetic's packaging to Miu Miu's runway collections.

Celebrities have jumped on the trend including the likes of Billie Eilish, who famously sports iconic neon green hair and nails, and Dakota Johnson, whose stunning green kitchen consistently pops up on our social media feeds after its appearance in Architectural Digest.

Green shades help embrace our innate need to connect with the environment. The trend toward this colour helps us embrace the outside world and is a fitting representation of how millennials and Gen Z demonstrate more environmentally and socially-conscious consumer behaviour.

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Green in the home

The colour of the moment is being wholeheartedly embraced by top interior designers and architects. Thankfully, it's one of the easiest colours to introduce into the home and will work in any space.

Whether it's in your bedding, tablecloth, or as a feature wall (a design trend set to make a come back in 2022), it's hard to go wrong with introducing green into your home and we are more than glad to embrace it in our home decor choices moving forward.

There is an understandably strong desire for us to get out and about after having been cooped up in our homes for so long and nature-inspired shades are calming, help to keep us grounded, and evoke feelings of freedom. "Nature grounds us as we take those first tentative steps into a new future," says leading paint retailer Dulux.