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Monday, March 18
The Indiana Daily Student

arts

COLUMN: Color trends reflect societal tension, generational shifts

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For the last few years, our feeds have transformed into aesthetic rosy blurs of dusty rose duvets and strawberry frosting pink sweaters as the ever-popular millennial pink has seemingly become a mainstay of consumer culture, despite the infamously short life cycles of Insta-trends. It’s also moved beyond clothing — the Washington Post proclaimed that if you make any food millennial pink, it will sell.

But the colors we see when we open our Instagram feeds are more than superficial trends. They have power, carrying meaning and emotion, expressing societal tensions, and marking generational shifts.

That brings us back to our generation’s favorite blush pink tones. Despite my penchant for oh-so-edgy black, millennial pink offered a toned down version of Barbie pink — more mature, exuding a soft calm that is much-needed in a world that seems to get scarier by the moment.

And for a former self-proclaimed tomboy who once rolled my eyes at girly pink shades, millennial pink became a chance to reclaim and embrace girliness and then to subvert it completely.


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Illustration by Ty Vinson


Pink was once gendered as blues were delegated to boys and pink to girls — a theme still evident in pastel-themed baby showers. But with millennial pink, the color has become a demilitarized zone in the gender spectrum, neutral and open to girls, boys and everyone in between. Pink, while still a symbol of modern feminism and feminine strength, is no longer for one side of the spectrum. It’s for us all.

While millennial pink isn’t quite “over,” people are always hungry to find something new, and it seems, to associate generations with colors, lining them up like vibrant Teletubbies in color-coded rainbows.

A new color is taking the wheel, and consumers are eating it up like candy. The sunflowery shades of Gen-Z Yellow have popped up on feeds and across mainstream media outlets from the Huffington Post to Refinery29. Childlike and nostalgic, Gen-Z Yellow is millennial pink’s effortlessly bold, vivacious younger sister.


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Illustration by Ty Vinson


It’s a sunnier, optimistic, smiley face sort of yellow, but when paired with black in the natural world — like snakes and bees — it signifies danger. It is innocence paired with toughness and telling of the wide-eyed fierceness of a generation coming of age in today’s political climate. The egg yolk yellow mirrors the power of youth, rejection of past constraints, and the courage and compassion through carnage seen in a new generation of activists.

Canary yellow tones also find its origin years ago in the Art Hoe movement, known for its hippie vibes, tumblr aesthetic and feminist undertones, complete with bright yellows, mom jeans and vintage threads. The movement was propelled by artists of color working to challenge stereotypes, to redefine blackness, and to carve out a space for minorities. The racial subtext of the color is even more telling of the world its generation has grown up in.

Found on this summer’s runways, lavender has also entered the fray as a contender for trendiest color. Publications like Vogue have questioned if lilac, not yellow, is the new millennial pink.

Dubbed melodramatic purple — after “Melodrama” singer Lorde’s lilac dress at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards — the color’s name, bitter baby boomers may say, tells a lot about its generation. And like any other color trend, it does.


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Illustration by Ty Vinson


Contrasting with Gen-Z yellow’s sunny disposition, this purple has the solemn mourning of old motel wallpaper imbued with a bit of whimsical pastel magic. It’s reflective of the zeitgeist and its characteristic mix of somber foreboding and hopeful resistance.

It’s also worth noting that 19th century widows wore black just after their husbands died but lilac when remembering the loss as grief begins to subside. Lilac is mourning but also hope.

The color is associated with frumpy old lady dresses yet revamped to be youthful. And as some call it hideous and tacky and others say it’s chic, the divisiveness of melodramatic purple reflects the divisiveness of our political arena. Yet ironically, the light mulberry tones are the subdued mix of Republican red and Democrat blue.

Counterculture also bleeds purple. Icons such as Prince and David Bowie used the shade to express the individuality, experimentation and non-conformity that mark the best aspects of new generations.

When Pantone made ultra violet its 2018 Color of the Year, its description called the color inventive and imaginative, thoughtful and visionary. The description reads, “Ultra Violet lights the way to what is yet to come.”

That’s a color and a generation I can get behind.

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