Androgynous and ironic: How Millennial Pink came to define a generation

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Can a colour define a generation? That’s the argument surrounding the unstoppable popularity of “millennial pink”.

Also known as Scandi Pink, rose quartz and Tumblr pink, the colour of the moment is a soft, muted shade of pink with the blue notes taken out – a far cry from the insipidly girly Barbie pink that previously dominated products for women. The Cut writer Lauren Schwartzberg describes the range of shades as beginning at “beige with just a touch of blush to a peach-salmon hybrid”.

The ubiquitous colour received its official name last year, when Véronique Hyland pondered why millennial women love it so much. “Remember when pink was déclassé? … This summer, we’re conspicuously reading Sweetbitter, drinking a matching glass of frosé, and Instagramming it all with our rose-gold iPhones,” she says.

But it’s not only millennial women who have been captivated by the colour, an entire generation has been charmed. From the wacky world of Wes Anderson to Drake music videos, millennial pink continues to be the hue that launched 1000 Instagram flat lays. And it’s no more evident than in interior design trends.

“Pink itself is quite a tactile colour,” says Lucy Fenton, director of homewares store Fenton & Fenton. “It’s happy, it’s calming and it adds a bit of flair and confidence to a space when done well.” With this in mind, it’s no wonder the colour has dominated everything from paint choice to soft furnishings to appliances.

In 2016, Pantone chose Rose Quartz and Serenity as joint colours of the year. Photo: Pantone

Generally pleasing to the eye, it was chosen as Pantone’s colour of the year for 2016, in combination with the tranquil blue shade, serenity. Pantone describes the colour as having “a persuasive yet gentle tone that conveys compassion and a sense of composure”. The selection of the two colours was a symbolic choice by the company and reflected what they described as a “gender blur” when it came to fashion, colour trends and all other areas of design. “This more unilateral approach to colour is coinciding with societal movements toward gender equality and fluidity.”

Photo: Fenton & Fenton

Keti Lytras, design manager of Globe West, says the universality of the colour adds to its popularity. “It’s a colour that has become more acceptable for men and women,” she says. “It’s not the saccharine pink of the past. It’s androgynous and can be both glamorous and edgy.” Lytras explains that Millennial Pink has become a “new neutral”, that can be paired with anything from darker shades, like navy, to metallics and even other neutrals.

“It’s modern and very livable, giving interiors a more gentle, nurturing feel,” she says.

Bogart sofa from Globe West. Stylist: Rebecca Simon. Photo: Mike Baker

But the rising popularity of Millennial Pink isn’t without a hint of irony and nostalgia. Bree Leech, Dulux’s creative consultant, says “pink can appeal on so many levels – for its calming properties or its nod back to the retro fantastic ’80s, a theme we are seeing continue still.”

With furniture boutiques reporting higher sales for pink items, does it all come down to good marketing or do people genuinely just love the colour? “More often than not, if we post an image with a lot of pink, it gets people clicking,” Fenton says.