Millennials get a bad rap. According to Baby Boomers, Gen Y is behind the downfall of almost every industry: gyms, home improvement stores, banks, fabric softener—even yogurt.
But if you ask me, Millennials are getting a whole bunch of stuff right. First of all, American Millennials are the most educated generation in America’s history. Millennials have turned activism from a rebellious act into a trendy hobby. We are more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community than any generation before us has been, we stand up for ideals like feminism and race equality, and we hold people accountable for their actions (can anyone say Harvey Weinstein?).
On top of all of that, us Millennials have become the catalyst and the inspiration for the hottest colour of right now: millennial pink.
What is millennial pink?
The origins of millennial pink are heavily debated, but many have claimed that it all began with Pantone’s 2016 Colour of the Year, Rose Quartz. Others say that it may have started with Wes Anderson’s 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel and the overwhelming prevalence of pink hues throughout the film (this theory is my personal favourite since I’m obsessed with all things Wes Anderson).
Basically, you can’t put your finger on any one exact shade of pink to define millennial pink. It actually encompasses tons of different shades of pink. That makes sense, right? The Guardian describes it as “a grapefruit shade of apricotty salmon”, British Vogue thinks it’s more of “an innocent Barbie-cum-salmon shade”, and Glamour UK explains that it’s “a pink with the blue taken out…or blush with a beige tint, or beige with a blush tint”. Obviously.
We’re seeing tons of celebrities wearing millennial pink: Gigi Hadid, Harry Styles, Rihanna, Emily Ratajkowski—Kendall Jenner even painted her bedroom wall millennial pink. The trend was an inspiration for us in our personal photoshoot. Our model was dressed in a pink skirt and jacket—possibly one of the girliest outfits imaginable—and managed to look fierce and dominant as hell.
I’m obsessed, and here’s why…
I’m so here for this trend. First of all, pink is hands down my favourite colour. I grew up in pink fairy princess costumes, sparkly pink jelly sandals, magenta Doc Martens, blush overalls—you get the picture. But I also see the popularity of millennial pink as a significant step for gender equality. We live in an era of blurred lines between genders. The traditional gender binary is becoming less and less strict by the day. We encourage androgyny and self-exploration in our youth. We urge our women to be fiercer, stronger, and more powerful; our men to be softer, gentler, more emotionally-tuned.
I personally feel like women are doing big things and have made huge leaps in claiming their fair share of what used to be (and, really, still is) a man’s world. We have hashtags, marches, and rallies, all in support of our women. And that’s awesome! I love girl power and sisterhood. We’ve finally reached a point where we can participate in men’s activities, too. You know, really manly stuff like wearing pants, voting, owning property, equal wages (okay, we’re still working on this one).
But in this, I think it’s easy to overlook men. We expect men to magically change themselves overnight, without any support or help from us or from other men. We want them to be in tune with their emotions, ready to talk about what they’re feeling whenever they (or we?) want to. We want them to be comfortable expressing a more “feminine” side of themselves without being judged or made fun of. But what are we doing to help them reach those goals?
The rise of pink as a popular colour for both genders obviously won’t fix these issues overnight. But it does represent progress and the increasing acceptance of androgyny and non-binary ideals in our society. I think that’s something Millennials are doing totally right.