Why pink seems to be the ‘in’ color of 2026, years after ‘Barbie’

Video above: Google is one of the major U.S. corporations researching the power of color in the working world

(NEXSTAR) – Every year, there’s a new trend that takes over the cultural zeitgeist. The “trad wife” trend, your kids saying 6-7, making sourdough, and the sensation of “Barbenheimer,” are among the most recent.

As fads do, they eventually fade. Some, like jorts and landline phones, have returned.

There’s another trend that we cannot seem to get away from: the color pink.

A few summers ago, amidst Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and the release of the “Barbie” movie, seeing pink everywhere made sense. The color was prominent in both highly attended entertainment events.

But pink wasn’t forecasted to be the color of 2026; Pantone bestowed that title upon “cloud dancer.”

Nonetheless, pink has shown through.

There were bright pink cleats galore at the World Cup, and WNBA star Angel Reese is releasing a new pink basketball shoe. Starbucks and Dunkin have released pink drinks. Farmers Insurance recently launched a soft-pink rebrand. A$AP Rocky made waves with a pink Chanel diaper bag in spring.

Experts aren’t entirely surprised, either. As Lizzo sings, it “goes with everything.”

“It really is a great color from the science point,” said Rachel Plybon Beach, a teaching assistant professor and program coordinator for interior architecture at the School of Art and Design at West Virginia University’s College of Creative Arts and Media. “The hues are really broad, so you can go from warm to cool, and they can play with it.”

You could use pink as a dominant color, more subtly in the background, or as a pop through an accessory. It works well with lighting in your home and, in fashion, it can complement your complexion and prove to be very flattering.

Pink’s versatility makes it attractive not only in fashion, textiles, apparel and architecture, but to psychologists and marketers.

“Don’t think for a second they didn’t know [pink] would be popular after ‘Barbie,’” Plybon Beach told Nexstar. “They knew, and they knew the exact kind of pink to appeal to people.”

Our brains may view pink as calming or denoting transition, studies have suggested. This could be from the importance of sunrises and sunsets to our ancestors, which helped them move into or out of their higher-activity days. Other theories argue lighter shades of pink could be among our first sensory memories stretching back to the womb.

A very specific shade of pink, dubbed Baker-Miller pink, was found to calm prisoners, youth in a detention center, and psychiatric patients. Another study linked pink with a sense of optimism.

In the case of Swift’s “Eras Tour,” Plybon Beach argues the color fit the mood. The shows were meant to be fun, happy and inviting, a vibe pink hues can easily create. A similar connection could be seen with pink’s appearance in the World Cup, in which cultures from around the world came together.

It also pairs well with other colors that have been trending recently, including neutrals like warm beige, light blues and greens, and whites and grays.

Society’s influence on trending colors

Pink hasn’t always been so dominant. Roughly three decades ago, pink was very “in” in the land of fashion, Colleen Moretz, an associate professor of fashion design and merchandising and head of the Fashion Design Studios, also at the School of Art and Design, recalled.

“And then it faded, and then pink was like, too cute,” Moretz explained to Nexstar. Its comeback is present, though, especially among the younger generation.

Sometimes colors shine because of a cultural moment. After the Sept. 11 attacks, red, white and blue were everywhere, Moretz said. They’re back again now, thanks to America’s semiquincentennial.

During the COVID pandemic, when many found themselves at home more, there was a shift toward more comfortable clothing. Because athleisure wear primarily comes in neutral colors, those shades of whites and grays became more prevalent, Moretz explained.

Pink had its own similar moment during the Great Depression, standing as one of the few colors of lipsticks and blush that Americans could afford at the time. The color could bring cheer to the wearer in an otherwise troubling time.

“Right now, I think we need a little bit of happiness,” Plybon Beach said in regard to pink’s current popularity.

Where you come in

Psychology, history and science aside, there’s another factor that fuels a color’s prominence: consumers.

“If the consumer likes it and they start buying it … we start shifting gears,” Plybon Beach explained. “‘Oh, that’s what they want right now? That’s what we’ll do.’”

If you want to get in on a color trend, but aren’t ready to fully commit, Plybon Beach and Moretz recommend looking at accents. Think artwork, lampshades, throw pillows, or an area rug in your home, and jewelry, makeup, scarves, shoes, or a purse in your outfit.

“You don’t have to go all out, but you can add … different elements of that color without going, you know, all out,” Moretz said.

And if you want to get ahead of the color trends, you may only need to consider a scene from “The Devil Wears Prada,” specifically Meryl Streep’s remarks on Anne Hathaway’s cerulean sweater.

Couture lines and fashion houses — as Streep, playing Miranda Priestly, suggested — are often the first to spark the use of certain colors and fabrics in clothing. Interiors then tend to follow suit, Plybon Beach said.

The next colors that could break through? Yellow and oranges, according to Moretz and Plybon Beach. A rise in interest in a Western theme, potentially fueled by “Yellowstone,” may drive other colors to the forefront as well.

But it will ultimately come down to consumers as to whether it balloons in popularity.

That can be further divided by the age of consumers. Those on the younger side may be “more willing to go over the edge a little bit,” while those who are older are “looking at it as more of an investment.”

“I always talk about costs per wear,” Moretz explained. If you feel you won’t wear a yellow top very much, for example, it may feel more expensive than, say, a pink top you’re going to wear more frequently. The same concept is true in interiors, where it’s known as life cycle cost.

Trending colors, like shag carpets and straight-leg jeans, are cyclical. If the shades of pinks, yellows and oranges that are growing now don’t fit your preferences, you may only need to wait until a new hue rises to the top.

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