The Tamesis
“I own something black, an Issey Miyake winter 2019 coat, but I’ve never worn it — it’s such a shock,” said Abigale Masters, a 25-year-old content creator in London. “The same goes for neutrals.” Masters, who spends an average of £1,500 a month on clothes, shows off her colorful wardrobe on TikTok and Instagram, often following crazy designs from the likes of Ashley Williams, Chopova Lowena and Loewe. Her look, while unique, is an example of the emerging color palette shift being led by Gen Z (and, soon, Gen Alpha) toward highly saturated, effortlessly matched looks.
Most recently, Masters chose a vintage fuchsia dress (Look 11) from the Prada Fall/Winter 2018 collection to match her bright pink hair. “This is one of the very few moments in the history of luxury fashion where neon was at the forefront of every design,” she said. The guru’s comments are interesting. While praise for Prada has long been an icon of fashion consumer taste, until recently, her widespread repulsion from wearing all black remained a fashion faux pas.
According to early signals, black-on-black (or “all-neutral”) may no longer have the same all-around cultural cachet it once did for consumers under the age of 30, once shown with restraint and meticulous attention to detail.
The high street has caught up with this Gen Z-led shift. According to retail intelligence company EDITED, Zara, H&M, Mango, Pull&Bear and Bershka saw an overall decrease in black knitwear shipments to the UK in the last quarter of 2025. It is further important to note that brands favored by Millennials such as Mango are investing more in “sophisticated” colors such as brown (up 221% year-on-year), while H&M, which caters to Gen Z, has stepped up its efforts in colors such as red (up 80%) and pink (up 33%).
EDITED senior retail analyst Krista Corrigan confirmed that luxury designers are also supporting the growth in color. “Consumers should prepare for an influx of bright colors in 2026. Designers are heading towards color clashes, with vibrant hues like cherry red, hot pink, rich purple and chartreuse appearing at Valentino, Miu Miu and Prada.”
“I think Gen Z is more free and independent. TikTok and Instagram have a huge impact on what they see, hear and wear. They’re against subscribing to ‘these are the trends you have to wear now’ or ‘these are the colors you have to wear,'” said retail consultant Robert Burke. Likewise, Generation Alpha is “even more adventurous and almost entirely averse to subscribing to a certain look.”
