Gen Z Is Turning Its Back on Black. What Does It Mean for Fashion?

“I own one black piece of clothing, a 2019 Issey Miyake winter coat that I have never worn — shock,” says Abigale Masters, a 25-year-old content creator based in London. “The same goes for neutrals.” Masters — who spends an average of £1,500 on clothes per month — showcases her technicolor wardrobe on TikTok and Instagram, often spotlighting madcap designs from the likes of Ashley Williams, Chopova Lowena and Loewe. Her look, though unique, is exemplary of a burgeoning palette shift spearheaded by Gen Z — and perhaps soon, Gen Alpha — toward highly saturated, haphazardly matched dressing.

Recently, Masters snaffled a vintage fuschia dress (Look 11) from the Prada Fall/Winter 2018 collection to match her hot pink hair. “It was one of the very few moments in luxury fashion history where neon was the forefront of every design,” she says. Masters’s comments are interesting. While praising Prada has long been a signal of taste among fashion consumers, her broader dismissal of wearing all black was, until recently, a fashion faux pas.

Once a display of restraint and a meticulous attention to detail, black-on-black (or ‘all neutral’) may, according to early signals, no longer hold the blanket cultural cachet it once did for consumers under 30.

The high street has caught on to this Gen Z-led evolution. According to retail intelligence firm EDITED, UK arrivals of black knitwear in the final quarter of 2025 experienced an across-the-board reduction at Zara, H&M, Mango, Pull&Bear and Bershka. The further caveat was that where millennial-favored brands such as Mango invested more in “polished” colors, such as brown (up 221% year-on-year), the Gen Z-ingratiated H&M upped colors like red (up 80%) and pink (up 33%).

Luxury designers are also backing the growth of color, confirms Krista Corrigan, senior retail analyst at EDITED. “Consumers should prepare for an influx of brighter colors in 2026. Designers are moving toward color clashing, with vibrant shades like cherry reds, hot pinks, rich purples and chartreuse greens seen at Valentino, Miu Miu and Prada.”

“I think Gen Z is freer and more independent. TikTok and Instagram have greatly affected what they see and wear. They’re adverse to subscribing to ‘these are the trends that you have to wear right now,’ or ‘these are the colors that you have to wear,’” says retail consultant Robert Burke. In a similar vein, Gen Alpha are “even more adventurous and almost go absolutely against being subscribed to a certain look”.