Key takeaways on Gen Z’s obsession with retro revival
- Gen Z continues to fuel a major nostalgia wave, particularly for 2016 beauty trends.
- Brands are reviving iconic products, packaging and design cues to meet demand — but experts warn this must be done with care to avoid appearing dated or derivative.
- Nostalgia in 2026 is less about historical accuracy and more about familiarity and authenticity.
- Strategic use of typography, colour systems and archive elements can help brands leverage memory cues while staying modern.
- Successful brands will blend past sentiment with future‑facing design.
When 2026 kicked off with many Gen Z beauty shoppers yearning for beauty trends and routines from 2016, we had two initial thoughts:
• Has it really been 10 years since 2016?
• And, are we ever ‘too old’ to pull off pink hair dye?
But this retro revival also raised the question of why beauty shoppers, especially the younger ones, are so obsessed with the fashions of bygone days...
Why are 2016 beauty trends resonating again with Gen Z
So let’s start with what made 2016 a vintage year for beauty?
“I think what people love about 2016 beauty trends is how committed people were to embrace bold looks, fun styles, and not taking themselves too seriously,” said Annabelle Taurua, a beauty expert at beauty booking platform Fresha.
“Whether that’s playfully overusing highlighter, trialling an unusual matte lip colour or reaching for pastel pink hair dye. Compared to today’s looks, which are more minimal and understated, it isn’t surprising we miss a period which encouraged experimenting.”
Hair-wise mermaid waves were all the rage in 2016 and Taurua pointed out that searches for these have risen by 22% in the last three months.
“Instagram feeds were all about golden-hour lighting, and soft, beachy waves paired with this aesthetic perfectly,” she said, adding that beach-wave styles will probably see a revival this summer.
The bold and velvety matte lip looks that trended in 2016 are also having a revival, and a variety of brands are launching new products that cater to this trend. These include: Westman Atelier’s Lip Suede; Sisley’s Phyto‑Rouge Velvet; Rhode’s Peptide Lip Shape; and Bobbi Brown’s Pot Rouge Velvet Matte. In a nod to 2016, Revlon is relaunching its Super Lustrous Glass Shine Balm in updated packaging.
Brands like Kylie Cosmetics, Morphe, Benefit and Anastasia Beverly Hills are all back in the limelight, and Urban Decay and MAC are also enjoying a revival — particularly the latter’s Velvet Teddy and Ruby Woo lip shades.
How brands are using nostalgia to strengthen emotional connection
But while 2016 was a fun-filled year for beauty, the need for nostalgia goes beyond simply this year. For example, in autumn 2025, Pinterest’s report showed a resurgence of people searching for 90s beauty and goth‑glam, while looks from period dramas are also currently influencing beauty shoppers.
“According to consumer-insights platform GWI, 15% of Gen Z say they’d rather think about the past than the future, compared with 14% of millennials,” shared Nick Vaus, owner of Free the Birds. “Roughly half of both generations report feeling nostalgic for certain kinds of media and both are the fastest-growing spenders.”
Vaus pointed out that across all industries, consumers are seeking comfort, familiarity and emotional connection, especially after years of rapid social change, economic stress and digital overload. He said that nostalgia marketing lets brands tap into positive memories and emotional resonance more directly than many traditional strategies."
Many companies are digging into their own archives, reviving iconic products, packaging and campaigns to rekindle nostalgia while staying relevant — and Vaus said that this heritage-based storytelling signals authenticity and continuity.
“Brands are reintroducing classic products or elements people loved in the past,” he said. “One example is major food and drink brands bringing back vintage toys, packaging and product lines to spark excitement and emotional connection.”
Design principles for modern yet memory‑driven branding
But as a campaign-building expert, Vaus warns that this tactic must be used with finesse, so it is not misinterpreted as laziness. His advice? “Design the feeling, not the era.”
Vaus pointed out that the strongest nostalgic brands today aren’t copying a specific decade; they’re recreating emotional cues people associate with the past.
He said that from a design lens, that means:
• Soft imperfections — grain, blur, misalignment, hand‑drawn elements
• Human scale over hyper‑polish
• Warm, memory-coded palettes — muted primaries, sun‑faded tones, off‑whites
“Think: ‘this feels familiar’ rather than ‘this looks like 1998,’” he advises.
For him, in 2026 nostalgia is “less about accuracy and more about recognition.” For this, he recommends archive mining — using your own brand history. He suggests:
• Pulling old logos, packaging, ads or UI patterns
• Reinterpreting them with modern typography, spacing and systems
• Treating archives as raw material, not museum pieces
“This works because it signals authenticity; it reinforces brand continuity; and it avoids the feeling of trend-chasing,” he said. His design rule of thumb? “Honour the structure, modernize the execution. Use typography to do the heavy lifting.”
Vaus also pointed out that in nostalgic branding, type carries memory more than imagery. As a result, 2026 is seeing more chunky sans-serifs with softened edges; early-digital fonts (inspired by OS interfaces, games, web 1.0); handwritten or quasi-handwritten display type.
But he warns that this must be paired with expressive nostalgic display type and highly legible, modern body fonts. “This balance keeps the brand from sliding into costume,” he said.
Colour as a nostalgia trigger
Another suggestion is opting for controlled retro colour systems. “Colour is one of the fastest nostalgia triggers, but in 2026 it’s used with restraint,” he said. Some common approaches include:
• Limited palettes (4–6 colours max)
• Slightly desaturated or ‘aged’ tones
• High contrast within a muted system
Instead of neon Y2K overload, brands opt for:
• Creams instead of white
• Washed reds instead of pure red
• Dusty blues instead of tech blues
This can feel familiar, calm and trustworthy, which is key in uncertain times.
“Nostalgia as a layer, not the whole system,” Vaus advises. “The most successful brands don’t build everything around nostalgia.”
Instead, he said that they use nostalgic elements in campaigns, launches or storytelling; keep the core identity flexible and future‑facing; and treat nostalgia as a seasoning, not the main dish. This avoids the trap of looking dated too fast, locking the brand into a past identity and alienating new audiences.
From a strategic design perspective, reinterpretation over replication is the golden rule in 2026. “Never recreate and reinterpret,” said Vaus. “That means:
• Reference cultural memory, not exact visuals
• Remix eras (90s + early mobile + analogue print)
• Let modern grids, motion and UX quietly do the work underneath”
For Vaus, the 2026 nostalgia revival in branding is not a fad; it’s a strategic response to cultural and emotional dynamics. “Brands that successfully blend past sentiment with present relevance and future direction are using nostalgia not simply to look backward but to connect deeper, feel more human, and stand out in a crowded marketing landscape,” he said.
