Heirlooms used to be handed down. These days we find them ourselves, on the kerb, on Marketplace, or on the floor of an ex's bedroom. The jeans you've worn since 2016 that have finally faded to the perfect blue. The lamp that's survived four share houses and one very bad breakup (it was there for you, which is more than we can say for some people!).
We reckon colour can work exactly the same way, so we've made five shades that look like they've been loved for years, and are built to stick around for plenty more! Welcome to the Heirloom Era.
Why Now
Let's be honest, we've all been burned. The haul that looked amazing on TikTok, the mountain of plastic mailer bags, the jumper that pilled before it even made it out of the house. So people are hanging on to things instead: mending them, re-wearing them, flogging them on Vinted, and scrolling it for hours to hunt down the good stuff second hand. Real denim, proper leather, solid wood, things made well enough to outlast their first owner. And the best bit? They only get better from there. Softer, more faded, more yours. Wear and tear has gone from flaw to feature!
Turns out the trend forecasters have clocked it too. Back in March 2026, WGSN and Coloro crowned their Colour of the Year for 2028: Radiant Earth, a clay-baked red-orange they're pitching as the new neutral. WGSN describes it as "a steady, lingering glow rather than a high-energy 'pop'", which is basically a very fancy way of describing your favourite old jumper. The rest of their spring/summer 2028 palette follows suit, with a soft dusty pink and a washed-out blue hanging out alongside it.
That's two whole years away. You could wait for everyone else to catch up... or you could be the creative who sets the tone for 2028!
The Five
Burnt Olive. Dried herbs, army surplus and that faded Barbour jacket that's been rewaxed more times than anyone can count (and only looks better for it). It's an earthy, easy-going green that makes reds look louder without even trying, so grab the tomatoes, the citrus, or a glass with something amber in it.
Foxglove. A dusty pink with a cool edge. Think of it as millennial pink's younger sibling, the one who can't walk past a rattan peacock chair left out on the kerb without dragging it home to upcycle. It's gorgeous with figs, rhubarb and berry desserts, and even better with a flash of chrome!
Chambray. Your mum's 90s denim jacket, which is yours now, whether she knows it or not (shoulder pads and all, because yes, you're a boss!). It's washed to the point of comfort and cools down warm food beautifully, so pastries, oranges and a runny yolk all look ridiculously good on it. It's just as happy with skincare and anything glass.
Ember. Our closest neighbour to Radiant Earth! Terracotta pots stacked three deep at the Sunday flea market, and the rusty watering can you definitely didn't need but bought anyway. It's warm without being loud, which makes it far more versatile than it looks. Pair it with something cool or creamy and watch it glow.
Mauve. The vintage slip dress that fitted like it had been waiting for you all along. A grey-pink that's a little moody and a little romantic, it's made for wine, chocolate, dried florals and dinners that run very late.
Shooting the Heirloom Era
Here's the fun part. All five are mid-tones, which means they sit right in the middle of the tonal range and behave themselves under pretty much any light. Soft window light keeps them hushed and painterly, while direct flash pulls the warmth forward and gives you that slightly overexposed, found-photo edge we can't get enough of. Neither blows them out or swallows them whole!
For our own shoot, we went all in on the theme. Cut crystal, the kind that gets handed down or rescued from the back of a charity shop, shot on reflective glass with a bunch of wild, scrappy-looking blooms: protea, banksia, sea holly, wattle and paper daisies. Fun fact: paper daisies are everlasting flowers, so they hold their colour long after they've dried, which makes them about as heirloom as a flower gets! We put orange paper daisies against Chambray and blue sea holly against Burnt Olive, because opposites really do make each other look better.
Want a head start on styling? Here are a few pairings worth stealing:
- Ember and Chambray. Opposite sides of the colour wheel, both knocked back a notch. All the tension, none of the clash.
- Foxglove and Burnt Olive. A garden at the end of summer, slightly overgrown and all the better for it.
- Mauve and Burnt Olive. Dried flowers in an old jam jar on the windowsill.
Or go tonal: match your props to the backdrop and let texture do the talking. A Mauve backdrop, a dusty pink plate and a smear of something darker. Trust us, restraint photographs beautifully.
The Release
All five are printed on our 415gsm matte vinyl, so there's no glare to fight, and every one of them works as a wall or a surface. We kept the whole release in the mid-tone range on purpose, because that's where colour prints truest and holds steady when the daylight starts doing its thing.
You can grab each colour on its own, or take all five home as the Heirloom Era Bundle. They were made to sit together, so however you shuffle them, the pairings just work. Five colours, zero clashes, and no waiting around for anyone to leave them to you in their will!
Welcome to the Heirloom Era. Colour worth keeping, unlike most of your online shopping!