Sad Beige Children: Shades of Neutral Are Just the Beginning

Sadie McDonald

Despite the notion that many moms are avoidant to technology, quite a few mothers are also uploading content of their children all over the internet. There were mommy bloggers which then gradually transitioned to family YouTube channels, parenting advice reels, and now, TikTok’s newest aesthetic: sad beige children.

Hayley DeRouche has gotten a boost in internet popularity by parodying the neutral decor on her TikTok @sadbeige and Instagram account @officialsadbeige.

The comedy writer and mother of two, now dubbed “That Sad Beige Lady,” described the trend to Yahoo Life as “Sad beige is when your aesthetic is marketed in such a way that it views childhood as a sombre experience and that dressing your children this way or creating this environment will create a calm environment full of little scholars who want nothing more than to just, like, listen to Mozart quietly in their beige room and play quietly with their one wooden toy.”

As DeRouche shows compiled clips of clothing in neutrals from companies such as the Aspen and James kids clothing boutique, she gives commentary in a German accent to imitate filmmaker Werner Herzog. Looking at an array of sacking cup baby toys, she introduces these cups of sadness in the colour themes “dissociation,” “white woman’s Instagram,” “deep-sea depression,” and “numb.”

DeRouche’s commentary is funny precisely because it is oddly accurate, as any spoof or parody should be. Instead of the oak milk, shell, and terracotta descriptors for the not-so-various shades of beige, she calls them porridge, paper bag, and mystery spice at Penzeys. She also remarks how the minimal style attempts to keep the appearance of a childless lifestyle and is popular among social media influencers whose homes are the backdrops for product promotion.

When perusing the sad beige aesthetic online, Aspen