Pistachio has had its moment. Tomato long before that. Then we had the butter yellow brigade, stopped in its tracks when Hailey Bieber touted a “lemon-tini” summer. What could follow seasons of food-related color trends? A minty fresh refresh in the form of dressing like a cresting squirt of Colgate. Let’s call it, “toothpaste dressing.”
“I feel like a mermaid,” Love Story actor Sarah Pidgeon told Vogue of her frosty-toned sequin slip from Matthieu Blazy’s Métiers d’art 2026 collectsion, which she wore on her first Oscars weekend. “This color! It’s like toothpaste…but super chic toothpaste.” Dua Lipa, meanwhile, wore a floral blue-green Roberto Cavalli dress with matching minty boots.
Mint green and pale, icy blues have been trying to break through for a while. On the spring summer 2025 runways, mint green replaced blush pink as the pastel du jour, employed with sheer layers and soft tonal styling. There were gauzy organza dresses at Fendi, and at Chanel, against the botanical greens of the Grand Palais, there were sparkle-smattered mint tweed suits and diaphanous icy blue capes. Estonian, London-based designer Johanna Parv cast her sporty silhouettes and fabrics in lush light green, balancing the beauty and functionality. For fall 2025, pastel tones disrupted the usually sumptuous winter palettes, injecting an airer feeling into heavier winter looks: that manifested at Givenchy and Stella McCartney, with mint incorporated into structured silhouettes and paired with brown and charcoal tailoring.
And then, for 2026, mint met jade, moss, and more minimal botanic tones to create a broader color movement of organic greens. Cool blues also came through: Simone Rocha’s debutante-y spring 2026 featured frosty blue chiffons with floral and pearl accents, while Dior saw the shade in architectural bubble dresses, and played on the ladylike silhouette. Here, the lighter tones gave designers a canvas to play with shades and stages of femininity.
It was Chanel, though, that really riffed on the toothpaste tube, with mint-capped pumps and foamy-toned bags, the colors proliferating across openwork crochet skirts, macrame belts, bouclé dresses, and tweed blazers. Set among a color palette of reds, pinks, golds, and grays, mint felt fresh and fun. The green heels have been part of the wider frenzy for Matthieu Blazy’s first drop of Chanel in-stores. “I love that this fresh colorway is having a comeback all thanks to Blazy,” says writer Alice Betts. “On top of my wishlist is the Chanel small tote bag, it adds a perfect pop of colour that feels like a much needed playful antidote or pick me up.
Independent designers are breathing it all in. “Jazz [Mignone], our creative director, is a color obsessive,” says Hattie Tennant, founder of London-based intimates and clothing brand Fruity Booty. “We always joke that she goes through little relationships with different shades. She properly fell in love with mint this time last year, and because of the design cycle, it took a while to come through, but it ended up landing exactly when we needed it.”
Fruity Booty first explored mintier tones in fall winter 2025, “when all your clothing naturally leans a bit more muted, and it just lifts the whole palette,” adds Tennant. A seafoam green bra is styled playfully under more neutral, sheer tops, and pale blue lingerie is layered with see-through short-shorts and a lacy top on model Mia Regan for maximum minty impact. “There’s something about a flash of mint—like a bra strap under a gray knit—that feels really fresh or fruity.”
“It’s also one of those colors that just works on everyone, and feels feminine without being too sweet or twee” says Tennant.
Mint green can be hard to style, risking reading as sterile or cloyingly sweet. “I usually work with poplin, and lighter blues and greens can be tricky,” says designer Brooke Callahan, the LA-based designer known for her colorful cotton pants and skirts that are usually cast in turquoise, tomato red, and orange. “It can go in the way of hospital scrubs pretty quickly.” Callahan has worked with London-based brand Hai on a limited-edition capsule collectsion that reimagines Callahan’s signature shapes in Hai’s dupion silks, including one cool blue. “Silk gave me the opportunity to explore, as the fabric is a bit more elevated. The right blue can be so inviting—something you wanted to reach out a touch or swim in. Icy blues can make an outfit feel fresh and clean without much effort.”
The soft blue color was the first shade that they decided on for the collaboration. “The haze blue felt like a natural middle ground,” adds Hai founder and designer Tessa Vermeulen, “balancing Brooke’s more colorful pieces with our softer, more muted silks. They feel fresh but still quite soft, which felt right for the collaboration.”
“I love mint green because it so flattering for all skin colors, and it gives a fun touch with out being overpowering,” says designer Lucila Safdie, who first utilized mint green with her internet it girl-beloved Alice bands, employing it alongside shades of grape, raspberry, and pastel yellows for collectsions of Sofia Coppola-coded clothes: micro-shorts, body suits, and puff-sleeved polo shirts included. Here, the color adds some lightness and humor to the melancholic tone of the clothes, leaning into the girlishness.
For other designers, mint injects a sense of boldness. For fall 2026, Paris-based Moldovan designer Fidan Novruzova was inspired by the Polish art deco icon Tamara de Lempicka, her “auto-portraits,” and striking color palettes— exploring what modern femininity looks like with structured shirting and hybrid sportswear. “Her work was my starting point for going really bold this season with the colors,” says Novruzova. There’s a long-lapeled spearmint shirt paired with a peplum-ing beige skirt and her signature stocky boots, a polo dress with an elongated, almost shawl-like mint collar, and a mint-lined bolero. Alongside pops of red, azure blue, and caramel brown, mint articulates Novruzova’s woman at her most confident. For Paloma Wool fall 2026, the color was part of a collectsion defined by disciplined silhouettes, a playful, ironic contrast to the solemnity of uniform dressing.
Romance and whimsy is back in fashion—the plague (or plaque?) of the clean girl feels like it’s finally falling away. Toothpaste dressing, whether a full minty fresh look or a sweet little accent, speaks to our want for more storytelling in fashion again. It might feel intimidating to wear, but as the runways have shown, it’s surprisingly versatile—both livening up neutrals and bolstering brights. Embrace it, and smile big!
