Beige as a form of behavioural discipline

Beige is often treated as a safe choice. Calm, elegant, timeless. In fashion writing, it appears as a synonym for elegance and good taste.

But neutral is never just neutral.

When an aesthetic starts to be seen as the correct option, it also becomes a guide for behavior. Beige doesn’t communicate only style. It communicates restraint, discretion, and self-control — especially for women. Don’t draw too much attention. Don’t take up more space than what’s acceptable.

The recent Calvin Klein show looks calm. Everything is neutral, clean, organized. Nothing screams, nothing provokes.

Feminist psychologist Sandra Bartky explains that this kind of control doesn’t need to be imposed. It works best when women learn to monitor themselves — to modulate body, gesture, and emotion before anyone even complains.

The models are no longer there to seduce or draw attention. They walk with closed-off bodies, neutral expressions, minimal gestures. There is no invitation to the gaze. This kind of aesthetic sends a very clear message: the ideal woman is the one who “knows how to behave.”

British sociologist Beverley Skeggs — one of the most influential feminist sociologists — shows that “good taste” is never just about taste. It becomes a moral judgment. Being discreet, neutral, and controlled is not only an aesthetic choice; it is a way of being seen as serious, trustworthy, and respectable.

In this context, beige functions like a seal of safety. It says:

“I’m not excessive,”

“I’m not too emotional,”

“I won’t be a problem.”

The idea is not simply that women wear beige, but that they do so without questioning it — so they don’t notice that they don’t disturb precisely because they are barely seen.

Calvin Klein, which once sold sensuality, now sells respect. The body no longer needs to be desirable — it needs to be respectable. And respectable means predictable, contained, easy to read.

Fashion shows are not only talking about clothes. They are teaching how a woman should occupy space in order to be taken seriously.

What changes when this aesthetic moves from the runway into everyday life is its tone. It appears as a promise of lightness, order, and a less chaotic life — as long as the body keeps up.

The clean girl became the ideal image because she doesn’t look like she is controlling herself. She simply looks “well”: well-adjusted, well cared for, emotionally stable.

The effort disappears from the image, but not from the practice. Maintaining this appearance — of skin, body, clothing, and emotions — requires constant vigilance.

It’s not just about looking calm, but about not looking tired, irritated, or too intense.

When Pantone selects shades like Cloud Dancer — a soft white close to off-white and beige — as the Colour of the Year for 2026, the message is repeated on another scale. Once again, the ideal being presented is lightness, purity, and emotional and visual restraint.

This is how control changes form. It doesn’t present itself as a prohibition, but as an ideal. It doesn’t say what should be avoided, but what should be desired — and bought (beyond clothes, buying into the idea).

These colours don’t demand space or presence, and they don’t erase only colour. Neutralising colours is neutralising expression, and the less expression, the more control. This aesthetic reinforces the idea that the woman who deserves respect is the one who knows how to soften herself and fade slightly into the background.

It’s impossible not to think of “The Handmaid’s Tale”, where color is used as a system of classification – a visual code that organizes bodies, roles, and acceptable behavior. In the show, colors are never neutral. They signal what each woman is allowed to be, feel and occupy in the world.

In fashion and lifestyle culture, the mechanism is subtler, but the logic is similar. Color stops being just a choice and starts acting as a quiet label, exactly as Skeggs explains when it says that respectability is never neutral, but rather a moral instruction disguised as taste.

From beige on the runway to the clean girl aesthetic in everyday life, passing through the industry’s institutional choices, what we see is an aesthetic coherence that is not neutral. It is a visual project that organizes and controls behavior, emotion, and presence under the appearance of calm.

The point here is not to reject these colors or these aesthetics, but to be more aware of what lies behind them — and of the message we send when we include them in our wardrobes.