If you follow other parents on social media or spend time looking at nursery room inspiration on Pinterest, you’ve likely encountered the “Beige Baby” trend with nurseries, baby furniture, and toys all done up in muted, neutral tones.
With more people adopting a minimalist lifestyle and more parents shifting towards simplicity and mindfulness, you end up seeing a lot of minimalist nurseries with a TON of beige!
This beige trend has become popular for a number of reasons. The modern minimalist aesthetic is a natural reaction to the maximalist aesthetic that pervaded the 1980s to early 2000s. People now realize that you don’t need a bunch of stuff to be happier and that having less can actually be calming and freeing.
The beige baby trend looks similar to how play-based schools like Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio Emilia design their learning spaces. These learning approaches prefer natural materials to shiny plastic because it’s believed to be more grounding and calming for students. It also stimulates creativity and imagination.
Some of these modern nurseries look like something straight out of the 1800s with wooden toys and furniture and lots, and I mean LOTS, of beige! Even Kylie Jenner designed a beige nursery for her son:
Where Did The Term ‘Sad Beige Baby’ Come From?
The ‘Sad Beige Baby’ trend is a reaction to this popular, minimalist baby aesthetic, with a comedy writer named Hayley DeRoche going viral because she started making TikTok’s under the name “sadbeige,” where she roasts pics of the beige baby aesthetic while pretending to be Werner Herzog.
If you don’t know who Werner Herzog is, you need to watch his films! He’s an amazing documentary filmmaker who has also made feature films and acted in several movies and TV shows. He’s from Germany, so his voice sounds really serious, intense, and poetic, even when talking about the most mundane things. He can turn cute penguin footage into a lesson in nihilism.
DeRoche’s videos are a lot funnier if you know who Herzog is and understand his unique style of speaking. DeRoche does a great job capturing Herzog’s intense narration style and poetically nihilistic language.
In a recent TikTok, DeRoche as Herzog narrates over a picture of a young girl in brown and beige clothing holding a plain wooden duck toy on her lap, saying, “Welcome to Werner Herzog’s sad beige toys for sad beige children. I call this one ‘One little duck went out one day, over the hills and far away’..like our souls when we die. Far…far..away…”
@sadbeige Use code ✨WINTEROFDISCÖNTENT✨ for 15% off lovelies!! #satirecomedy #mommyblogger #montessori #waldorf #toyreview #fyp #foryoupage
Not only are these ‘Sad Beige Baby’ videos hilarious, but they also provide a sharp commentary on the exorbitant spending habits of the wealthy, who tend to squander excessive amounts of money on items that resemble cheap, yard sale finds.
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In this TikTok, DeRoche narrates over an image of a wooden bottle of apple cider vinegar, a wooden jar of honey, and a wooden box of sea salt being sold for $58! “Welcome to Werner Herzog’s new line of children’s toys, sad bourgeoisie toys for sad bourgeoisie children,” the faux Herzog says somberly.
@sadbeige FIFTY EIGHT CLAMS 🤪🤪🤪 #richpeoplegifts #woodentoys #richpeoplethings #fyp #foryou
♬ Is He Trying to Tell Us Something? – Instrumental – Mort Garson
As someone who has met Werner Herzog, seen most of his films, and is a huge fan, I think DeRoche nails the impression. Herzog doesn’t use social media and doesn’t even use a cell phone, so it might be some time before a friend or interviewer shows him these ‘Sad Beige Baby’ TikToks, but I think he would find them funny and would make a dark and witty remark about them.
The jury is still out as to whether covering a baby’s entire existence in beige positively or negatively affects their development, but studies have shown that babies prefer highly saturated colors since their eyesight is still developing, and those colors are easier for them to see.
Alexis Nicols
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