The Unexpected Food Trend That’s Taking Over Fashion, Interior Design and Your Instagram Feed

It’s understandable to feel tense right now: multiple wars, a weakening economy, an election year—with so much feeling out of your control, you may crave things that comfort. (In 2024, 43 percent of adults say they feel more anxious than they did last year, according to a poll by the American Psychiatric Association.) Butter is indulgent and yet, it’s a kitchen staple; it’s familiar and accessible.

As a color, it’s the next wave in dopamine dressing and decor. After the vibrant pinks of Barbiecore in 2023, we’re still craving something cheery, but perhaps more subdued and livable for everyday life.

“This new take on yellow—this buttery tone—is very positive and optimistic and uplifting,” Ashley Banbury, HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams Color Marketing Manager, tells me. Overall, the paint company has seen a rise in warmer tones, and this color—best seen in their Friendly Yellow paint—has been gaining popularity with the brand’s Gen Z customers. “It’s so inviting, and it works well in rooms with lots of natural sunlight…I can see it becoming a foundational color in the home, really,” she says.

PureWow Fashion Editor Abby Hepworth has been tracking the trend all year, and while initially, she doubted it’d move beyond the realm of high fashion, she’s the first to admit its spread from Jacquemus and Loewe to Gap (and beyond) has proven her wrong. “I think designers gravitated toward the buttery hue because it's so rarely seen and fits in well with the idea of stealth wealth or quiet luxury,” she explains.

As for the reason Hepworth didn’t think it would translate to the masses, it’s because “yellow, in general, is often seen as difficult to wear—I promise it's not; you just need to find the right shade for your skin tone—and butter yellow is even trickier because it can trend sallow when worn with the wrong shades.”

To that end, “if you do want to try it,” Hepworth says, “I’d opt for linen, knit or silk styles, and try pairing it with other warm hues. Or add a smaller pop by way of a shoulder bag or slip-on sandals.” (As for home decor, Banbury agrees: Look for a matching undertone—warm with warm, neutral with neutral—and you’re bound to find a flattering color combination.)

We’re not just talking about a color here; butter is being celebrated in its most literal sense, as both a wax paper-covered stick and as an opportunity for breakfast table artistic expression (no, really).

Exhibit A: Buzzy, chef-approved brand Hedley + Bennett’s latest design is a butter-emblazoned apron that quite literally shows the spread is close to your heart.

Exhibit B: Kortney Carey, “that OG Butter Lady,” has amassed a 42,700-person following on Instagram for her viral butter shirt and sticker designs. Modeled after the classic wrapper, her designs have struck a chord with bakers and foodies all over the U.S.

Exhibit C: Butter molds are making a comeback—so much so that they’ve inspired stories in Vogue and T: The New York Times Style Magazine—as people delight in spreading bits of cherubs, seashells and doilies on their baguettes. (Indeed, in researching this story, searches for butter molds have been slowly climbing over the past five years.)

Interest in butter molds feels like a more sophisticated evolution of the butter board and butter candle trends on TikTok; they’re less messy, yet they feel like an artistic twist on the traditional sweet cream spread (and they don’t require any artistic skills per se).

While both use cases feel very different—like two ends of the spectrum of butter appreciation—there’s a cheekiness to both. Intricate butter molds had felt gaudy, just as exceptionally frilled, ornately adorned Lambeth cakes had been. After years of more minimalist (and naked cake) tendencies, the pendulum swung in the other direction, and we found a new appreciation for a maximalist level of detail. And that, it seems, extends to butter.

Similarly, openly embracing the humble stick of butter in your fridge—so much so that you give it the same sartorial real estate people had been giving to Gucci or Supreme logo tees—feels a bit subversive. As vlogger Claire Dinhut told Vogue in its ode to butter molds, “I feel as though there was a demonization of the fat in prior years, and it’s finally being celebrated—as it should.” In short, we’re ditching any shame associated with the spread, and honestly, it’s about time.