Wickedly stylish: How emerald green became the color of magic, luxury, and power

Whether or not you’ve seen the mega-hit film Wicked, you must have been hiding away in a cave if you escaped the ubiquity of emerald green — aka ‘Wicked green’ — over the past few months.

The defiant charm and strength of Elphaba, the green-colored lead character in Wicked, firmly established green as the color of magic and power. But the lion’s share of the credit for transforming emerald green from the color of choice for a select few to a new color trend goes to the beautiful and talented actress and singer Cynthia Erivo.

By appearing on stages, red carpets, and glossy magazine covers in the most delectable of green high-fashion looks, Erivo has extended the color green from the color of magic and power to the color of luxury and elegance. And of course, where fashion goes, brands and designers tend to follow.

Join us as we explore the history and symbolism of emerald green. We’ll also be nailing down details like hex, RGB, and CMYK codes and serving up some rich, elegant palettes to inspire your next project.

Let’s get into the green that’s having a moment.

Emerald green is a bright blue-green named after the precious gemstone. Imagine a blend of the calming energy of blue and the positive energy of yellow. As for “Wicked green”, that’s a shade of emerald green offering a slightly deeper, grassier hue.

Use these emerald green color codes to select the perfect hue for your next project.

As the predominant color in the natural world, green symbolizes fertility, abundance, growth, balance, and the force of life itself. Color psychologists say green has a soothing and relaxing effect that eases tension, balances emotions, and refreshes the psyche.

Emerald green encapsulates all these qualities and extends them to embody wealth and refinement. Thanks to its associations with the precious gemstone, emerald screams opulence, elegance, and high status. It’s a favorite in branding when companies want to signal prestige without being too flashy.

A few other characteristics that emerald green can evoke:

The name emerald comes from the Ancient Greek for ‘green gem’. The gem gets its characteristic color from trace amounts of chromium and vanadium found in the earth.

As a pigment, emerald green was first commercially produced by chemists Russ and Sattler in Germany in 1814. Made by mixing and heating copper verdigris with vinegar and white arsenic, the pigment had a brilliance unlike any other green of the time but was highly poisonous due to its arsenic content.

In spite of its toxicity, emerald green was greatly admired, and during the Victorian era, it became highly fashionable. People used it everywhere, from household paint and wallpaper to artists’ paints and clothing dyes.

Unfortunately, this led to some pretty gruesome illnesses, as wet surfaces painted with emerald green gave off toxic fumes, which could cause various respiratory diseases when inhaled. Clothing dyed with emerald green created ulcers and sores on the skin, and if the toxins reached the bloodstream, they could cause vomiting, hair loss, and organ failure. Life expectancy for those who produced the paints and dyes in factories was significantly reduced due to constant exposure to arsenic.

Happily, this original emerald green pigment was banned in the early 1900s. However, it continued to be a very popular pigment with many artists, including Renoir, Gauguin, Cézanne, and Van Gogh. Today’s emerald green pigments are chemically stable and safe, posing no health hazards.

Are you looking to capture the energy of the Wicked movie and the magic of emerald green in your designs? Here are some color palettes to try out.

Love the color scheme favored by Elphaba from Wicked? Check out this Elphaba-inspired palette and channel some of the richness, power, and luxury of emerald and Wicked green.

Here’s an irresistible palette inspired by the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda.

Go off on your own color journey when you dive into this bright, sunny Wicked green color palette, especially designed for the summer.

No matter what kind of design project you’re working on, Envato has a wide range of emerald color assets to suit your needs. And if you want to explore more trending colors, check out our articles on cerulean blue, mustard yellow, the various shades of pink, and Pantone’s color of the year, Mocha Mousse. You can also learn more about artists and their use of color in our articles about Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh.