The fashion year began with gangster brides and experienced a summer of brats, men who look like rodents were celebrated on TikTok. Trends like Tenniscore, Mob Wife and Brat Girl are following each other ever faster. Where does this pace come from?
A few weeks ago, US actress Courtney Michelle Dlugos appeared with a beaming smile in one of her comedy clips on Instagram. She proudly asks her conversation partner what she thinks of her bright green blazer: “Cute, right? Looks like ‘brat‘, doesn’t it?” With bratEnglish for “brat”, refers to a trend that the musician Charli xcx started in the summer with her album of the same name. Its cover is completely green, which quickly becomes… brat green and graced fashion, advertising campaigns and even the X account of Kamala Harris’ team. No wonder Dlugos in their blazer brat feels – until the voice behind the camera points out that the trend is almost over. “It’s only just begun!” Dlugos replies incredulously and later puzzles: “How are you supposed to keep up with it?”
Many people who only use social media sporadically or not at all might be wondering this. Because there, every phenomenon, every style is given a more or less meaningful name, captured in countless videos and photos, and then analyzed by traditional media – until the next micro-trend comes along. There will be a particularly large number of them in 2024.
An ever-shortening attention span
In the summer, prominent men who are more likely to attract attention because of their pointed faces than because they meet classic beauty ideals were considered hot rodent men celebrated, in German something like “hot rodent men”. It had just been understood that the actor Timothée Chalamet (“Dune”) falls under this uncharming name, but not Kieran Culkin (“Succession”), as it was already mentioned rawdogging the speech. The term, actually slang for unprotected sex, now meant young men who forego all entertainment and even food during long (air) journeys in order to practice deceleration and discipline.
In order to get along here, knowledge of English is definitely helpful. This is also shown by a look at this year’s fashion microtrends. Who through the summer as brat went, was probably still a fan of in the spring librariancorea sexy, modern take on the librarian look. This was followed – among other things – by the style of mob wifei.e. the gangster bride, and tenniscore (Polo shirt with pleated skirt, preferably in white), triggered by the film “Challengers – Rivals” and its leading actress Zendaya. Such microtrends pop up on the smartphone screen at ever shorter intervals.
“We used to predict trends that would become relevant two years later. Today, sometimes it’s just a matter of six months,” says Robbie Sinclair, youth trends analyst and business consultant at global trend agency Fashion Snoops. He justifies the fast pace with an ever-shortening attention span: “In fashion, but also in the entertainment industry, something new has to attract attention within a second. People are overstimulated and want to be surprised all the time.”
This can also be done with new names for not-so-new phenomena: “Some of these looks or elements of them were worn decades ago but were not named as a specific aesthetic,” says Sinclair. And indeed: a style based on grandfatherly clothing becomes grandpacore baptized, the typical cowboy look is now called western corethe combination of functional jacket, fleece sweater and backpack becomes gorpcore.
Carl Tillessen, managing director of DMI (German Fashion Institute), trend analyst and author (“Konsum”, 2020) sees excessive naming as a catalyst for current developments: “If someone gives a trend a name, it doesn’t take long until one others bring the counter-trend to the table to show that they are already one step further. That’s how the tempo is set.”
According to Tillessen, names can make a style tangible, but can also flatten it: “The appeal of fashion is that it can be used to express something better non-verbally.” Like almost all fashion phenomena, microtrends do not arise in a vacuum; they are “ the daily manifestations of major social trends”.
Katie Devlin, fashion trend analyst at the international agency Stylus, sees it similarly. “Almost all recent trends are rooted in broader cultural and lifestyle changes, but are packaged in playful and escapist ways.” The mob wives for example, who cited the look of gangster brides with fur, bright make-up and highly teased hair, and those brat girlswho partied the night away (or at least looked that way) with smudged makeup and an “I don’t care” attitude, celebrated hedonism, excess and enjoyment.
Another possible reaction is to slow down and return to domesticity, to soft shapes and playful looks, for example flirtatious-Style that plays with a stereotypical image of women with bows, ruffles and pastel colors. It has always been one of the great strengths of fashion that it can provide small escapes from a crisis-ridden reality.
Also the enthusiasm for them hot rodent men There may be deeper reasons: In a world full of perfect faces perfected by artificial intelligence and filters, the longing for uniqueness and imperfection is growing. This is exactly where microtrends can become problematic: a green blazer can be discarded when the trend is over. A pointed face remains, even if “hot rodent men” are no longer idolized. Young people in particular, who are constantly encountering new trends on TikTok & Co., can be unsettled when their own, just celebrated, physiognomy is suddenly no longer in demand.
Given the beauty industry’s large presence on social media, from skin care to surgery, trends like these can also get tricky beyond fashion. Last year on TikTok and Instagram, an extremely narrow face with high cheekbones like Bella Hadid was chosen as the ideal; For weeks there was talk on the platforms about the corresponding operation, a bichectomy, also known as buccal fat removal known; prominent faces were treated as supposed role models. The problem: Reversing the effect of a bichectomy is very complex.
What is popular is renamed or recategorized
Small trends with big consequences are also a challenge for the fashion industry. Because clothes are now only worn for very short periods of time. According to Carl Tillessen, this period of time is shrinking further due to new trends and lower prices: “Thanks to ultra-fast fashion providers like Shein and Temu, prices have fallen by a landslide.” According to a McKinsey report, the average price of a product at Shein is around 13 euros, less than half the average price of just under 31 euros at Zara.
Added to this is the boom in extremely cheap second-hand fashion. This promotes a phenomenon that Tillessen observes especially among young adults: theme parties are back. “Despite their small budget, students can buy an outfit for just one evening, then sell it on at the flea market or online.” For him, microtrends are also the new theme parties: “A motto is issued via social media For a certain – increasingly shorter – period of time, everyone dresses accordingly, and then the topic is over. So you can talk about the motto or micro-trend of the month or the week.”
At first glance, it seems difficult for brands to show up on time at these theme parties. By the time a new product that matches the motto is in stores, the next trend may have already appeared. But existing things in a new look can also be convincing. “Viral aesthetics tend to arise from already popular items being renamed and recategorized,” explains Katie Devlin. Both those mob wives as well as that brat girls used similar core elements, such as leather, leopard print and fishnet stockings; librariancore and office sirene share reading glasses, blouses and cardigans. “Microtrends and naming an aesthetic can allow brands to repackage already popular pieces, prints and colors for new audiences.”
That sounds pragmatic. Just like the reason Charli xcx gave at the beginning of October for designing the cover of her album “brat” without expensive photos, but only with the title and in the green that later became so coveted: she simply wanted to save money because she wasn’t sure was whether the album would find a large audience. A few days later, she also ensured that the omnipresent color of the world remained for a while: her “brat” remix album was released on October 10th. The color of its cover: green. Good news for everyone who thought their blazer was in brat green is no longer popular.
