Can brands set trends?

The nature of the internet aesthetic is just that — it’s born online. “Take librarian core,” trend forecaster Agustina Panzoni says. “Miu Miu didn’t say: ‘Librarian core, let’s go!’ It was the community that gave the name to the aesthetic.” Fast-churning micro-trends dominated TikTok in 2023. Should luxury brands play in 2024?

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Brands can set consumers up to ignite a trend around a product launch, argues Amy Sturgis, founder and managing director of PR agency ASC Global. She recommends the “ripple effect” to brands, “allowing space for consumer discovery to evolve into the creation of trends”. Gifting and paid influencer campaigns (when done right) can help to build an engaged audience around a product, she says.

Brands can’t dictate every core that users see, but what they can control are the products themselves.

This year, trend experts expect brands to take things a step further and name products after micro-trends, in the vein of blueberry milk nails, as TikTok Shop rises in prominence.

What's the wholesale advantage?

Multi-brand retailers are at an advantage. They can curate these aesthetics from multiple brands, and establish themselves as a place where these trends exist.

Ssense does it best. The retailer has posted about the tights trend; coquette by way of Priscilla; feral and clean girl in one; Barbie; the list goes on. Other retailers are also playing the game. Revolve is posting “balletcore” and “coquette girl inspo” TikToks.

Could micro-trends boost sales?

Elsewhere in the industry this week:

• Frédéric Arnault, the newly appointed CEO of LVMH Watches and second-youngest son of scion Bernard Arnault, is putting his plans in place for the future of the hard luxury category he now oversees.
• How Boss turned Gisele into a 33-foot hologram.
• Helena Helmersson — who has led H&M Group’s sustainability agenda for over a decade — is stepping down in a surprise exit, citing the “demanding” nature of the job.
• De-influencing and no-spend challenges are countering social media consumerism. Here’s what fashion needs to know.
• Copenhagen Fashion Week: Buttoned up and quietened down.

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