The Fragmentation of Fashion Trends Online: What’s at stake for Brands?

With social media now running the show on ‘what’s hot’ and ‘what’s not’, Fashion trends are no more dictated from Catwalk to our closets.

As global social media users surpassed the 5 billion mark[1] at the beginning of 2024, today anyone can be an agenda-setter.

In this short read, I attempt to breakdown how social media influences our daily fashion, virality of the trends and their lifespan, and most importantly what it means for the Brands.

Shift from trickle-down effect because of social media

Today culture is less top-down. Social media has enabled a more bottom-up, bubble-up, decentralized way for culture to emerge.[2]

In this era of social media currency, influencers wield a massive power in dictating and confirming the trends, subsequently influencing purchasing decisions. With Fashion Hauls, GRWM (Get Ready with me), and ‘Yes or No’, becoming the norm for digital content, people are turning to these influencers for trend spotting.

For instance, Sofia Richie’s wedding to Elliot Grainge[3] ?set the stage for all things “Quiet Luxury,” reviving the classy minimalist aesthetic. Recently, creator Jools Lebron had the entire internet become “very demure and very mindful”[4], prompting Brands to quickly emulate the trend.

Pop culture: Why do some trends outlast others?

Today, pop culture is a major source of insights. By staying plugged-in, brands can stay contextually relevant.

For instance, the Netflix series Bridgerton sparked the ”Regency core” era, leading to a 123% surge in searches for corsets.[5] Trends may also emerge from outside film and TV, as seen with Taylor Swift’s albums Folklore and Evermore, which popularised the summery ‘cottagecore’ aesthetic romanticising the quaint cabin life.[6]

The Business of Fashion points “The construction of trends happens more like a conversation, where social media users, consumers, brands, retailers and celebrities play off each other.”

Heuritech on The circle of fashion trends

While the?life cycle of a trend?can’t be predicted with 100% precision, it is possible to ascribe certain patterns to it in order to better navigate market changes[7]. Again,?the general life cycle of a trend is as such:

1. Introduction
2. Rise
3. Peak
4. Decline
5. Obsolescence

Each trend moves through its life cycle in a unique way, so real-time data on specific trends is essential to pinpointing their past, present, and future behaviours.?

Do trends last long enough, and Should the Brands even care?

Heuritech rightly observes “While the 20-year cycle remains true to an extent, the advent of innovative technologies and social media has drastically condensed the life cycle of trends today.”[8]?

It is not a coincidence that both the minimalist Quiet Luxury and maximalist Barbiecore co-existed in the same era. An Esquire Singapore article from 2023 even explored whether there’s room for maximalist fashion in a Quiet Luxury world.[9]

Brands might dismiss trends as mere repackaging of old aesthetics as what was once minimalist became stealth wealth, then evolved into the Old Money aesthetic, and is now known as Quiet Luxury.[10] While fashion connoisseurs might argue that these aesthetics differ[11], there’s no denying they often stem from recycled ideas.[12]

Margot Robbie may have brought back the popularity of the Mattel brand’s doll in 2023, however Reese Witherspoon’s character Elle Woods from the early 2000s film Legally Blonde remains a prominent Barbie representation. Even prominent fashion designers such as Valentino and Moschino have embraced barbiecore to engage consumers.[13]

The real question remains, If trends are so ever-fleeting, then should brands invest in chasing them at all? Or is there a smarter way to navigate the unpredictable lifecycle of trends?

Sustainable Shift: Thrifting on the rise

Amidst the flood of rapid trends, a silver lining has emerged: environmentally conscious GenZers are embracing thrifting and vintage styles— which align with their advocacy for?circular fashion.[14] This is where trends like Cottage core, Granddad core, and Dark Academia find their space. For brands, this shift means they can enjoy extended lifecycles for their SKUs, with a focus on timeless pieces and reduced waste from fast fashion practices.

As brands incorporate trends to sell their SKUs, they also leverage social listening to curate relevant content—though trends will always spark debate.

[1] https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-global-overview-report?utm_source=Global_Digital_Reports&utm_medium=Partner_Article&utm_campaign=Digital_2024

[2] https://www.ogilvy.com/ideas/social-media-trends-2024-culture-first-reset-brands-social

[3] https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/sofia-richie-and-elliot-grainge-wedding

[4] https://elle.in/ellecyclopedia-very-demure/

[5] https://www.vogue.in/fashion/content/what-is-regencycore-and-why-are-celebrities-obsessed-with-this-trend

[6] https://www.vogue.com.au/culture/lifestyle/what-is-cottagecore-the-phenomenon-made-popular-by-taylor-swift/news-story/6f4f501ffaee50c73f394d64f1ada174

[7] https://heuritech.com/articles/five-stages-of-fashion-trend-life-cycle/

[8] https://heuritech.com/articles/five-stages-of-fashion-trend-life-cycle/#:~:text=Key%20takeaways,predictable%20than%20in%20the%20past.

[9] https://esquiresg.com/maximalist-fashion-in-a-quiet-luxury-world/

[10] https://www.vogue.com/article/core-aesthetic-microtrends-2023

[11] https://www.chattychums.com/articles/lifestyle/quiet-luxury-vs-stealth-wealth-vs-old-money-aesthetic%2C-what%E2%80%99s-the-difference%3F

[12] https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/quiet-luxury-trend

[13] https://time.com/6290606/barbiecore-trend-history/

[14] https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-gen-z