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Issue Two, Back To 2014 Issue

Crowd DNA’s monthly digest. Cultural insights to make the world go round…

2014 was only a decade ago - but it’s back already. In January, a newly pink-haired Kylie Jenner posted a TikTok captioned: “Heard it’s 2014 vibes this year”. This is not a drill. The signs are touting a return to the playful and maximalist aesthetics of 2014.?

And it’s no surprise that we’re already hyping trends from just ten years ago - our trend cycles are getting shorter and shorter after all. There’s also so much to celebrate about that year… 2014 was when social media platforms were just beginning to drive trends in self-expression, like Tumblr, whose users had very specific aesthetic modes. And it was the golden year of Instagram, pre-toxic, over-branded and tangled up in post-truth.?

In this issue of Crowd Source, we remember the era and celebrate 2014’s renaissance…

1. Why does 2014 have us in such a chokehold?

This was a period on social media that was fleeting and beautiful - no wonder we have a nostalgia for it already. Instagram was just hitting its stride in 2014, and it - alongside Tumblr - created a lot of our stickiest visual trends. We aspired to what we saw on social media (usually Valencia-filtered) - coveting eos lip balms, Victoria’s Secret clothes and Starbucks Frappuccinos. Meanwhile, Tumblr was a haven for different subcultures - the indie sleaze kids, the Dark Academics,?the Lana del Rey fans (all fish-nets and smudgy eyeliner) co-living happily online.?

Read more here.

2. Bidding farewell to the ‘clean girl'

Move over, minimalism! The signs are pointing to a return of the maximalist aesthetic that defined culture in 2014. Kylie Jenner has pink hair again, while Lana del Rey’s Skims campaign is a love letter to kitsch romance. The 2024 iteration of 2014’s aesthetics is the anti-perfect antidote to the hyper-curated ‘clean girl’. Think no-makeup-makeup, impeccable hair and athleisure outfits.

Read more here.

3. Angst is in?

Taylor Swift might just be a Tumblr girl. When she announced her new album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, it was as though she’d dipped into the archives of an angsty 2014 teen: the side parting, the dark red lip and winged eyeliner, the choker… And the track list perfectly captures the darkly romantic edge that Tumblr was known for at its 2014 heyday - with tracks like ‘But Daddy I Love Him’, ‘loml’ (shorthand for ‘love of my life’) and ‘Alchemy’. Swift’s album has all the hallmarks of the Tumblr years, where angst was celebrated and being jaded was glamorised.?

Read more here.

4. The sounds of 2014

Blink 182 were headliners at the festival in 2014 and guess what? Yep, they’re back this year. The lineup of the 2024 Reading and Leeds festival features artists like Lana del Rey and Catfish and the Bottlemen who dominated charts and subculture in 2014. Other notable acts on this year’s stage who reached peak fame in the golden age of 2014 include Two Door Cinema Club, Gerry Cinnamon, Skrillex and The Wombats.?

Read more here.

5. A requiem for lost swag

‘Swag’ is an aesthetic that takes its cues from hip hop, 80s fashion and street culture, and it dominated social media in 2014. It was OTT, playful and fun - no article of clothing went unadorned by studs and paved the way towards streetwear becoming more mainstream. But is swag set to return? Will we see Gen Alpha in t-shirts with ‘NERD’ emblazoned on the front in an ode to swag culture? Start getting your 'Swag' aesthetic now...

Back To The Future...

Read more at crowddna.com

Crowd DNA’s Dr Jennifer Simon celebrated all the good news about AI at the MRS Semiotics and Cultural Insights Conference 2024, focusing on how we determine the optimal balance between human and AI involvement – the good signs, as it were.?And how AI can begin to unlock new dimensions in research, creativity, and – most crucially – customer understanding.

Read more here.

Meanwhile, we asked the Crowd team:

What trend from the last decade do you never want to see return?

Isabelle, Cultural Strategist

"It's unfortunate that the obsession with thigh gaps is on its way back with the legging legs trend."

Lorenda, Cultural Strategy Executive

"The overly distressed denim, even I was part of that trend but... nooo..."

Sundari, Cultural Strategy Executive

"Not sure what I DON'T want to see, but I definitely WANT to see sneaker wedges and skinny jeans."