Is the microtrend hamster wheel finally slowing down?
Artwork by Geraldine Wharry using Canva elements with insert of BoF Collage
Thought this week
“Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.”
The question on everyone’s mind: Is the microtrend hamster wheel finally slowing down?
I shared my insights on this [much needed] cultural shift in The Business of Fashion's latest deep-dive by Joan Kennedy, featuring "Hypercycle", my handbook with Gung Ho. The Decline and Fall of the Viral Microtrend seeks to make sense of the fashion trend landscape, what I've referred to as "trendcasting" in Hypercycle:
“When trend forecasting becomes more focused on riding viral moments with audiences than deep cultural analysis.”
Some key insights / explorations from the piece:
The microtrend hamster wheel is finally slowing down due to economic and cultural exhaustion.
We're seeing a pivot to more evergreen fashion choices, and perhaps more identity-led choices?
What's going to happen to microtrends with TikTok's uncertain future in the USA?
Are brands and consumers shifting to strategically investing in rather than mindlessly chasing?
Brands and retailers need an authentic and creative way of participating in dynamic cultural conversations.
The conversation on the state of fashion trends also surfaced this week when Amy Leverton, also known as @denimdudes on IG, posted Is this the end of trends as we know them?
Sadly, many people in fashion foresight feel like the thing they love has been completely co-opted. The mainstream approach to trends doesn’t reflect the professionalism and methodology of many serious trend forecasters out there.
But it may also be a time of reckoning for parts of the fashion trend forecasting industry who very willingly participated in this mess. The Hypercycle, the obsession with audience capture, confusing fashion with media hot takes .... And at the cost of what? Integrity, let alone our planet. For many today, the word TREND is associated with ephemeral hype, overconsumption and has a negative connotation. Fashion trend forecasting has developed a reputation problem.
What I don't understand in the mainstream conversation is the use of language indicating trends are to blame. As if trends happened to us. I find this strange. Trends aren't bad, it’s the current fashion system that has become toxic and lost its way. Trends are a phenomenon in society where patterns emerge, a mirror of own own behaviour and choices, indicative of new shared myths and codes.
When I exchanged with Amy Leverton on IG, I shared what I've said before:
“It’s time to get back to our roots and reclaim the positivity of fashion, and the positive trends we used to create. I truly believe we can reverse this with a more mindful approach to trends as they emerge, learning to decipher what has deeper cultural capital vs what’s just air.”
Parting Thoughts
It's been a rough start to 2025 with the devastation caused by the LA and Kantamanto fires, the breakdown of Democracy in America, after what has been a tough few years with terrible wars around the world spreading pain, hate and injustice. Let alone the massive backslide in sustainability and DEIA commitments. I'm sickened by this. Yet hope isn't a choice—it's a necessity, especially for those far less fortunate than I am. So I choose to remain hopeful. This darkness isn't inherent to human nature; it's not how we're born.
The media has devolved into a fragmenting, sensationalist distortion machine that has failed us and become vampiric, draining our collective lifeblood. The last two decades have seen a war for our attention, rewarding our basest behaviours. Power (and the chase of it) distorts our brain functions and makes us dumber — there's scientific evidence for this, and we're watching it play out.
Behind that social media company, that rocket propelling company (to name a few) are power-thirsty individuals who have become more dumb, more miserable. The 2006 movie Idiocracy got things strikingly right about the future. Have you watched it?
By Geraldine Wharry
