Has Tiktok Killed the Trend Cycle: Who actually decides what’s ‘In” right now?
- May 30
- 5 min read
Gone are the days where traditional fashion moguls set the tone for what’s “in” and what’s “out”. When a designers runway collection was the holy grail of what should and shouldn’t be worn in the upcoming season. Where what was printed in Vogue was to be taken as gospel.
In recent years, the shift in fashion authority has been impossible to ignore – and even harder to keep up with. Traditional trendsetters such as designers, editors, fashion houses and even luxury conglomerates like LVMH and Kering have gradually lost their once gravitational hold over the industry, sadly but inevitably overtaken by something far less tangible… the algorithm.
The Death of the Traditional Trend Cycle
Social media has long influenced the lifecycle of trends, allowing consumers to feel as if they are a part of a once entirely exclusive industry. Yet TikTok, in particular, has accelerated this shift at an unbelievably alarming pace.
Trends no longer trickle down from the runway to the consumer through carefully curated stages. They now appear overnight on the For You Page, have gone global within days, and Zara has a shoppable version in store within the week.
Fashion once operated seasonally with collections eagerly awaited every September and February. Now it operates hourly with a depressing fixation on continual “newness”.
This constant “newness” has drastically shortened a trends lifespan and in turn has dramatically added to landfill with ultra-fast fashion retailers such as Shein and Temu adding over 10,000 products daily. DAILY! How insane is that?
The Algorithm as the New Editor-in-Chief
Seemingly Anna Wintour was one of one, because with over 1 billion daily active Tiktok users spending an average of 95 minutes per day on the app the algorithm has truly taken charge.
Unlike its predecessor the algorithm doesn’t care about craftsmanship - only engagement. It rewards speed, novelty, and virality with a complete disregard for longevity. Which is brilliant for influencers, but can be detrimental for luxury retailers who aren’t familiar with this new evolution.
The For You Page acts as the nucleus for the Tiktok Algorithm. The content that does make it to the FYP becomes visible to a wider audience, which allows for it to get more engagement which in turn leads to the birth of either a micro-trend or yet another influencer – or perhaps both.
Influencers are arguably the present day chiefs for leading consumer behaviour as they have an incomparable hold over their specific, loyal audience. A recent study found that 74% of consumers have bought a product because an influencer recommended it.
Making their power to drive consumer behaviour undeniable. So undeniable that in recent years businesses have tapped into their power by building authentic long-term relationships with compatible influencers and working together to build trust with their mutual target audience.
A brilliant article that breaks down the power of creators on consumer behaviour: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesagencycouncil/2024/08/14/how-influencers-can-drive-consumer-purchasing-behavior/
Micro-Trends and the Speed Problem
Trends have evolved time and time again, but the invention of the micro-trend is where the decline truly peaked. I am an avid hater of the micro-trend, even if I did indulge in the cow print frenzy during lockdown!
After the regrettable death of the traditional trend cycle where trends were carefully curated over months by industry professionals, micro-trends swiftly moved in to replace them with only enough care to survive the attention span of the algorithm.
“Mob Wife”, “Office Siren”, “Clean Girl”, “Coastal Cowgirl”, “Brat Summer” or “Tomato Girl” (which made me audibly laugh) are all examples of recent micro-trends. All of which arrived to Tiktok with a starter pack: names, visuals and entire personalities attached. Each functioning for a brief period of time as a new personality for consumers to adopt before being rapidly abandoned and moving to the next.
By the time most people have grown comfortable with a micro-trend, TikTok has often already declared it “over” and there are 5 new ones to choose from! This has led to fashion often feeling increasingly performative with a particular lacking in personal style.
Style is now influenced by SO many external influences that I’m not entirely sure if there is any personality left in it! But now it feels as if everyone is just rotating identities, trying on a one-size fits all catalogue and flicking through the pages with each new viral video.
Micro-trends have made sure of this by rewarding constant reinvention and treating repetition almost as socially unacceptable. But don't fall victim to it! A capsule wardrobe will ALWAYS win over a muddled and incohesive jumble of cheaply made fast-fashion pieces. (I remember when I read that Justin Bieber never rewears his underwear at about age 8… and even then I thought that was beyond stupid.)
The result to all of this is a culture where nobody appears fully in control of what becomes fashionable anymore. Designers influence influencers (through current or past collections), influencers influence consumers, consumers influence the algorithm, and the algorithm feeds the entire cycle back into itself at immense speed.
It begs the question – When everyone is a trend forecaster, is anyone actually leading fashion anymore?
So...are Designers Still Leading Culture?
By no means am I announcing fashion houses are irrelevant, if anything I believe they are now more important than ever because one day everyone will become bored of this constant consumption (I hope) and once again designers will have the reigning vote!
At current point luxury brands still are at the forefront of shaping silhouettes and entire aesthetics, but social media now accelerates, mutates, and shifts the narrative of trends before brands can fully even voice them.
The best example I can come up with to demonstrate this authority shift is the absolute chaos of the Miu Miu micro-mini skirt. Back in AW22 Miuccia made headlines with the slinky skirt on the runway, and it quickly became an internet phenomenon on Tiktok.
People started fixating on it for “model-off-duty” core leading fast fashion retailers to have near-identical versions online within days. Styling videos flooded the FYP, and the trend evolved far beyond what was originally presented on the runway.
What began as luxury quickly became mass-consumed content, raising the question: do brands still create trends, or does TikTok redefine them before they’ve had their moment?
Neither designers nor creators have the full package alone, which is why collaborations between brands and influencers have become increasingly valuable! And are now pretty much inevitable for luxury survival.
Designers bring the product and creative vision; creators know how to package it for the algorithm. And with Gen- Z increasingly discovering fashion through TikTok rather than magazines, this change was necessary for the future of the industry.
Maybe TikTok hasn’t entirely killed the trend cycle, instead it’s exposed the preexisting fact that fashion is a glorified competition for attention.
The core difference now is that the people deciding what’s “in”, and “out” are no longer sitting front row in Paris.
They’re sitting in bed, scrolling… and the likelihood is you’re probably one of them. So make sure you decide well!
With love,
Mimi x
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