Are microtrends a full stop or just a comma in the style cycle?

In 2022 and 2023, <a href="https://www.hommesmalaysia.com/personalities/malaysian-independent-designers-interrogating-cultural-identity">TikTok microtrends</a> hit an all-time high, turning the app into a fast-moving, crowd-sourced style encyclopaedia. Every outfit had a name, every aesthetic was a &ldquo;core,&rdquo; and the algorithm dictated what was in before you even had time to wear it out. At first, it was fun &mdash; until it wasn&rsquo;t. By mid-2024, the burnout and collective exhaustion was real. &ldquo;Grandpacore,&rdquo; &ldquo;Cottagecore,&rdquo; &ldquo;Blokecore,&rdquo; &ldquo;<a href="https://www.hommesmalaysia.com/fashion/gucci-keeps-it-classy-and-simple-for-autumn-winter-2024">Quiet Luxury</a>,&rdquo; &ldquo;Office Siren,&rdquo; &ldquo;Balletcore&rdquo; &mdash; it felt like every look needed a catchy label, a hashtag and a spot in the trend cycle. The microtrend machine had run itself into the ground, and we were all begging to get off. Now, in 2025 &mdash; somehow already three months in &mdash; time does fly. But it finally feels like the frantic era of over-analysing every aesthetic, both online and IRL, is losing steam. People are catching on: these hyper-specific trends aren&rsquo;t built to last. And at this point, it&rsquo;s almost comedic &mdash; anyone who looks like they were AI-generated straight from a Pinterest board is immediately labelled the &ldquo;microtrend final boss.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s the internet&rsquo;s way of calling out those who follow the mood board a little too closely.

That said, zooming out on the microtrend phenomenon, we&rsquo;re starting to collectively realise something: they were never that deep to begin with. Without a cultural moment to anchor them, most fizzle out as quickly as they appear. They exist purely for fun &mdash; which is fine &mdash; until fun stops being enough, and people start looking for something more. Take &ldquo;Brat Summer&rdquo;, for example. Unlike most fleeting aesthetics, <a href="https://www.hommesmalaysia.com/fashion/5-best-autumn-winter-trends-to-shop-now">Charli XCX&rsquo;s cultural dominance</a> stretched far beyond a month-long expiration date. The &ldquo;Brat&rdquo; aesthetic wasn&rsquo;t just a look; it became a mood, a mindset. And that level of impact? It&rsquo;s rare. For a microtrend to transcend fashion and turn into a movement, it needs mass buy-in &mdash; and, more importantly, real staying power. Another trend that weathered 2024 relatively unscathed? &ldquo;Quiet luxury&rdquo;. At its core, the microtrend offers a much-needed antidote to the noise &mdash; easy to wear, effortlessly refined and, in some cases, built to last. Last year, it became the go-to descriptor for any collection that leaned understated, dominating runways across nearly every season. The clean, office-inspired aesthetic took hold in 2023 and never really
left our feeds &mdash; because, in many ways, the fashion world itself pivoted in that direction. Case in point: Maximilian Davis, who revitalised Ferragamo with his sleek yet fashion-forward minimalism. Matthieu Blazy during his tenure at Bottega Veneta, whose ultra-elegant silhouettes catered to the hyper-affluent - and obviously awful lots of eyes are looking forward to his takes on Chanel this September and onwards. Sabato De Sarno, who was the Creative Director of the house of Gucci between 2023 and 2025, brought back Gucci&rsquo;s Tom Ford-era sensuality in stark contrast to Alessandro Michele&rsquo;s maximalism. Most recently, Veronica Leoni at Calvin Klein Collection revived the brand&rsquo;s &lsquo;90s golden age with her take on quiet luxury.

Nailing a look that fits neatly into a &ldquo;core&rdquo; isn&rsquo;t as effortless as it seems. Every aesthetic comes with its own set of rules &mdash; specific cuts, silhouettes and styling choices that make or break the look. Take &ldquo;Grandpacore&rdquo;, for example. On the surface, it&rsquo;s as simple as throwing on a cardigan, chinos and a button-up from your closet. But add a necktie? Suddenly, you&rsquo;ve veered into preppy territory, completely missing the mark. The precision required to get it &ldquo;just right&rdquo; can be exhausting, leaving even the most fashion-savvy feeling boxed in and, worse, disconnected from their personal style. That fatigue is precisely why &ldquo;Normcore&rdquo;, uniform dressing and pared-down &ldquo;basic&rdquo; style have crept back into the mainstream &mdash; a direct response to the over-styling and maximalism of the past few years. Much like &ldquo;Quiet Luxury&rdquo; pushed back against the Y2K, skin-baring aesthetic that dominated the post-COVID trend cycle; today&rsquo;s shift towards simplicity is a rebellion against the exhaustion of dressing by the rulebook. We&rsquo;ve been on a collective mission to reclaim personal style ever since 2024&rsquo;s relentless trend churn hit its breaking point. And maybe &mdash; just maybe &mdash; that&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;re finally seeing the machine slow down.

Two years ago, at the H&amp;M Mugler global launch in New York, fashion&rsquo;s elite showed up in outfits that, to put it bluntly, weren&rsquo;t exactly wearable for the everyday person. Fast forward to Mugler&rsquo;s Spring/Summer 2025 show, and even the most flamboyant dressers are dialling it back. For instance, Dara Allen, known for her over-the-top looks, opted for a sleek black suit and turtleneck. Chinese singer and fashion sensation Kun? Just a black tank top and a striped suit. The message is clear &mdash; sometimes, simplicity speaks louder. Even the school kids once known for their full-fledged &ldquo;Rick Owens-ification&rdquo; of everyday dressing are catching onto the shift. The same crowd that swore by 17 layers of dystopian draping is now stepping out in plain baggy jeans and a black T-shirt. So, does the dilution of once-exclusive, IYKYK staples &mdash; like Rick Owens&rsquo; Grilled Platform Boots and Margiela Tabis &mdash; mean we&rsquo;re on the verge of a rejection of the mainstream? Maybe. Or maybe it&rsquo;s just fatigue. A pushback against trends that demand constant engagement with fast fashion &mdash; or worse, spending money that was never there to begin with.

From an economic standpoint, the shift toward savvier wardrobes and mindful consumption isn&rsquo;t just a fashion statement &mdash; it&rsquo;s a sign of the times. With economic decline looming and a global cost-of-living crisis in full swing, the unchecked consumerism of the COVID era has naturally started to fade. Beneath the exhaustion of keeping up with trend cycles is something bigger: a cultural reset. The drive to constantly reinvent the wheel has given way to a collective apathy &mdash; one that aligns just as much with financial reality as it does with fashion fatigue. Simply put, participating in capitalism the way we once did just isn&rsquo;t as feasible anymore. So, is the microtrend era truly on its way out, or is it just catching its breath after back-to-back cycles of aesthetic overload? Only time will tell. Fashion, after all, is fluid &mdash; shaped by culture, economics, politics and the ever-shifting zeitgeist. What feels like a slowdown today might just be a reset, a moment of recalibration before the next wave inevitably arrives.

So long, microtrends

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