In the age of social media, there’s no shortage of trends to keep up with. And since the advent of TikTok, it feels like they spring up even faster, with viral moments and celeb looks taking on lives of their own at unprecedented speed.
Whether you’re chronically online or on a social media hiatus, chances are you’ve heard of at least a few of these looks that had the internet in a chokehold this year.
Maybe you’ve seen a tomato girl at your local farmer’s market — her natural habitat, so she was probably thriving — and a veritable mob wife posted up at your local cocktail bar, martini within reach. Perhaps seeing the bows-on-everything trend alerted you to the fact that “coquette” outfits are a thing, or it could be that you yourself are knee-deep in fashion TikTok and perfecting your office siren wardrobe.
In any case, these are the microtrends we tried on, sidestepped, or fell in love with in 2024.
1. Clean Girl
We all know the clean girl uniform: middle part, slicked-back bun, matching athleisure or linen sets, hold the bold colors, add the minimal gold jewelry, white trainers and a puffy tote. The clean girl aesthetic dominated 2023 and sunk its pared-back talons in, holding on all through 2024 as well.
Vanilla girl outfits — all white and cream looks, but with less of a focus on athleisure and effortlessness — seem like this year’s iteration of the clean girl trend. The color palette is similarly narrow and focused on neutrals, but you can wear pants with buttons and your hair in loose, soft blowouts instead of the slicked-back style of the 2023 clean girl.
2. Mob Wife
This trend certainly predates 2024, but the mob wife aesthetic came back with a vengeance in January. It felt then (and still reads now) like a maximalist response to 2023’s year of the clean girl. The mob wife is not demure or cutesy; she is sexy and unapologetic. Mob wife looks are all about layered jewelry (gold hoops a must), black clothing, leather accents, red lips, leopard print, and yes, fuzzy coats.
3. Tomato Girl
To be fair, tomato girls became a thing in late spring 2023, but this year, everyone who caught on late to the trend jumped at the opportunity to have their “tomato girl summer.” A tomato girl looks like she summers in Italy, makes dinner with fresh produce every night, and is always a little sun-kissed. Outfit-wise, think white billowy tops, bandanas in the hair, red ruffled maxi dresses and comfortable sandals. In terms of makeup, the tomato girl look is heavy on the blush and faux freckles — again, sun-kissed — and a smudged red lip for subtle impact.
4. Brat
Charli XCX’s album “Brat” spawned a special sort of resurgence of Y2K fashion focused on a black and green color palette with little sexy touches. It’s 2024’s baddie take on early 2000s fashion: silky camisoles, chunky sunglasses, denim and leather bottoms — you get the picture.
5. Y2K
Zooming out from Brat life, Y2K fashion in general has found a new generation willing to sport crop tops and low-rise jeans at the same time. Today’s version isn’t a literal take on the Juicy Couture sweatsuits and giant waist belts of yesteryear, but 2024’s version focuses on iconic items like cargo pants in modern cuts and shapes (full-length and wide-legged, instead of tapered capris, for example).
6. Old Money Blonde
Cowboy copper was the hair color of 2023, but old money blonde has usurped its position this year. It’s a deeper hue of blonde with some subtle babylights throughout (one that many people lament they bleached their natural color to hide, since it used to be known as dishwater blonde). For once, a microtrend that might make us love something about our natural state.
7. Office Siren
This aesthetic actually has nothing to do with workplace-appropriate outfits, but relies on officewear staples — collared button-downs, glasses, trousers, plaid skirts — to create a put-together yet sexy outfit. It’s less about working and more about werking, as this TikTok creator points out. Chances are, it has HR directors everywhere shuddering.
8. Coquette
It’s sort of a chicken-and-egg situation, trying to suss out whether the comeback of bows or the coquette aesthetic came first. In any case, the ultra-feminine aesthetic is all about pastel hues, ribbons, frills, pearls — anything girly. It even spawned some subgenres, like dark coquette, which boasts all the frilly femininity but in a deeper color palette (mostly black).
9. Cowboy Core
Last year, cowboy copper hair was the color du jour, but thanks to Beyoncé, now cowboy anything goes. Cowboy boots have become typical festival footwear, Western hats were absolutely everywhere this summer, and all denim looks were back on the table. This look seems to have tapered off already, but when it was in, boy was it everywhere.
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10. Normcore
Normcore isn’t new — it originated around a decade ago and is all about simple, everyday pieces. Think sneakers, jeans and a T-shirt. The term seems to be coming back, likely as people look for ways to identify dressing, well, normally, in the face of so many microtrends that demand entirely new wardrobes to pull off. Not normcore, though; it is all about functional basics and classic wardrobe staples.