CURATED READS FOR GEN Z—AND THEIR Z-CURIOUS COLLEAGUES

first up

Welcome back! This week, we’re looking at the whack-a-mole trend cycle.

Anyone who describes themselves as “extremely online” can confirm that time is compressed on the internet. News, fads, and controversies that once dominated our collective consciousness for weeks have just a fraction of the shelf life on social media. The swiftness with which a video goes viral also characterizes the speed with which it fades to black. 

Trends not only move at a fast clip these days but also have come to act as stand-ins for personal expression. Take fashion: it’s no longer enough to proclaim, “ballet flats are in.” Instead, you might subscribe to “balletcore” and stock your closet with tulle and leg warmers. Adopt the “cottagecore” aesthetic and you’ll immediately project to the world that you’d rather be frolicking through a field or tending to your gnome-filled garden than toiling at your 9-to-5 desk job. There’s also gorpcore, goblincore, and nouveau normcore (not to be confused with millennial normcore). 

Fashion is hardly the only area subject to the relentless trend cycle, though. Language (cheugy has entered the chat), technology (remember NFTs?), beauty standards (goodbye, buccal fat), and home design (meet recessioncore) are each at the mercy of the all-powerful social media algorithm. 

If your head is spinning, you’re not alone. Luckily, there’s a word for this cultural chaos: “trendflation,” which is defined as “the exponential rise in mass manufactured ‘trends’ met with decreased cultural value and/or impact.”

This trend deluge points to a change in how culture has evolved. The 20-year trend cycle—the conventional wisdom that suggests trends refresh or rewind every two decades—is now obsolete. With how quickly trends traverse the zeitgeist today, questions remain: Are we really going anywhere? And even if you can keep up with each trend cycle, should you? 

It’s useful to keep a finger on the pulse, particularly for marketers or brand executives trying to figure out how to connect with Gen Z or design products and services that are informed by consumption trends. Plenty of content that goes viral makes for a good laugh, too. 

While the pandemic fundamentally altered how every consumer—from Gen Z to boomer—navigates the world, as McKinsey Global Institute partner Anu Madgavkar outlines, it might be harder to determine which of the more ephemeral trends, if any, reveal a shift in tastes or behaviors that has any staying power. 

A universal truth applies equally to Gen Zers, their Gen X bosses, or Fortune 500 executives trying to figure out how to find their place in this chaotic new world: evolve with the times, have a little fun, but don’t betray who you are at your “core.” No pun intended. 

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CROSSWORD

— Edited by Alexandra Mondalek, editor, New York