Pop culture becomes the new runway

Every year, Stylight, the world’s largest search platform for fashion & design products, reflects on the past year from a fashion perspective. While Corona had a very strong impact on the fashion industry last year, the trends and looks in 2021 began moving more and more towards normality. And as things began to return to normal, 2021 was about letting go of comfy, casual “stay at home” clothing and transitioning into bold looks, sexy styles and bright colors. No more sweatpants, no more pajamas, and yes, even no more sneakers. This year, fashion was streaming. Influence not only came from runway shows during fashion week, but also from pop culture , TV series and social networks such as TikTok. The Stylight Fashion Recap highlights 3 major areas of fashion for 2021: the trends that were particularly present this year, the top 5 luxury items that were hot in 2021 and will still be going strong in 2022, and finally the 10 icons that influenced us this year. Enjoy this fashion journey through the past year as well as a sneak peek into the lasting trends and styles in 2022.

Aesthetics & Trends Luxury Copies 2022Icons 2021  Download Full Report

Aesthetics & Trends

Sneakers are Dead

Sneakers have been conquering the fashion scene since 2019, but it seems that after months of confinement, their reign might be over. Sure, consumers preferred ultra comfy head-to-toe looks during the height of the pandemic, but the return to normal life seems to mark a real turning point: we want to dress “well” again. And the most watched shows of 2021 like Gossip Girl or The Bold Type have only reinforced this desire. On Stylight, we have noticed a spike in interest and traffic for certain categories of shoes and surprise! They are not sneakers. The Mary Janes (+89% of clicks) a la Gossip Girl are back in force this fall winter 2021, as are kitten heels (+89% of search interest on Google), which may be thanks to the Sex and the City reboot. The chunky loafer like the Monolith loafer by Prada is also one of the flagship shoes of the year: search interest on Google has increased by 295%. And as we still care about our comfort, ugly shoes have not said their last word and one of the key shoes of this year is none other than Crocs.

Aesthetics & Trends

Sexy is the New Comfy

After a very quiet last year, a lot had to change – it seems like we were all ready to ditch our lockdown outfits. You can almost say: “Sexy is the new Comfy”. And this motto supports a number of fashion trends that were particularly in demand this year. For example, the search interest for sheer tops or dresses on Google has increased by 51%. These are often combined with simple bralettes, which finally completely replaced push-ups. Interest for bralettes on Stylight has increased by 49% this year. The influence of Y2K had an extremely strong impact on trends as well. Interest for the iconic low-rise pants of the early 00’s has increased by 42% on Stylight. We also saw searches for dresses with cut-outs increase by 19%.

Luxury Copies 2021

When looking at the most sought-after items in 2021, a multitude of products come to mind, but which 5 items are in RIGHT now and will still be in demand going into next year?

We narrowed it down to 5 luxury items that we’ve seen this year on the runways – and we predict these 5 are going to be the items that all the high street brands will want to copy. The first hot item of our fashion recap is the super figure-flattering long-sleeve “Maddy Long Bustier” by Khaite, the original costs around $1500 and fashion magazines like WhoWhatWear have already begun to point out very similar tops for a fraction of the money. H&M already had very similar knit tops in their assortment. The second item that we will see more often in 2022 is a very bold top. We are talking about the knitted cardigan by Jacquemus, the original of which is held together by the iconic logo brooch by Jacquemus and the top influencers have been wearing this hot piece without anything underneath. Item No. 3 is the mini skirt by MiuMiu, which was presented in this year’s Spring/Summer Runway Show 2022. We can already predict that many fashion chains will jump on the bandwagon of these extremely short mini skirts. The Gucci Diana Bag, as the 4th Hot Item 2022, has already been flaunted by many influencers and we will definitely see more like this design next year. The last top item that was in this year but will definitely still be around next year are the white floral print boots by Valentino. At Valentino the shoes cost $980, definitely an investment. But if you don’t want to spend so much money, you can be sure that big fashion chains will copy the style of the white boots in the next year, however the iconic floral pattern, which makes the boot so special, will possibly only be found on the original.

Icons of 2021

About this Report

All data in this report refers to the same time periods to ensure that the figures are comparable with each other and thus make it clear for which trends or products interest has particularly increased. To analyze this data, we examined the shopping and search behavior of the 120 million annual users on Stylight. For our Fashion Recap 2021, we compared the clicks on different categories or product pages on the international pages of Stylight, in the period at the beginning of the year (January 1, 2021) with mid-October (October 15, 2021). The same period also applies to the data on search interest on Google Trends, early January versus mid or late October 2021.

written by:

Rebekah Ortquist

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