The new architecture of a trend?
Mother Mermaid is being crowd-constructed live on TikTok right now
Trends used to bubble up after simmering around in subculture…or trickle down in response to inspiration from the runway…before being anointed by those-who-know (and/or ratified by the brute force of algorithmic consensus).
But might we be in a new era? Where aesthetics are instead deliberately co-constructed in real time, in public view?
Aesthetic authorship
Stylist
is well known for her three-word method and her wrong-shoe theory - her work and theories have been covered extensively by e.g. The New York Times, ELLE, Vogue, and The Guardian over the past couple of years. She’s become a voice of reason, calmly cutting through the overwhelm, hype and confusion of the modern fashion landscape.She’s also the woman behind some of fashion’s most prolific recent aesthetics and cores - spotting them, naming them, explaining them. One by one as they burst into our feeds, she decodes and analyses them…the mob-wife, the office siren, the coastal grandma.
Last summer she constructed her own: Desert Aunt (and also Surfer Nephew). Desert Aunt was a mood and silhouette rooted in loose linen, leather sandals, earth tones, and a certain laid-back, intelligent, ageless chic.
In originating the aesthetic, she talked her audience through the specific image and feeling, explaining why she felt it captured the spirit of the moment. She moodboarded the kind of looks/colours/styling choices a Desert Aunt might like to consider, and pointed to examples of people who exemplify the kind of look she was talking about. Then she continued talking about Desert Aunt all season, helping and responding to people who needed advice on achieving the look.
This morning she’s done it again, but this time it’s different.
This time she’s encouraging people to not just understand and interpret an aesthetic, but work together to create one.
This summer, Allison feels, will be the summer of The Mother Mermaid. But instead of just explaining the rationale to her community as she’s done in the past…she’s co-creating and live concepting the aesthetic with her followers on TikTok.
Have a look:
A trend under construction
In the video Allison’s asking her community for help developing and pinpointing what this aesthetic should be, exactly: “She’s different from what we felt last year…she’s diaphanous…she’s wearing shells, beads, sandals. The idea isn’t fleshed out. I need your help with the lore.”
And people are joining in, instinctively helping Allison build this trend/core/aesthetic.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this happen before. Consciously, live, in public. Have you?
Some of the comments are here (more by the moment). Allison is responding and agreeing/building.
“Mother Mermaid ONLY wears beaded bags” and “loose woven knits, like a fishing net washed ashore.”
“She doesn’t get her hair colored” and “She did a stint in NYC in her 20s” but now “Her house smells like eucalyptus in the fog and the floor is Saltillo tile with sand in the entryway”, and :“She’s wearing Jo Malone - Wood Sage and Sea Salt.”
“She’s drinking a Paloma and wearing the seashell necklaces she got on holiday last summer” or maybe “She’s a gin and tonic woman with really good gin and artisan tonic water.”
“She’s a better person when she’s by the water.” Where? “Ibiza, but the quiet side not the party side.” Or no…“Ibiza is too loud, but she found an amazing eco retreat on the eastern side of Zanzibar so she’s summering there.”
“Her eyelids have a finger swipe of reflective shadow so she always has a little pearl wherever she goes. And the eyeshadow comes from palette that has the name rubbed out so when someone asks her what she’s wearing, she simply can’t remember.”
“Hair: romantic and slightly sea swept, but not messy. She’s not undone, it’s more glamorous, but with a simple overtone - not minimal.”
How interesting.
My kids are deeply obsessed with mermaids. They ask to sleep in their costumes.
Am I a literal mermaid mother? Pass me an artisan gin and tonic.
Until next time/thanks for reading.
Beth
Interesting. These consumers/creators are attempting to play the role of trend concept designers (an actual job in the fashion industry, which I used to have). But they aren't making product — In reality, someone else already developed the trend concepts (years ago) that informed the product these creators currently have access to in stores. So folks online are more accurately acting as merchandisers or editors trying to curate existing product to fit the trend they are 'constructing.' In the industry, the merchandisers/editors would have been informed of the trend concept in a buy meeting or press release, but these creators don't have that access. So it turns into kind of a funny circular guessing game... they're trying to reconstruct a mood board that likely already exists!
The takeaway for me: Is there an opportunity for brands to loop creators in, giving them access to learn about the entire behind-the-scenes concept design process, from mood board to creation? I don't mean a collaboration where they are paid to input into the process; but more like, show notes that provide the story behind the collection.
Can we both be literal Mermaid Moms? My daughters regularly pretend to be mermaids in the bath or pool. Honestly AB is brilliant for bringing her audience in on this and I think it will endear them to her when she talks about it in the future (or recommends products for this aesthetic). I saw some flack towards her when she did Desert Aunt because there was the *please stop making aesthetics* feeling and this collaboration totally disarms that....