- Retailers need to account for a variety of classics, macro-trends, and micro-trends in their product assortments, and AI makes this easier than ever.
- We examine three hot micro-trends—Mob Wife, Maximalist Makeup, and Hellenistic Revival—and their macro-trend counterparts to learn what’s “in” for 2024 and beyond.
- From demand forecasting, to marketing, to sales, Lily AI helps retailers connect consumers to these trends and others, driving sales and fostering customer loyalty.
Today’s trend cycles are very fast-paced, coming and going more quickly than ever before. This speed is due to social media, which now fuels the pace of fashion. Beyond fashion, beauty and home industries are impacted by increasingly quick trend cycles too, with new fads seeming to pop up every week.
Still, while micro trends come and go, we see classics and macro trends remain.
Retailers need to capitalize on a variety of trend types within their product assortments. From planning, to marketing, to fulfilling orders, AI can make these processes more seamless. This is because AI understands up-to-the-moment trends and uses customer language to connect consumers to products, driving sales and fostering loyalty.
Here, we’ll dive into the differences between macro and micro trends to account for in 2024. We’ll also examine examples of trend types: two within fashion, two within beauty, and two within home decorating.
2024 Trends: The Macro vs. The Micro
Before we get into a look at 2024 micro trends, and their macro trend counterparts, let’s take a quick look at the differences between classics, macro-trends, and micro trends, themselves.
Some items and aesthetics are eternally beloved. These are known as Classics.
- Classic trends last for several seasons, sometimes years.
- They are timeless and never cease to go out of style.
- Sustainability and quality are key indicators of Classics.
- An example of this type of trend is a classic cable-knit sweater
Macro-trends are items that most consumers may wear for multiple seasons.
- Their features aren’t very outlandish or extreme.
- These looks tend to be conventional and trendy, yet still timely.
- An example of a macro-trend is clean/minimal makeup with an emphasis on skincare.
Micro-trends are essentially “crazes.” These tend to only last for one month or season.
- They are typically inspired by social media influencers, celebrities, and even high-end designers.
- These trends that may not appeal to the average consumer.
- They may include novelty items or unconventional statement pieces.
- An example of a micro-trend is the ugly shoe trend from late 2023/early 2024.
The length of trend cycles vary between fashion, beauty, and home industries. Still, all retailers benefit from enriched product data and assortments that account for all three trend types.
A Dive into Classic 2023 Trends and New 2024 Trends
Here, we’ll compare some of 2023’s biggest macro-trends trends to 2024 trends across fashion, home, and beauty. While the term “2023 trends” may feel dated in our fast-paced world, many are still very popular across a variety of customers and markets. Meanwhile, the new/cutting-edge trends are just starting to spring up in popularity.
Quiet Luxury vs. Mob Wife
Perhaps one of 2023’s most prominent trends was Quiet Luxury. This trend denotes the discreet yet luxurious clothing offered by high-end brands such as Loro Piana and Brunello Cucinelli. It exudes understated sophistication and refinement. The universal popularity of this look makes it a macro-trend, when it comes to fashion, and it’s expected to continue its popularity in 2024, with Business Insider reporting its inclusion in the home goods world.
With the popularity of stealth wealth, we see the fashion pendulum is swinging in the opposite direction with the recent surge in popularity of the loud Mob Wife aesthetic. This very new, very hot micro-trend is glitzy, glamorous, and over-the-top. When it comes to fashion, its staples are fur, animal prints, and gold jewelry. Red lips, smokey eyes, and long bold nails are key indicators of its beauty aesthetic.
With 14.8k #mobwife posts on TikTok, and its surge in popularity across January 2024, this is currently considered a micro-trend. We’re excited to see if it remains in the zeitgeist across the year, however.
Vanilla Girl Makeup vs. Maximalist Makeup
Vanilla girl makeup, or the clean girl aesthetic, features fresh-faced beauty with little to no makeup. Its clothing is well-fitting and in neutral tones. Hairstyles remain simple. This look was one of the most popular of 2023, and we see new iterations of it to continue in 2024, all focused on simple statements with a focus on wellness.
Despite the huge popularity of the Vanilla Girl look, we see that maximalist makeup is making a comeback. In fact, #maximalist has 32.6k posts on TikTok, many of which include over-the-top looks for both makeup and home decor.
When it comes to beauty trends, Lily AI says that frosty Mermaidcore, Fairycore, and Summer Solstice Beauty are the top predicted trends for 2024. Each of these looks bring bold colors to the eyes, lips, and nails, all of which are anything but minimalist and vanilla.
Modern Farmhouse vs. Hellenistic Revival
Calling on the same core colors and concepts of the Vanilla Girl aesthetic, Modern Farmhouse has been all the rage for a while. It brings neutral colors, rustic accents, and comfy furniture to the forefront of home decor. Across 2023, Lily AI tracked farmhouse decor as one of the most popular home decorating trends. Its details look very classic, and will likely continue in their popularity over the next several seasons.
Going back to the #maximalist aesthetic, we see a unique spin on it with the Hellenistic Revival home decorating trend. This look was included in a recent Pinterest Predicts report, thanks to consumer searches on Pinterest showing a 65% boost in popularity for “Ancient Greece Aesthetic.” While the style of Greek decorations isn’t nearly as established as the Modern Farmhouse look, Hellenistic Revival is set to be quite trendy for the upcoming Spring and Summer 2024 seasons.
Find the Balance Between Classic, Macro- and Micro-Trends
There’s great value in offering consumers classic trends, long-lasting macro-trends, and super hot and timely micro-trends. Retailers need to account for a variety of these trend types within their offerings. Nowadays, AI makes that easier than ever.
Lily AI helps retailers and brands operationalize these trends to capitalize on trend cycles faster, before the competition. Only Lily AI provides the most current and robust catalog of trend tags via our 20,000+ product attribute taxonomy. Lily’s AI-generated product descriptions and product attributes enable e-commerce, merchandising, and marketing teams to quickly and easily build micro and macro trend collections, as well as highlight relevant trends in product and marketing copy. This ultimately helps brands stay relevant with shoppers of all generations, and drive sales across 2024 and beyond.
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