What is a trend?

Many of these declarations are not meant to be taken seriously, and plenty will not succeed (see: Hot Vax Summer and, less consequentially, The New York Times’s endorsement of the Dirty Shirley). But all arise from a desire to identify some distinct flavor of each summer that can be captured and stored like strawberry preserves.

The meme even expanded its seasonal footprint into Christian Girl Autumn and Short King Spring.

Blueberry-milk nails. Hot rodent boyfriend. Tomato-girl summer. What do these things have in common? Absolutely nothing. They are all utterly meaningless. That and, within the last year, each one has become a micro-trend, a niche and short-lived yet pervasive fad that sweeps the Internet.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what is (or is not) a trend . Merriam-Webster defines “trend” as “the general movement over time of a statistically detectable change.” If fashion publications are all eagerly covering a particular item or style, thus causing a “statistically detectable change” in how much coverage something is getting, does that make... See more

More significant than what trends represent on their own and in the moment is what they collectively symbolize. Ours is a period of increasing noise. Everything is bleeding into everything around it. All trends, large and small, now suggest a new cultural mood—but only until the next Vaseline-smeared obsession comes along.