Trends: Dupe the Vibe, Not the Look Pt. 1
Diving in to key trends without losing yourself. Of the moment, not lost in it.
The Scene: Style Class Half-Marathon, April 17th, 2024. The segment: Breaking Down the Trends. This Insider Report takes a forensic look at the discussion. This is Part 1: The Prepster, Vintage Vibes, and Corporate Culture.
Way before joining Tibi, I attended elementary school in a small suburb in Wisconsin. At the time, my father worked in design at Land’s End and regularly brought home plaid belted skirts and shrunken polos for my sisters and me. Despite my brazen protests against wearing these country club relics, the battle always ended with me dragging my feet to school sporting my puff-sleeved polo, preppy skirt, and Adidas sneakers. When my parents finally caved to my begging for a sequined shirt and distressed denim mini to match my classmates (while I’m early 2000’s generation, I know you all have items that you can conjure here), the result was not what I anticipated. Trended full out, a mirror image of my friends, didn’t sit right. I didn’t feel like myself. Even back when I was catching yellow school busses instead of Ubers, there was an inherent desire to feel connected to the larger moment without losing myself in the process.
Cut to present day. Trend reports go live every hour and algorithms have you convinced that literally everyone is on board but you. The investments required to participate in these trends is nothing to ignore, either. This is the very moment when it’s most important to know the principles that keep you looking like you, ergo feeling like you, no matter which trend it is that’s piquing your interest.
The core tenets of Creative Pragmatism are Chill, Modern, and Classic. Never fussy, always looking forward but with reverence for the past; an ability to change and grow with the times while keeping our core in tact. We say we don’t subscribe to trends at Tibi, but there certainly are moments in time when some items feel better than ever. Some colors and shapes suddenly feel more relevant, and some things just oddly feel flat out wrong when they seemed so right only a year ago (or month ago).
In this Insider Report, we lasso the trends that have us the most interested. Whether we’ve explored them in our most recent runway show, or we’ve plucked them fresh from the fashion news headlines to mix in to our current wardrobe - we’re dissecting them all through a CP lens.
Here’s the goal: lean into the vibe without aping the look. How do we get there? By focusing on the codes of a trend rather than the literal items themselves. Which brings me to our first trend. The Prepster.
There’s debate amongst generations about what is actually deemed preppy. Traditionally speaking, preppy style is derived from the uniform dressing of collegiate students (think polos, chinos, boat shoes, and sweater vests). Gen Z would cast a wider net, suggesting that preppy can be anything from a pastel sweatshirt and ruffle athletic shorts all the way to a neon pink Lilly Pulitzer frock. All that aside - preppy draws a direct link to the third core CP adjective: Classic. A respect for heritage.
Odds are, many of the pieces that would be considered poster-children of the Prepster’s wardrobe are already somewhere in your closet - perhaps left unworn because on their own, they speak so loudly. So one-dimensionally. The key to playing into this trend without losing yourself is to lean into your ANTONYMS. By bringing in irony and friction, you’ll keep yourself from feeling “in-costume”. A fool-proof method for keeping this squarely in your wheelhouse is to view it as an equation. Let’s look at some examples.
Personal style - mixing in the codes with the elements that truly make something “your own” to use an overplayed phrase here.
Context is important - it always helps to understand where a root has taken place. Unpack that first. You’ll find that, most often, the explanation behind the desire for a trend lays out a clear path for how to execute. Let’s dissect the roots of the vintage “trend.” If you’re on social media, you may feel a little pounded by all the repetition in what you are seeing - algorithms will do that to you. It checks out that we are craving unique twists on the way we dress. So while “vintage” encompasses myriad decades, this trend is really about baking individuality into the way you dress and feeling responsible- not just to your budget but the environment.
Let’s take a more forensic approach to the trend codes this time. Nostalgia - a piece reminds you of something or someone from your past. You’ll feel immediately grounded wearing pieces that hold sentimental meaning. The pieces that create good friction in your closet nod to Irony. This is the category to buy into, but don’t over-invest. Have a closet filled with pieces that are highly refined? Seek out its opposite. Vintage is where you can bring in something out of your comfort zone - if it’s pushed but still linked to your core principles (Chill, Modern, and Classic) you’ll discover it’s a piece you’ll wear often. We’re not sure that Pairability is a word, but let us explain what we mean by this. You want to make sure you can pair these one of a kind special items with your WOFs - everything stays rooted when paired with the pieces that fundamentally speak to our personal style. At its core, vintage is a visual reference to decades past. Marrying a nostalgic flight jacket that reminds you of your grandfather or your favorite fit from 80s Top Gun with your slouchy trousers, tee and favorite sandal feels exactly you.
Marrying your vintage items with your WOFs gives the ironic twist that keep you from feeling dated. A lightweight cotton nylon tuxedo shirt in a chic navy paired back to a sweatpant trouser and an ultra-modern sneaker will leave you feeling undeniably chic, paired with an unexpected earring that no one’s able to place the origin, you can be rest assured no one will ask you if you’re headed to a decade themed party.
Somewhere between the mass exodus from offices during the pandemic coupled with a desire to feel some semblance of control, corporate attire became part of many of our everyday lives outside of the cubicle. This stands to figure - as sweatpants made their way into office lives, the suit is creeping into our casual lives. The codes here - while they may seem obvious, are important to keep in mind. You’re aiming for the overall effect, the vibe, after all - anything too literal and you’ll be left feeling a cliche.
Let’s walk through the codes together. Refined. Keep the clarity of the definition in mind - be on the lookout for sharp blazers, simple but eased out bottoms, waistbands that have tailored trousers, etc. You’ll know it when you see it, okay? Traditional masculine office-wear details - these are things you’re familiar with. Step in to the men’s section of any classic store - you get the drift, all the stereotypical signifiers of office life as we have (previously) known it. The secret sauce? Do it all in your VIBE: Chill, Modern, and Classic.
Here’s why every adjective has to work in tandem. Leave off the chill and you’ll be giving 80’s working girl paying working man vibes. Leave off the classic, you’ll feel a bit too editorial - chic, but not as much there to make you feel fully comfortable. Leave off the modernity, and you’ll feel like you’ve just headed out in your father’s old suit. And remember, the looks come together when you mix in your ANTONYMS. All this masculinity coupled with a dose of its polar opposite gives the good interest.
I had to include the snapshot here of Nina and Amy from our live trend segment Each are leaning in to menswear - but even the way the ties are executed gives each one their individuality.
We discussed a lot here in Part 1. The overarching rule of thumb is: when you find yourself leaning all the way in, take one step out. Take one thing off and swap it with the antithesis of that trend. The good balance comes from this. Check off every box of a trend in your look and that’s exactly when you’ll feel exactly that. All trend, no you.
The Insider Report is a forensic look at the circularity of concepts, designs, and marketing strategies we believed in at Tibi - how they played out and how they were received. We look at where the market has moved - not as a result, although that does happen. But rather simply as a fact to observe. We have a unique perspective through the 5 Lenses: Retail, Business, Media, Designer, and Consumer. We ask the why of what was in our heads when we first felt the tug for a certain color or shape. And we look at how we executed it, if we remained committed to our original idea, and if it took root or gained steam by synergy in the market. We do this because we want to understand the origin of our decisions and the resulting outcome. I can’t tell you how many times we sit in meetings and casually observe something we “wish we had done” or “fully regret the hell out of doing”. And we forget, there was a real reason at the time for what we chose to do or chose not to do - and understanding the full picture helps us get smarter about what we do in the future. Not so much to intellectually execute it again, but rather to instill the confidence that our first instincts, in their purest form, tend to be good.
My favorite thing about your approach to style is the way that it makes me think about tension and outfits. I love this look at how we can embrace a certain trend without completely losing ourselves, the key being those antonyms and not throwing our wardrobe out entirely.
I love the use of the green Tibi font here!