In Focus

Shed chic, swampcore and boho 2.0: The spring trends to know about now

If you feel like your look needs a spring clean to usher in a new season, where do you start? Trend forecaster Jane Kellock says your luck is in if you were there for the Nineties the first time round...

Tuesday 07 May 2024 21:10 BST
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2024 MET Museum Costume Institute Benefit Gala where most of the outfits were inspired by nature
2024 MET Museum Costume Institute Benefit Gala where most of the outfits were inspired by nature (Invision)

Is orange going to be the colour of the season, will millennial pink continue to dominate, or will jorts (jeans/shorts) really take off in the way that trend forecasters like me have predicted?

It has never been easier or harder to predict what is going to take off, as social media is awash with influencers influencing and trends trending, leaving retailers and consumers either totally focused or completely confused. But no matter how seemingly ridiculous it all is, we can’t ignore the ever-evolving cultural zeitgeist, as eventually, even the most out-there ideas can evolve into fashion that consumers might actually want to wear.

Take “coastal grandma”, for example. The viral TikTok trend encouraged us to live, laugh, love like the main characters in a Nancy Meyers movie. Niche in its infancy, coastal grandma evolved to become the neutral and pale blue floaty-linen-trouser-and-oversized-stripe-shirt combo that we now all love. Until we don’t.

So what are the trends you should be looking out for this spring?

Swampcore

A trend inspired by, you guessed it, swamps, as well as the wet outdoors and animals that are found in the dirt, such as worms and snails, with a splatter of neo-Paganism thrown in for good measure.

The wearable version will include a colour palette of sludgy greens and browns, camo prints, weirdly textured fabrics, and strange religious iconography. Think Swampy meets Shrek in a derelict church in Nebraska. Not convinced? No, me neither. 

The Olsen twins were poster girls for the first bohemian fashion wave
The Olsen twins were poster girls for the first bohemian fashion wave (Getty)

Boho is back

And for once, this didn’t start on TikTok. Chemena Kamali’s debut show for French brand Chloé featured sheer dresses, frilled lace blouses with jeans, leather tasselled trousers and statement accessories.

More pared back and grown up than previous iterations, in 2024, Boho 2.0 is more Mary-Kate and Ashley than Sienna Miller at Glastonbury. 

Reach for the cowboy boots

Anyone who’s been on a hen weekend in the last year knows the drill with cowboycore – sequins, cowboy boots, silver trousers and bottomless Palomas. Beyoncé’s latest album Cowboy Carter means this look isn’t going anywhere soon.

Spur of the moment: can cowboycore become the new trend?
Spur of the moment: can cowboycore become the new trend? (Getty)

Specialist western brands are taking a cautious approach, hoping that this trend doesn’t become the next cottagecore. Meanwhile, fast fashion brands are jumping on the bandwagon – literally.

Tradwives (with a twist)

Forget mob wives. The new breed of influencers who promote domesticity and subservience as part of an aspirational lifestyle have created a whole new aesthetic for 2024. Think floaty white dresses that look like nighties, high necklines, Liberty prints and sensible shoes.

Lucky Blue Smith and Nara Aziza are known for being a trad couple
Lucky Blue Smith and Nara Aziza are known for being a trad couple (Getty)

@BallerinaFarm and @narasmith are your poster girls. Despite belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nara’s style is more sexy earth mother, who bakes everything from scratch, than modest Mormon. 

See too “super girly coquette”, which is tradwives-adjacent and includes playful, childlike motifs such as bows, gingham prints, Peter Pan collars, heart prints and soft pastels. Does this signify a cultural shift that celebrates women and femininity, or is it simply a girly fashion trend with no deeper meaning? You decide.

Old-fashioned grunge

When it comes to those of us for whom swampcore is just too, well, swampy, and everything else too girly, how about a return to grunge? It’s 30 years since Kurt Cobain’s death – as the face of Generation X, Cobain was an icon for both his music and his style. Marc Jacobs’ 1993 grunge collection for Perry Ellis is the stuff of fashion legend and led to the designer being sacked by the brand

Come as you are: the fashion style Nirvana pioneered is due a comeback
Come as you are: the fashion style Nirvana pioneered is due a comeback (Getty)

Nevertheless, floral granny dresses, plaid lumberjack shirts, oversized cardigans, Dr Martens and beanies soon became the uniform of any self-respecting hipster. Look out for a biopic about Cobain (if Courtney Love will allow it) and an influx of Nirvana T-shirts, slip dresses and tiaras. 

Finally, if all of these are just too out there, how about chefcore – inspired by The Bear? Think simple white T-shirts and vintage Levis – what’s not to love? Or my current favourite, allotmentcore, otherwise known as shed chic.

We could see chef wannabes bear it all this summer...
We could see chef wannabes bear it all this summer... (FX)

A blend of food, fashion and the great outdoors, this look is inspired by a new breed of influencers that encourage a home-grown horticultural aesthetic along with a desire for regenerative products and designs inspired by nature.

Tapping into this trend, the theme of yesterday’s Met Gala was ‘The Garden in Time’. The outfits explored “the notions of rebirth and renewal, using nature as a metaphor for the impermanence of fashion” and was awash with floral prints, shades of green, 3D structures all inspired by nature with a hint of ‘swampcore’ of course.

Jane Kellock is a trend forecaster at uniquestyleplatform.com

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