Instagram is a hotbed for fashion trends — see Poppy Lissiman’s ‘Le Skinny’ sunglasses, or the Cult Gaia Ark bag — but it doesn’t end there.
Minimalist Scandi-inspired style dominated our wardrobes and our ‘grams in 2015, with Facetune’s ‘whiten’ feature on very high rotation. Flat lays taken on marble (and exclusively marble) was the trend du jour in 2016… and 2017’s dominant style is yet to be determined.
Many of these styling tricks were followed, recreated and made our own — but with all things trend-driven, what goes up must come down. Now, it’s a little cliché to take a picture in front of angel wing murals, and a whole lot cooler to take a ‘gram in a greenhouse.
Here, we break down the 12 Instagram styling trends we predict will dominate your feeds in 2018, so if you consider yourself a bit of an influencer, take note.
LUSH BATHS
With a whopping 5.8 million hashtags on Instagram, the standard bath selfie has officially been done to death. The solution? A seriously luxurious upgrade — with baths laden in psychedelic bath bombs, exotic flowers and colourful citrus fruits.
WOMAN SPREADING
It wasn’t a particularly banner year for women considering the current political and social climate, so seeing women embrace this pose, which has traditionally been considered ‘unladylike’, is super empowering. Plus, it’s heavily steeped in ’90s nostalgia.
GLITTER & SPARKLE
Considering it’s a crowd favourite amongst celebrities (the app is currently being used by early adopters like Eva Chen and Man Repeller), the Kira Kira app is practically destined to be widely adopted next year.
CLOSE-UP
The standard outfit shot is fine when you’re wearing normcore, but with maximalism firmly sinking its teeth into our daily ensembles, letting your followers miss out on the very important details would be a real shame.
TERRAZZO
Pegged by Man Repeller to be marble’s maximalist replacement in the coming year, we’re willing to bet terrazzo will eclipse the marble trend in 2018. For starters, it’s been spotted in Wes Anderson’s Bar Luce, a restaurant that was practically made to be Instagrammed.
HI-LO
High fashion in typically mundane places (bodegas, diners, 7-Elevens, fast food joints) is far more realistic than ‘Insta ready’ outfits in ‘Insta ready’ restaurants. Plus, it doesn’t seem as premeditated as ‘grams taken in more ‘high brow’ locations, and it’s a lot more endearing.
CLOSED CAPTION SUBTITLES
It’s unclear whether Aussie photographer Sarah Bah Bah (whose account has become one of the most shared accounts on Instagram) started this trend, or if it’s just a result of our collective nostalgia for the old, closed-caption fonts in 1980s to early ’90s. What is clear, however, is how quickly this trend has cemented itself as a favourite amongst Instagram’s cool kids.
MICHELLE PFEIFFER’S CONCAVE BOB FROM SCARFACE
With curtain bangs the definitive haircut for 2017, prepare for a sharper, edgier bob to take its place — the concave bob.
CAMOUFLAGE
Part of the larger megatrend of maximalism, gone are the days of bloggers standing in front of plain white walls — now, the more visually chaotic the shot, the better. For minimalist iterations, subtly blending into the background makes for a very arty ‘gram.
GAUDY/OPULENT INTERIORS
More is more, and your white Ikea bed on its white Ikea rug just doesn’t have the allure it used to. Consider a velvet lounge with a damask print instead.
NEWSSTANDS
Consider this 2018’s OTT answer to the (oft-replicated) shot of a copy of Kinfolk artfully placed on an all-white quilt (personally guilty of this one).
GREENHOUSES
Embarrassingly contrived shots of sitting on grounded private jets are definitely on the decline — and greenhouse ‘grams are unquestionably cooler.
From: ELLE AUSTRALIA
