2022 Fashion Trends: Consumer Movements Shaping the Future of Fashion

While most people are making predictions about 2021, we thought we'd do you one better and talk about 2022. After all, we're not expecting to be vaccinated for a while so it makes little sense to be talking about flouncy shorts for Spring-Summer 2021 when the likely forecast is sweatpants sweatpants sweatpants.

More importantly, Serses exists outside of the fashion spectacle and we are far more interested in the seismic shifts shaping contemporary culture and how these manifest themselves in our everyday clothing. If there's one thing we can be sure of, it's that history repeats itself, and to look to the future, we must look to the past. Specifically, the time before covid-19 and the time before that. So without further ado, here are five trends to look out for in 2022:

  1. The convergence of binary fashion towards gender neutrality. We thought we'd begin with the biggest one. Gendered norms are arbitrary and the crux of the discourse has always been around what men can wear while still preserving their masculinity. In the 80s and 90s it was about volume and size. Over the past 20 years, it has been about skinny jeans and slim fitting shirts. Women's style has been far more fluid but we're noticing an increasing emphasis on comfort and a looser cut, e.g. some feedback from a customer, after we tried to suggest more 'feminine' t-shirt styles: "but I like the gender-neutral and less fitted cut." The ideal pattern for basics like t-shirts and sweatshirts is now exactly the same for men as it is for women. Unfortunately, the way this plays out in marketing is a totally different ballgame. Using the term gender-neutral with men has, in our experience, been akin to brandishing a bulb of garlic in front of a vampire, but the times they are a-changin'.
  2. The rise of sustainability shaming. Shaming seems almost intrinsic to fashion. So last season. Too revealing. In 2022, it will be "not sustainable enough" or some derivant. We take issue with this and with the practice of shaming in general.
  3. Loungewear and athleisure will persist in an evolved form. Time spent out of the home will not recover to pre-covid levels and dressy sweatpants will replace jeans as the defacto everyday bottom as will anything with a bit of stretch. People will find ways of dressing up sweatpants, like a shirt tucked into sweatpants, or the sweatpants and loafer combo, or even the 2000s style sweatpants and heeled booties look. We may even see the arrival of pedal pusher sweats.
  4. A new form of preppy will emerge. Old preppy looks like a costume now. New preppy will involve sweats (see number 3) and interesting colour combinations.
  5. Royal blue will be the colour of 2022. It was Pantone's colour of the year for 2020 but the momentum will build throughout 2021 to achieve critical mass in 2022. In colour psychology, blue is associated with order, stability, and reliability. After the anxiety of the past few years, could there be anything more apropos?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.