The year’s end is looming and Lyst is analysing. As it does every annum, the luxury fashion portal, tech company and premium shopping app just dropped its concise Year in Fashion report. Tracing everything from emerging trends to the worldwide fashion movements that made waves over the last 365 days, it reflects on the moments that shaped how we shopped. Lyst has crunched their global searches, views, sales and social media metrics, identifying whatever it was that set these trends alight and inspired shoppers to ‘add to bag’, digging deep into the data surrounding its users – of which there were over 200 million this year.
Now the fashion gods have spoken, and from JW Anderson’s 3D Printed Pigeon clutch to Diesel’s 1DR bag, Miu Miu micro minis and the dominance of Bella Hadid, here’s what – and who – was trending in 2022.
Leading the charge, Miu Miu made brand of the year. Dominating our minds, feeds and carts these past 12 months, searches for the label increased 49% on Lyst compared to 2021 – no thanks to its satiny, slipper-inspired ballet flats and the unending saga of the sawed-off micro mini skirt. A viral number, the pleated micro-mini skirt, which first cropped up during Miu Miu’s SS22 catwalk, reigned supreme across newsstands globally and during the first quarter of the year was the most-searched product, averaging 900 searches a day. The revival of Miu Miu menswear during its AW22 show too, brought the label into the limelight, bearing testament to the power of the brand – tiny skirts aside.
Mulling over the most powerful fashion moments, celebrities, brands and products of the year, 2022 saw a busy and chaotic return to IRL fashion fun. With the recent Y2K fashion renaissance and TikTok’s ever-growing influence on the fashion industry, we’ve seen a new generation of Lyst shoppers re-discovering and reviving era-defining brands born in the early aughts, too. Under the fresh direction of Glenn Martens, Diesel took home the Logo of the Year title with the unprecedented popularity of its 1DR logo. Like Miu Miu, Diesel succeeded in capturing the zeitgeist for Gen Z luxury shoppers with its viral catwalks and buzzy 1DR bag that saw searches up 248% back in June, becoming one of this year’s most coveted accessories.
Of course, the fashion discussion would not be complete without a few lush link-ups. From the diverse catalogue of collabs to come out of 2022, Jacquemus x Nike came out on top with over 50,000 searches just 24 hours following its announcement and subsequently sold out within a matter of minutes. Once the collection was released, searches on Lyst for Jacquemus increased by 55% too.
Lyst also named Luar, Amesh and Mônot as its ones to watch. Searches for Luar have increased 59% year-on-year and demand for its signature Ana bag has risen 106%. Amesh searches are up 44% – 109% in the past month alone – and Mônot searches have risen 43%.
The Digital Fashion Moment of the Year went to Lacoste due to its Minecraft collab in March which blurred the lines between physical and digital fashion. Demand for the 30-piece collection – for which the iconic crocodile logo got a Y2K makeover – soared 1,011% following its release.
Meanwhile, the Viral Moment of the Year went to – yup, you guessed it – Coperni, for its unexpected spray-on dress. Bella Hadid came out in her underwear, arm across her bosom, and stood on an underlit platform before Dr. Manel Torres came out with a colleague and, using a liquid fibre called Fabrican, proceeded to spray the near-naked supermodel from neckline to mid-calf with a white substance that looked a bit like spray snow and turned solid and matte when it hit her skin. The scientific display was basically just a dress in an aerosol can so of course it was going to eclipse the internet; it was fashion alchemy, conjured by Coperni. In the days following its show, Coperni saw a “staggering” 3,000% increase in searches, making it the most searched brand from fashion month. It also blew up on TikTok, accumulating over one millions views for #CoperniDress videos.
Speaking of the devil, Bella Hadid was named the most powerful dresser of 2022. On average, her outfits sparked a 1,900% increase in searches for similar pieces, driving corset (+70%), cargo (+56%) and ultra min platform Ugg boot sales (+152%) up exponentially.
Sydney Sweeney also had a major say in the labels we were all over this year, becoming a favourite of both fashion fans and brands throughout 2022. Taking home the title of Rising Star of the Year, Sweeney’s impeccable off-screen style, which includes brands like Reformation, Rodarte, Saint Laurent, Rokh, Balmain and Tom Ford, has made her a new fashion muse. Searches for “black Prada dress” spiked 35% week-on-week after she wore the designer on the red carpet and to receive The Rising Star award at Cannes Film Festival in April.
But no one does the red carpet like Kim Kardashian. At this year’s Met Gala, she wore Marilyn Monroe’s Bob Mackie ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President’ dress spiking searches for Bob Mackie to 456% in the two weeks after.
Patagonia’s environmental efforts have been commended with the Progressive Moment of the Year award after founder Yvon Chouinard made the bold and impactful decision to transfer his ownership of the company – which is valued at about $3 billion – to the Patagonia Purpose Trust in September. Following the news, searches for Patagonia products increased 42% on Lyst.
The source for global fashion intelligence also named JW Anderson’s 3D Printed Pigeon clutch – the brand’s most viewed product on Lyst with searches increasing 488% in the first week of October – as the most Weird and Wonderful fashion Moment of the Year.
The top honour in the handbag category, went to Prada’s Re-nylon Re-edition 2000 mini bag. As the Milan-based brand’s most searched item of the year – thanks largely in part to a booming resurgence on TikTok – searches over the summer rose 131% and the hashtag #pradanylonbag generated over 4.2 million unique views.
The Shoe of the Year award, though, went to Birkenstock’s Boston Clogs, an affordable, comfortable, and durable post-pandemic favourite among celebrities and influencers that saw a 593% boost in searches in the first six months of 2022. Lyst said, “The clog has become the defining shoe of the post-pandemic fashion era.”
Uncovering a newfound obsession with all things pink, Lyst called out Barbiecore as the top trend of 2022. After pictures of a pink-clad Margot Robbie surfaced in June, searches for all things pink skyrocketed 416%.
TikTok’s top aesthetic, on the other hand, was the ‘Weird Girl’, a look that seemingly blurs the lines between trends, offering a new take on maximalism. Drawing inspiration from the various ‘core’ aesthetics that have dominated the fashion scene over the past few years and capitalising on ’90s nostalgia, it’s also tied to the recent launch of Heaven by Marc Jacobs – from which searches spiked 376% in June after Kendall Jenner wore one of its dresses.
Finally, Lyst said its top screen style moment was Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in The Crown. With more than 101.7 million views for videos tagged with #revengedress on TikTok, the fifth season of the series “has introduced Princess Diana as a fashion icon to a whole new generation”. A day after pictures of Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana wearing the gown were released, searches for black off-the-shoulder dresses increased 58% on Lyst, while demand for black dresses with a sweetheart neckline skyrocketed 103%.