WEEKLY TRENDS REPORT
Pictured: Envato
THIS WEEK’S FORECAST
FOR YOUR INFO
This week’s dates & microtrends
TikTok trends
The coolest kid in the world aura farming at the Pacu Jalur.
Seeing how fast we can say ‘Bacon Avocado’.
ICYMI
Tourists cancelled their trips to Japan because of a false prophecy from a manga.
Doing a backflip for a Crumbl Cookie. The Moonbeam Ice-cream cookie in high demand.
Phrase of the week
“The Sedini Special”, are the €1 houses in Italy worth investing in? A huge investment with a bit of luck.
Tea of the week
Remember when Twitter used to be fun and had everyone beefing with one another? Take us back!
Digi updates
AI lo-fi music is going wild on YouTube. Someone check if Lofi-girl is okay.
Online traffic for news sites has significantly reduced after rise of AI and Google summaries.
What we’re loving
Oasis is back and Ozzy Osbourne’s final ever concert.
The French quiz master going on a 641-win streak and winning 2.5 Million euros and 23 cars. Hope he has 22 friends to give the cars to.
Rising trends
Sun damage is in. Faux tan lines are so hot right now and perfect to show off at the office.
Collectible popcorn buckets are becoming more and more intricate with each blockbuster releasing. We use our Dune bucket as a toothbrush holder.
Weekly doses of cute
Scrim’s story Cat ‘talking’ and drinking water?
Established trends
Is work-life balance even real? Logging off work to see 5-9 day in the life of videos is creating burnout. And what’s with all the Gen Z work slang?
Insights of the week
The end of kids on bikes. All thanks to dangerous drivers and unsafe roads.
No fun on the boardwalk. Young people are feeling lost living in England’s coastal towns
The future
Denmark is allowing its residents to copyright their own likeness in a fight against deepfakes.
Stats of the week
More than 50% of Global Netflix users (300 Million users) watch anime.
End of status. 47% of TikTok users define luxury as self-expression, associating it with empowerment and individuality.
One to watch
The Hot Wheels movie will soon drift into cinemas. We’re hoping for our favourite character to appear, the orange tracks.
Image:
TREND TRACKING
How some of the trends we’ve identified have evolved in recent months
LooksMapping
People are the new logos Game Over.
Want to go to a restaurant but worried the people there aren’t hot enough? Use the AI powered restaurant map, LooksMapping, which rates restaurants on attractiveness. Built as a cultural commentary on our collective vanity and how restaurants are moving towards focusing on clientele over food and atmosphere. With the hottest places being visited by predominantly white individuals it also shines a light on the biggest flaw of AI, its racial bias.
Fashion and lifestyle brands are leading in-house influencing by moving away from over-the-top advertising and expensive influencers. Instead, they’re leveraging their own employees to embody their brand voice and highlight their products. They typically feature behind-the-scenes content showcasing life at the company rather than hopping on whatever viral TikTok trend. It’s a way to keep up with the content churn to maintain a steady stream of content, while keeping it authentic and relatable. We’re seeing consumers clamoring for ‘real’ and unpolished content. No more fakeness!
When a piece of media gets taken down, there’s a copy lurking somewhere, ready to resurface. But online-only video games? Once they’re gone, it’s game over. The Stop Killing Games organisation is rallying for change, preventing the destruction of games and pushing for companies to have backup plans for when a game’s servers eventually shut down. They argue that losing access to a game after its lifetime is anti-consumer, owning it should mean it’s yours to play forever. We would trade our left kidney to be able to play Lego Universe and Flappy Bird again.
Trend: Looksmaxxing
Trend: Work Hard, post Harder
Trend: Lost Media
Image: @dusen_dusen
Image: Pexels
Image: LooksMapping
This week’s long read
PROJECT X OR PHOTO OP
Are house parties back or just the aesthetic?
When Stormzy opened House Party in Soho, he said it started with one simple idea: bring back parties that actually felt alive. One year later, it’s clear he struck a cultural nerve. With retro vibes, throwback tracks (remember Nelly?) and nostalgic chaos, it’s less of a venue and more of a filter you can walk into.
So, do we miss the party, or just the idea of one? We’re deep in the era of the party aesthetic, launched by BRAT summer and maintained by indie sleaze rearing its chaotic head. Social feeds are flooded with clips of garage bands, grainy photos, and messy aesthetics. The All-American Rejects are on a house party tour, with their performances consistently going viral
Looking for some inspo? Charli XCX captures the essence perfectly in her grainy “party 4 u” video, alongside Addison Rae’s soft grunge era. It’s giving ‘I’ve just left a house party’ energy - and we all want to follow them out the door.
To answer the title question, it’s not just about the gathering anymore - it’s about the vibe. Gen Z has blurred the lines between fantasy and reality, turning personal identity into performance art. Some brands are tapping in and taking the lead - like IKEA who turned a retail space into a rave, proving they understood the assignment
In an age where beige minimalism is out and indie sleaze is back, we’re craving the mess, the noise and the free feeling - even if we never experienced it in the first place.
Aesthetics might seem micro, but they are produced from cultural shifts - brands win when they find the scene that aligns with their values and help their audience play their part.
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Pictured: Unsplash