From embellished ball gowns to colourful cap sleeve day dresses, Britain has ignited its passion for Regency fashion, a style which is about as hot right now as the sexual tension between this year’s protagonists, Anthony and Kate.
Indeed, with the popularity of regency fashion search terms almost tripling since the beginning of 2022 (+194.80%), the new research reveals British fashion enthusiasts are ready to fully embrace the so-called ‘regency core’ trend with all its ruffles, embroidery, opulent textures and gowns with sequin embellishments.
And while the characters of Bridgerton may have to make a trip to the Modiste for their lace and silk gowns, we only need to search online for ethereal, ready to wear regency inspired pieces.
Yep, Regency fashion, with romance in abundance, has been revealed as the most popular fashion trend of 2022.
New research by Fenwick reveals a near twofold (+186.92%) increase in online demand for regency fashion over the past year, based on an analysis of recent UK online search trends. The study highlights a considerable popularity spike in the lead up to the second season of the Netflix hit, Bridgerton, that aired Friday 25th of March, with searches for regency dresses up 175% since December.
Get Your Dopamine Hit
The fashion gurus at Fenwick also tell us that dopamine dressing’s popularity increased more than 2000% in the previous year. Yep, while regency fashion is growing to become the 2022 favourite, dopamine dressing is the fastest growing trend when looking at a year-over-year comparison, with searches up a whopping 2000% since March 2021.
It seems during the beige monotony of endless lockdowns, we actually learnt a lot about fashion. Primarily, that it’s all about feeling good – in other words, wearing clothes which bring you joy!
And we are still eager to have some fun with our fashion as we look ahead to the world opening up. This has been realised in OTT dresses with vibrant colours and feel-good prints still hitting the high street stores with enthusiasm. Expect to see dopamine dressing enjoying another stellar year, and loads of colourful, vibrant enthusiasm reflected in our clothes.
Say Goodbye to Y2K
From velour track sets to wide-leg jeans, Y2K fashion, which covers the late ’90s and early-to-mid 2000s styles, has been popular for a while now.
However, this trend’s popularity is slowly fading away with shoppers. Indeed, by analysing the search data for fashion trends, the research from Fenwick reveals a plateau for the Y2K trend, which dominated the fashion world last year. That, and a thunderous spike in popularity for that dopamine dressing we just mentioned, with online search popularity up more than threefold since Dec ‘21 (+350%).
Despite scoring high points for popularity according to the volume of online interest in the UK, Y2K has seen a slight decline in average monthly searches in the previous year (-1.19% per month), and an overall significant year-on-year decrease of close to 16% compared to 2021, making way for other trends such as regency fashion which are growing fast.
To shop the latest regency core, dopamine dressing and other spring looks, browse Fenwick’s collection of women’s dresses: www.fenwick.co.uk