Permissive fashion, weird cocktails and, of course, Paris

Trend forecasts - Permissive fashion, weird cocktails and, of course, Paris - 2024 will be wild, say the experts

Will 2024 be the dawn of the Golden Twenties, just like a hundred years ago? Some people say so. At least the lifestyle will become more hedonistic again. A number of socio-political changes have also been announced, including the legalization of cannabis. And things are supposedly getting down to business: more fetish elements in fashion, more revealing pieces such as crooked buttoned blouses and the Bravehearting dating trend are all the rage.

A selection of trends in fashion, eating and drinking as well as in travel and love behavior:

Fashion

What is fashionable is what we wear. Recently, even the big fashion designers have taken up the style of the street: Hoodies, bomber jackets, comfortable pants and dresses - and flat shoes like sneakers. But there will be changes. Carl Tillessen, trend analyst at the German Fashion Institute, even recognizes "a fundamental break, a whole new attitude to life". The 20s are taking shape, he says. After the peak phase of the pandemic and years that the trend-conscious sacrificed for self-optimization, people are now allowing themselves more pleasure again. There is a "here-and-now hedonism".

The Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability ("L.O.H.A.S.") has reached its end, says Tillessen. "It is the eternal later. If we chastise ourselves now - he promises - we will have a healthy body and a healthy environment later. In the long run, however, the pressure to optimize ourselves, combined with the pressure to save the world, is one too many."

Fashion is therefore becoming wilder and more permissive. Frivolity is making a comeback. "Fashion is teeming with fetish elements," says Tillessen. "The catwalks are populated by bad boys and bad girls. We long for licentiousness, need outlets, want to break free, live it up ... And this is expressed in fashion." For example, through "torn tights, crooked buttoned tops, ragged clothes", says the trend analyst. "Fashion no longer just shows us the shine, but also the shadow."

Style

The "jellyfish aesthetic" is heading in a different direction - a soft look with a pinch of humor. According to Pinterest analysts, it could become a trend in fashion, beauty and interior design in 2024. For example, search queries for the jellyfish hairstyle - a layered haircut with extreme differences in length - have increased on the creative portal. And for jellyfish lamps - a kind of lava lamp with mini medusa figures instead of the usual wax bubbles. Will the jellyfish umbrella even become a trendy costume on rainy carnival days?

Travel

Travel guide brands such as "Marco Polo" or "Lonely Planet" predictably announce the Olympic city of Paris with its new green self-confidence or the cultural capital of Bad Ischl and the Salzkammergut in Austria as vacation tips for 2024. Another tip that has been a recurring theme for years: the global trendsetter country of South Korea.

Those who don't need to save money on travel, which has become more expensive, are still recommended long-distance destinations. In the magazine "Merian - The Art of Travel: Our 20 Favorites for 2024", Las Vegas is one of the destinations recommended. The skyline there has always looked as if a six-year-old had been playing with Lego. Now a dazzling sphere has been added to the desert city: the "Sphere" entertainment hall. Inside and out, LED screens nestle in the curves of the world's largest spherical building. The giant sphere is also sometimes staged as a basketball or emoji.

Another small travel trend is blind booking (flights or an entire package tour without knowing exactly where you are going). According to the German Travel Association (DRV), you at least have a rough choice with portals - whether you prefer outdoor, party or sun.

Food and drink

Just a burger or a pizza is no longer enough: according to Pinterest, "fast food fusion" is in vogue. Favorite foods are combined into mash-ups: Burger quesadillas, instant ramen noodles with carbonara sauce or pizza pot pies.

In a text on food trends, New York Times reporter Kim Severson had experts proclaim 2024 the "Year of Buckwheat" - and soup the "Dish of the Year". This is because a warm soup can calm us down and is ideal for "learning about the growing popularity of food from Cambodia, Singapore and Indonesia".

Meal-flavored cocktails are also said to be all the rage. In New York, for example, there is already a "Caprese Martini" in one bar and a Waldorf salad-flavored cocktail in another. In Hong Kong, you can order a drink that tastes like Thai beef salad. Cheers!

Plant

Cannabis possession will be legalized in Germany on 1 April - if the Bundestag approves. This will also make it possible to grow hemp at home, at least under certain circumstances. This could make hemp the trend plant of the year. However, the plant needs a lot of light and can only be harvested outdoors in summer. Indoors, hemp needs extra plant lights.

Love, sex and tenderness

A certain psychojargon ("This triggers me", "This relationship is toxic") has become a mass phenomenon. In (internet) dating, there are now countless technical terms such as ghosting (suddenly breaking off contact), benching (dating on the back burner), breadcrumbing (just keeping someone warm without actually dating), curving (avoiding meetings without justification), orbiting (breaking off contact but continuing to like and comment on social media) or mosting (showering someone with love, then breaking off contact).

The dating platform Parship quotes couples therapist Eric Hegmann in an "Outlook for the dating year 2024": "I very much hope that 2024 will be the year of the positive dating trend 'Bravehearting': Courage for openness, courage for depth, courage for connection."

Psychologist Linda Leinweber says that taboos such as mental health are being talked about more than before. People are looking for real connections in which they can drop their masks. "Even against the backdrop of the turbulent economic, social and global political situation", it is important to find security and safety in togetherness. "We all need a 'safe place'".