All Fashion Is Internet Fashion Now—At Least According to Google

December 13, 2019

Billie Eilish in rainbow Louis Vuitton monogram

Since 2001, Google has released all-encompassing annual reports of its most trending searches. Vogue Runway has chronicled the ups and downs of each report since 2016, with a particular focus on the fashion brands and designers that Google has measured. In that time we’ve seen interest rise in celebrity designers, in nostalgia, in Meghan Markle, and in Gucci. This year, there’s no such data.

For the first time in recent history, Google opted not to chronicle the world of high fashion in its 2019 report. Instead of hottest brands or most-searched-for designers, Google offered up celebrity style rankings, outfit ideas, and female celebrity looks. The fashion world painted by Google’s top data is one that’s almost entirely internet-centric, with trends born from memes, apps, and social media dominating every chart. See Google’s most “trending” celebrity styler, Billie Eilish, or the resounding searches for VSCO girls, e-girls, and soft girls—all trends popularized on TikTok, Instagram, and other social platforms—for the proof that internet aesthetics have become the predominant aesthetics for our time.

Of course it’s not surprising for Google to be ground zero for viral trends. The internet-obsessed will search for fashion on the internet. Think of the opposite: Customers with craft-based, erudite taste are probably not Googling “how to The Row,” but rather hitting up the designers’ latest store in London. Still, the search giant’s lack of any data around luxury fashion does show that in an image-obsessed age, the more shocking and viral a product is, the more successful it will be.

A similar picture is painted in Lyst’s popular quarterly reports that show that luxury shoppers’ habits are heavily shaped by internet culture. Celebrities and their red carpet turns dominate Lyst’s data too, with Timothée Chalamet, Lizzo, Eilish, and their viral style named as fashion fan favorites. Similarly, the most-searched-for products, according to Lyst, are the ones with high meme-ability, like Jacquemus’s Le Chiquito micro-bag and a pair of octopus-print shorts worn by Jeff Bezos. Is this the end of offline eclecticism as we know it? Maybe not, but the numbers don’t lie. As we head into a new decade, it seems like the next great fashion movements will start online.

Celebrity Style

Billie Eilish style

Audrey Hepburn style

Ariana Grande style

Kylie Jenner style

Amal Clooney style

Shia Labeouf style

Cam Newton style

Female Celeb Looks

Tana Mongeau Coachella Outfit

Serena Williams Outfit

Cardi B Grammy Outfit