Girl math, Barbiecore and the Roman Empire: The year on TikTok

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Over one billion people will have used TikTok in 2023, according to the platform. And this year, like the last, the platform spawned a new set of micro-trends, viral sounds and behaviours.

If TikTok’s early days were about singing and dancing, its users shifted focus in 2023, as fashion and beauty became prominent verticals on the platform. It’s no coincidence, as TikTok itself shifted focus, launching TikTok Shop in September 2023 and generating a new ecosystem for creators. And with 60 per cent of TikTok users aged under 25, TikTok is a key barometer for the interests and whims of Gen Z, who will represent $4.5 trillion in global spending power by 2025 (McKinsey).

TikTok’s new editorial hashtag #tiktokfashion, aimed as a hub for fashion content, has garnered 85 billion views so far, while ever-popular hashtags like #OOTD (170.5 billion views) and #fitcheck have also grown rapidly. In #tiktokbeauty (4.9 billion views), the platform has become a birthplace for all manner of micro-trends, from glazed donut nails to “traptox”. Going into 2024, TikTok’s influence over what sells is only expected to increase — even as some users complain about the commercialisation of their favourite app.

The brands that have found success on TikTok this year are those that have reacted fast to micro-trends, leaned into educational content or thought outside the box when it comes to creator marketing. Here, we break down the year in TikTok, using data from the Vogue Business TikTok Trend Tracker.

The year micro-trends picked up the pace

Barbiecore began trending on TikTok in September 2022, after on-set images of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling were released. But it was in early 2023 that the trend set in for the long haul. #Pink was a top trending hashtag in February, according to TikTok, as users began sharing Barbie-inspired outfits, accessories or even recipes on the platform. In July, upon the film’s release, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s ‘Barbie World’, from the movie soundtrack, was among the top trending songs on TikTok, racking almost 700,000 views (it now has 1.5 million to date). And in September, #pinkshoes surged, as creators presented their favourite styles in sneaker unboxings, heel reveals and more. The #pinkshoes hashtag now has over 200 million views.

As summer arrived, TikTok was overrun with “girl summer” trends, which garnered a cumulative 4 billion views. First came rat girl summer, an antithesis to the hot girl summer content of previous years, and based on the ideology that in 2023, women should eat what they like and go out and enjoy themselves, without needing validation from men. Then came tomato girl summer, based on “La Dolce Vita” aesthetic and featuring an abundance of raffia, fruit prints, gingham and sun-bleached white, translating into search and purchase data. Net-a-Porter saw a 30 per cent increase in raffia products this season, which contributing global beauty director Newby Hands attributed to the TikTok aesthetic. Beauty brand Refy based a summer lip gloss campaign on the Amalfi Coast and drew heavily on the motifs of the tomato girl summer. Founder Jess Hunt told Vogue Business that the launch was one of its most successful to date.

But if any brand cashed in on micro-trends this year, it was Hailey Bieber’s Rhode. Bieber launched a suite of micro-trends in 2023, by creating content and then coining a phrase before swiftly launching a corresponding Rhode product. In August, she posted a photo wearing blush on Instagram, captioned “#strawberrygirlsummer”. The hashtag quickly transferred to TikTok, garnering 1.6 million views over just a few days. It now has 2.5 million. And sure enough, a couple of weeks later, Rhode teased its blush product.

Top trending products

Bodysuits Bodysuits Call it the Skims or Mugler effect: after trending on the platform for a while, TikTok users bought into shapewear in 2023, specifically bodysuits, via TikTok Shop, with recommendations from creators like @anniesreviews. The viral #amazonshapeweardress was a top trending product in April, as thousands of creators unboxed the dress, showing off the fit for various body shapes.

Jewellery was one of the leading fashion segments on TikTok in 2023. #Bracelets was a top trending hashtag in September, as users showed off a whole host of arm candy, from the Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra to beaded friendship bracelets strung for the Taylor Swift Eras tour. Off the back of the trend #VanCleefArpels has seen a surge in mentions on the platform this year. #Womenswatches are also finding popularity; the hashtag was among the top trending in March.

Users are turning to TikTok to shop premium modest fashion, with luxury, aspirational content around premium silk abayas and soft jersey hijabs, inspired by creators like @By.Sumayah and @SaeedahHaque boasting their favourite styles. By March, #modestfashion had garnered 3 billion views on TikTok Shop. It’s now reached 5.8 billion.

What’s more, following a fashion season with little progress on size inclusivity, audiences are still searching for #inclusivesizing on the platform. From comparing sizing to style recommendations for plus size users, size inclusive fashion content is becoming increasingly popular, trending in October following fashion month. In addition to size inclusivity, TikTok is also crying out for fashion to consider those with disabilities. #Adaptiveclothing is a top trending hashtag from the last month, with users sharing content from runways that feature #adaptivefashion.

TikTok takes fashion week

Fashion week content is becoming more and more important to the TikTok audience, year-on-year, according to the platform. In February, during the Autumn/Winter 2023 season, hashtags like #runwayshows were trending, as users shared videos of their favourite models, favourite looks and even archive shows of the past. For the Spring/Summer 2024 season, TikTok launched its new fashion creator collective, spotlighting creatives, designers and fashion thinkers shaping the future of fashion on the platform, across the UK, US, Italy and France. It includes some of the fastest-growing creators on TikTok this year, such as educational London-based @bernardgarby, US-based fashion and lifestyle creator @challxn and French luxury expert @emmanuellesits. TikTok helped these (and more) secure attendance at shows across the big four fashion cities, enriching the runway content via bringing users behind the curtain.

#ParisFashionWeek continues to be the biggest fashion week on TikTok with 6.2 billion views to date, driven by megabrands like Louis Vuitton, Dior and Saint Laurent. Their celebrity attendees, including Kylie Jenner, Jisoo and Rosalia, shared the behind the scenes of their fashion week adventures with #GRWM and vlog videos that accumulated millions of views. On TikTok, Mugler was a standout: #Mugler has 1.3 billion views to date. Alongside stars like Karol G on the front row, a whole host of celebrities walked the runway, including Paris Hilton, Angela Bassett and supermodels Helena Christensen and Amber Valletta.

TikTok has birthed new and unconventional fashion talents this year, as brands increasingly seek to surprise audiences and build social buzz around their shows. Perhaps the biggest overnight success was Tube Girl, or Sabrina Bahsoon, who shot to fame in August after filming herself dancing like no one was watching to Tate McCrae’s ‘Greedy’ on the London underground. Thousands of creators, from Shay Mitchell to Troye Sivan, recreated her video — #tubegirleffect now has 367.9 million views.

Brands reacted fast: the following month, Tube Girl walked the runway at Mac’s The Face Show during London Fashion Week. Then in Paris, she attended Balmain and Courrèges, before hitting the runway again for Christian Cowan. She drove $1.6 million earned media value across fashion month, according to influencer intelligence platform Lefty’s end of year report. Bahsoon has since continued working with Mac and recently released a campaign with Tiffany. Similarly, comedy creator Madeline Argy, known for her very bold and no-holds-barred storytimes, attended Proenza Schouler and Tory Burch in New York; Prada, Versace, Boss and GCDS shows in Milan; and Saint Laurent in Paris.

The way users consumed content also evolved this year. Over 25 billion videos were created using effects and formats, including sharing their Girl Dinners (2.67 billion video creations), applying the aged filter (25.6 million creations), asking men how often they think about the #romanempire (3.2 billion views) and sharing their red, green and beige flags in dating (8.52 billion views), according to TikTok’s end of year report.

Educational content is now some of the most popular material on TikTok. The hashtag #learnonTikTok is growing with 836.5 billion views to date, offering instructional videos on everything from fashion styling to farming, and it’s affecting how brands behave on the platform. Beauty brands like Glossier and Caia Cosmetics or fashion brands like The Frankie Shop now use their TikTok feeds to educate consumers on how to use or style pieces together, as well as reshare educational user-generated content, from regular customers who film tutorials and styling videos of their goods. Dior and Cartier have produced educational content focusing on the heritage and making of their iconic products, garnering tens of thousands of views.

Upcycling, DIY fashion and secondhand continued to thrive on TikTok this year and experts agree that craft will remain trending through 2024. #Embroideredcrewneck T-shirts were trending, as creators showed off their embroidering techniques or favourite embroidered pieces, inspired by cartoons like Snoopy. Personalisation is also important to Gen Z, who are using the #custom hashtag to showcase their personalised, DIY goods, from fashion and homeware to accessories. The #custom hashtag has 30.7 billion views.

With the rise of TikTok reviews, hauls and unboxings, as well as the surge in nano and micro-influencers, TikTok has revolutionised the way young people source inspiration, encourage consumption and purchase goods in 2023. The Girl math trend took hold in August and saw women justifying their luxury purchases with tongue-in-cheek, faux-logical excuses, like “I did a return, so my next purchase is free.” #Girlmath gathered 2.1 billion views, and also birthed discussions and jokes around the more trivial tenets of #boymath, reaching over 500 million views. Brands like Ulta Beauty and Mac riffed on Girl math in social media videos, while analysts believe the trend speaks to Gen Z’s financial concerns in the moment, with a focus on cost-per-wear and investment in luxury, rather than a reckless approach to consumption, said Boston Consulting Group’s head of luxury Sarah Willersdorf.

Looking ahead to 2024, TikTok predicts there will be more “creative bravery” on the platform next year, with users and brands taking even bigger risks on content formats, effects and messaging, to cut through the noise, according to its What’s Next report. “In 2024 we’re going to see the TikTok community build on this in ways we’ve never seen before,” writes Sofia Hernandez, global head of business marketing for TikTok. “Fuelled by a blend of curiosity, imagination, vulnerability and courage — creative bravery will be infused into our daily lives.”

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