Everything is like a belly button – it’s either in or out
As The Strand’s resident trend forecaster, I take my job very seriously. One of my “Ins” on my 2023 Ins and Outs list was Addison Rae before her EP came out – so yeah, I guess you could call me a trendsetter… For this year, here’s what’s cute and chic and what’s totally not.
IN: Tall UGGs and Skinny Jeans
The 2000s are OUT, the 2010s are IN! The short UGGs trend was cute, but don’t you just sometimes yearn for them to grow taller and sprout Bailey Bows on the back? Start digging in your closet for middle school relics – get your Vera Bradley lunch box out, or your Rainbow Loom set, or even tattoo a mustache on your index finger.
OUT: ChatGPT
Asking ChatGPT questions is such a bore. Try something more cryptic, like a Magic 8 Ball, or better yet, me when I’m trying to participate in a class discussion when I haven’t done the reading.
IN: Mixing Coffee with CocaCola
Please hear me out. Mormons always put creamer in their soda, and this isn’t much different. Don’t look at me like that.
OUT: Not being able to leave a single seat on Ticketmaster
“But then how will other groups of people be able to sit together?” They won’t. It’s a man-eat-man world out there and if you can’t survive then maybe you don’t deserve the ticket. The sooner you learn this fact of life, the better, my young grasshopper.
IN: Medievalism
The medieval revival trend on TikTok is all the rage. I love peasant tops, velvet fabric, and DIY hennins as much as the next person, but why stop there? Let’s bring back the bubonic plague – I mean, swollen lymph nodes are so IN right now! Bring out the fleas!
OUT: Instagram Reels
“But Audrey, if TikTok gets banned, where else are we going to watch humorous short-form videos?” We will birth a new place of this sacred media form as we did with TikTok when Vine was destroyed. We will not tarnish its legacy with Instagram Reels. Instagram Reels depicts a warped sense of reality and I don’t want to see the version of this Earth where that becomes the new normal. My mother, who exclusively watches Instagram Reels, is still singing that “oh no, oh no, oh no no no no no” song from FIVE YEARS AGO. Does this seem like a world you want to live in?
IN: Pitching for Stranded
Wow, what an amazing idea! It’s almost like this brilliantly laugh-out-loud hilarious listicle was written by the beautiful and clever section editor of Stranded herself.
OUT: Ending the last sentence of an article with a period
You don’t need the finality of a period… it’s actually quite effective to just kind of peter out with ellipses… very chic and Whitmanesque and mysterious…