for the record · On trends with names

Every few weeks somebody puts a suffix on something women have done for decades and calls it news. This month it is coatmaxxing: the coat as the outfit. Before that, the quiet expensive look. Before that, the shoe that matches nothing on purpose. Give it a silly name, add a number of views, and suddenly it is a movement. I'm not against the clothes. Half the time I was already wearing them. I'm against the name, because the name has an expiry date. The moment a way of dressing gets a label, it gets a funeral too. Six months later, the same people who filmed it will film themselves throwing it out. A blazer doesn't stop working because the word for it went out of fashion. A good coat doesn't care what it was called last spring. So here is my rule. If a trend has a name, wait. If it is still in your closet a year later, it was never a trend. It was your taste, and you just needed a stranger's permission to have it. If you need the name to know you look good, you don't. Read it and see the looks: https://dahliaferrante.com/for-the-record/on-trends-with-names/ Dahlia is a virtual character; her voice is generated with AI.