DECEMBER TREND REPORT
Lets wrap this up PLEASE
We survived 2025 ladies and I’m here to write about the one topic I feel secure enough to cover: myself.
I haven’t been writing longer essays in the past two months because I started one about the power of hyperbole and its function in upholding my self confidence in October that kind of ruined my life. By interrogating the fragile scaffolding that is my identity it crumbled around me, leading to despair, heartbreak, and overall confusion. I’m still chipping away at it and maybe one day will publish it but until then these trend reports are keeping me writing. I feel much better covering the nuances of silly themed outfits and transient habits.
YEAR END REVIEW
I’m kind of over making clothes. At least for now. I feel like I have it all: coat, shirts, pants, bags. I spent early 2025 toiling over patterns and slopers to have the tool to make anything I needed for myself easily. And that has paid off when I need to whip up an oddly specific outfit and don’t want to spent hours patterning. I’ve gotten to a point where all of the categories feel covered. I haven’t even shopped in forever. Like have I hit a cap on how many clothes I can own? Have I hit some form of perfectly curated closet that covers all of my bases? I think the answer is just that I’m uninspired and that okay.
I’ve reverted back to hand sewing. Curling up in a chair with supplies I can pick up and take with me anywhere. I think this year in general has moved me back into a more delicate and hand sewn place. It’s had me reusing materials in new funky ways and focusing on time based practices versus getting things done quickly.
I have been using my dried up contact lenses as sequins on garments, random fabrics, as mostly small flourishes this year. Since my collection has grown I wanted to put them in the forefront as a main material, taking their sequin use to a more embroidered world. This led to more static objects on the wall. I’ve been using natural dyes like indigo and marigold to change the colors of the lenses and make custom colored sequins that can match with other beads and charms to make shapes that can catch the light.
This has led me to think more critically about the other elements of the single use contact process. I’ve made some flowers with the lids of the containers, recently adorning a mummified Metro card as decoration.
Not making clothes means failing more in making something else that doesn’t feel comfortable. And that’s feeling gorgeous. And with having a never ending source of these materials I feel like I can try new things with them without being too precious.
What I’m realizing is that the root of most of the work I like to make is collection. I’ll take anything as long as theres a large amount of it. Excess of anything makes it exciting.
This idea birthed the scrap boa, a showgirl inspired piece thats helping me get through the hoards of fabric I keep. This method of sewing scrap is kind of unglamorous, I mean it’s just a bunch of cut up raw edged fabric. But there’s something about the time put into it that I’m trying to transform into something else. The shape and reference of a boa make it tip into fur or feather territory, while flashing the colors of the living and breathing fabric collection I have that I spent June thinking through.
I recently had it up for sale at Textile Art Center’s Give Back Market along with other pieces I whipped up with my patterns from this year. It didn’t sell, mostly because I ended up wearing it the whole time I was there because I just think it’s fabulous. Maybe I’ll never sell it but I think it has potential to be worn in some glamorous settings by other people as a show piece.
I usually end the year with scans from my sketchbooks. Sharing collages and writings as a way to map the inspirational and intellectual roadmap that was the year. Unfortunately this year was hard, resulting in confrontational writings and collages that posed challenges and questions to myself that I don’t think I want to share. I think it was a year of facing myself head on and for that reason the sketchbooks are staying sealed…. maybe next year will be different.
I have to really hunker down and think of some resolutions for the new year. I love making new years resolutions and what I realized is that they can’t be about forming habits. For me, they just have to be something I already want to do. This year I achieved 2 out of the 3 I set at the end of 2024.
I DID learn new skills and prioritized learning in general.
I DID begin taking better care of my clothes.
I did NOT make my own ceviche…sadly. I did take a class to learn the methods of making but opted for eating it at restaurants and not getting my hands dirty with my own. Maybe this year!
END OF 2025 TREND REPORT
Admin hour at the library is IN!
This was a game changer for me in 2025. There’s so many admin life things I never want to do when I’m in the comforts of my own home. Suddenly all of the random boring things pile up in my brain and I become overwhelmed. This is when I go to my local library, log into their clunky computers, and do the things I need to do. One time I sat down and realized I just had to respond to a text I was putting off so I did that then farted around on the computer and I felt so successful. Like I needed to #clock into my personal office for the day just to get the boring things done.
Cooking is soooo IN!
Ugh its just so fun to cook all of your own meals (when you’re in the mood to do so). Like I am in CONTROL of what I put in my body and how they’re prepared!! I am finally developing the skills of creativity in the kitchen and spicing things up with my own flair which I never thought I’d get. I suspect most others already feel this way but it’s new for me and I’m obsessed.
Grace Ives is IN!
She’s been the only other artist to take over Lykke Li’s coveted spot in my year end music wrapped and it makes sense. I learned about her music from seeing her open for Lykke Li in 2021 and fell in love with the straight to the point writing in her music that made me feel #seen. Her new singles that came out this year were the soundtrack to my year end unraveling, recently aiding in me singing My Mans aloud in my room and beginning to cry because it was just too much. Unfortunately nothing hits harder for a serial dater than the ridiculous chorus belting, “Every single guy I meet completes me".
Reading is super IN!
In line with learning skills I wanted to prioritize reading much more in 2025. Instead of sticking to the genres and styles that I know I expanded my curiosity and it brought me down so many odd routes. I read lesbian poetry, military personal essays, gay romance, historical fiction. I even gave Joan Didion another chance (flop). Somehow the theme I came across most was queer domestic violence, not on purpose but some weird twist of fate. I started a GoodReads account to keep tabs on everything I read but ended up abandoning it and just moving book to book naturally. The one recommendation I can give at the end of the year is Creep by Myriam Gurba. It is quite intense and violent but the way she weaves through stories, anecdotes, and history kept me so intrigued and reminded me of the expansiveness of writing.
Warmer blonde tones are IN!!!!
As a life long Wella T10 kind of gal, I’m finally moving away from the ash blonde look….. my 2026 goal is Queen Latifah Blonde….something warmer and closer to my skin tone. My platinum blindness might finally be wearing off after 100 years of being blonde and I might actually find a tone that suits me better……gag….
