Instagram’s 2022 trend report predicts the future of fashion, music and education

Instagram has released its first-ever guide to the trends that experts think will shape culture in the next year.

The platform used data from a October 2021 YPulse survey of 1,200 social media users aged 13 through 24 in the U.S. to project what will blow up in 2022.

Here’s what they found across categories including fashion, music, creators and careers:

Fashion and beauty

Maximalist fashion is making a rebound after two blissful years of leisure reigning over all. Instagram predicts that fashion will be “a vehicle for joy, optimism and self-expression.”

On the other hand, minimalist beauty is on the rise as interest in minimal products and safer ingredients feeds into a recent skin care boom.

At least 50% of teens and young adults said they’d try out bold fashion looks like dark academia and goblincore in 2022.

If you’re in the market for a new look, digital thrift stores and other sustainable side hustles are blowing up. Nearly one in four of those surveyed expect to shop through online secondhand sites like Depop in the next year.

“I want to see more learning and education about the pieces we wear and [dissecting of] the pieces we are buying,” Troy Dylan Allen (@troydylanallen) told Instagram.

Music and dance

Hopefully, you like dance challenges because they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. One out of three teens said they’re excited to see more dance trends next year.

Meanwhile, a whopping 70% of people ages 13 to 24 said they expect to discover more music on social media in 2022.

Creators and celebrities

Get used to seeing social media creators alongside mainstream celebrities because four out of five young people agreed that online celebrities have more influence than traditional ones — like actors.

Micro-influencers are having a moment, too — one in four young people said that people with a small but loyal following are crucial when it comes to creating trends. The same number agreed that social media influencers are the most important trend spreaders regardless of their follower size.

Career and education

Nothing like a pandemic to make you completely rethink your career goals, huh? That’s what 63% of Gen Z said.

A whopping 90% of the young people surveyed say that real-world experience is the best education, and given the rising price of college tuition, 66% have begun to devalue sinking money into a university degree.

For 68% of respondents, work is “just something [they] do” rather than “the most important thing in [their lives],” and yet 71% said they’d rather have meaningful jobs even though they might make less money. They’re careful how they invest their time, but what they do still matters.

For more about what Gen Z has to say about food, wellness, memes, gaming and more, check out Instagram’s 2022 trend report.

If you enjoyed this story, check out what happened on TikTok in 2021.

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