Wondering what you might spend 2019 trying to avoid, but will somehow still end up caving into? Here are ten trends you'll encounter this year that we'll all find irresistible.
Elderberries
Expect to see these berries popping up in smoothies and cocktails. Photo / Getty Images
Kale? So five years ago. Açaí bowls? Very 2018. In 2019, the new superfood is supposed to be elderberries. The flowering plant has historically been used as a natural remedy for coughs and colds, and is being touted as the new magic cure for the next flu season.
Expect to see these berries popping up in smoothies, cocktails, and freeze-dried in the health section of the supermarket, and get stung with a premium for this purported superfruit.
If 2018 was the year that leopard prints became acceptable again, 2019 will see the resurgence of the snake. Pinterest has reported a 642 per cent increase in searches for "snake print" on its image sharing website, showing that people are already interested in shedding their animal-inspired coats and going for something a little more reptilian.
"Global" baby names
Having a baby in 2019? Here's what everybody else is going to be calling their kids and what you might regret when there's a classroom full of them in 2024.
"Global" (i.e. culturally re-appropriated) names such as Acacius, Bodhi, Jedda, Osiris, Raiden, and Zen are expected to trend, making children of the 2020s sound like Mortal Kombat characters.
We should also see a lot of new-wave hippy-style names such as Journey, Story, and Justice, and the "surname-as-first-name" trend won't abate – expect lots of Beckhams, Bowies, Jolies, Ledgers, and Monroes.
Band workouts
People are increasingly wanting to stay home to do everything, from office work to food shopping. At-home, indoor exercise will be favoured over gyms or the great outdoors in 2019.
Searches for band workouts are up 1913 per cent right now, as people buy exorbitantly priced rubber bands that can give you a full-body resistance workout on the floor of your bedroom.
Paying $2000 for a phone
Apple did it in 2018 by charging between $2099 and $2799 for its large XS Max iPhone, and it looks like Samsung's folding smartphone, due for release sometime this year, will be the company's most expensive yet at over $2000.
This year, $2K is the new $1K when it comes to premium smartphones. While it wasn't long ago that dropping a grand (for a piece of technology that we'd only use for 18 months) was something we all scoffed at, for 2019 we are being conditioned to think it's perfectly normal to pay the same price for a smartphone as you did your first car.
Backyard weddings
Who wants to spend five figures on a wedding when you have a house deposit to keep saving for?
Backyard weddings will be big in 2019. They're an affordable and cozy way to tie the knot and enjoy your parents' exquisite collection of natives instead of paying up the wazoo for a venue with an English-style box hedged-garden. Expect lots of flower garlands to make up for the lack of roses.
The colour coral
You'll want to throw this shade at every wall. Photo / Getty Images
Pantone's colour of the year is Living Coral, the tropical shade that is more muted terracotta than millennial pink. It will be everywhere in 2019, probably first in fashion, then in hair dye, home décor... you name it. Don't be surprised if you see a coral-coloured Suzuki Swift on the road by next summer.
Corduroy
Remember that thick, ribbed fabric your high school English teacher wore every day, probably in a mustard colour?
That was corduroy, and it'll be all over the stores this winter. I'll give it to you: cord is ridiculously warm, and looks cute and preppy in a tailored blazer. However, in true fast-fashion style, it'll be dribbled down to cheap trousers and vests, bags, and iPhone cases by August.
The cropped fringe
On both women and men, the severe cropped fringe is going to be on lots of heads in 2019. Also known as "baby bangs" for females and a "French crop" for males, this leaves the wearer with a harsh bowl-cut-like front.
You'll know they've arrived when Zayn Malik and Kristen Stewart are being papped leaving the salon with them.
You can blame Balenciaga for this situation. Photo / Getty Images
I can tell you who's responsible for this ugly shoe revolution. Balenciaga. The fashion house's Triple S shoe, which looks like something your mother bought you for $29 in 1993, has given people license to wear trainers so ugly we're now convinced they are cool. Hideous running shoes show no signs of slowing down in 2019, except this year we're calling them "statement sneakers".
