Noticed: That trend you’ve been seeing everywhere, explained

Welcome to Noticed, Vox’s cultural trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: They’re charming, fit, and usually good-looking, with Arlington-cemetery smiles and oilfield hair. There’s a decent chance they’ll have served in a familiar conflict like Iraq or Afghanistan. They can be found on either side of the political divide. A few of them are even women. They represent a new kind of politics, but you can’t vote for them because they only exist on our screens. They’re fictional presidents, and they’re young. So unbelievably young.

Welcome to Noticed, Vox’s cultural trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What is it: Glorious pasta salads. But these are not your random aunt’s mayo-filled macaroni creations you remember from childhood barbeques. These are aesthetically pleasing bowls with interesting noodle shapes (heard of anellini?) and creative ingredients (halloumi, anyone?). They use fresh produce and Instagram-friendly oil brands, and they sometimes even require cooking rather than just haphazardly chopping items and throwing them together. The dressings? They are homemade.

Welcome to Noticed, Vox’s cultural trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: Charming, romantic, and frivolous mid-budget films of the kind we’re used to saying “don’t get made anymore” are back in theaters! The twist: they all feature the same people who used to be in this kind of movie back when they did make mid-budget films and put them in movie theaters on a regular basis. The stars of the ’90s and 2000s are back in a rom-com near you.

Welcome to Noticed, Vox’s cultural trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: A beloved and immortal plot line common to most good TV shows (do not fact-check this) is a love triangle between the heroine, her love interest, and her rival. After suitable amounts of romantic angst and pining, the love triangle traditionally comes to some sort of climax or resolution.

Welcome to Noticed, Vox’s cultural trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: Movies with “chapter titles” — text appearing by itself, rather than over images, throughout the film, between scenes. They break the film into segments and give each segment a name.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What they are: A type of hair clip, identified by two rows of pronged “teeth” that clamp down like a claw into the wearer’s hair. Also referred to as “jaw” clips (to which I say: tomato, tomâto). Typically made from metal, plastic, or cellulose acetate — a synthetic material that is biodegradable — and sold in many prints (tortoiseshell, checkerboard, alabaster), sizes (a three-prong mini or a “big effing clip”), and shapes.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What is it: Custom bead accessories, the famed relics of summer camp, have been resurrected to remind us that multicolored, far-out necklaces and bracelets can still make us feel cool in a post-pandemic summer. Handmade DIY bead jewelry is back, providing a source of artistic and fashion expression with glossy-coated oblong shapes. While modern pieces are still campy, they have been rebranded as maximalist statements for those looking to accessorize while reminiscing their childhood.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: Brown is having a renaissance. From deep chocolate to buttery toffee, brunette hues have returned from fashion exile to become one of the most sought-after shades of the year. Long considered dated, dull, and unsophisticated — especially when compared to fellow neutrals like black, white, and gray — the color seems to have rehabilitated its public image and emerged as a mainstay in the homes and wardrobes of celebrities, models, designers, and influencers. Even Gen Z is on board.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What they are: Pants! With patchwork and kitschy patterns, like checkerboard or squiggles. In textures like velvet, corduroy, or knit. With underbutt slashes or thigh gashes.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What they are: Sleeveless, waist-length sweaters with a V-neck, typically worn over button-up blouses, T-shirts, or crew-neck sweaters. They are often made of a knit material and if not a solid color, tend to be argyle, houndstooth, or any pattern resembling a 1980s bus seat.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What are they: Stretchy, form-fitting, and usually high-waisted shorts that hit above the knee. Like leggings, but y’know, shorter. As their name suggests, bike shorts are best known for being worn by cyclists, but over the past few years they’ve been given a stylish “camp-counselor chic” upgrade.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What are they: Small, circular mirrors with rays or rods extending in all directions. Often affixed to walls as a standalone piece above beds, mantels, or consoles, they’re mostly used as purely decorative rather than functional.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: Terrazzo, a speckled, durable style of flooring that originated in 15th century Venice. It consists of chips of marble, stone, or glass, the gaps filled by cement or a similar binding material; the surface is then buffed to a smooth finish. But we’re not actually talking about floors today, nor are we even necessarily talking about marble and cement. This is the terrazzo extended universe, which includes real terrazzo as well as flat, trompe l’oeil versions of the same: breezy Madewell dresses and leather luggage tags in terrazzo prints, terrazzo adhesive film available on Amazon, terrazzo Target throw blankets, terrazzo shower speakers from Asos, Make Beauty terrazzo eyeshadow and bronzer, and even a terrazzo Spalding basketball sold at Urban Outfitters. If it has a surface, it can and will be terrazzo-ed.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: If you were a youth in the 1970s, ’90s, or even early, early aughts, then I don’t have to tell you what a puka shell necklace is — but I will anyway! Puka shells are small, white pieces of shell that are strung along a chain, usually choker length or slightly longer; the necklaces most offer sit just on or slightly above the collar bone. There are a variety of styles: full, smooth shells (sometimes called cowrie shells, which more or less just refers to a series of shells); jagged, bright white chunks on a chain; small, circular, evenly sized bits.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: Abundant, large-scale floral and plant installations — sometimes manicured, but often wild — used as brand marketing, store decor, and scenery at red-carpet events. Crafted from all kinds of flora (rainbow roses, local wildflowers, mosses, and grass), these arrangements have an overwhelming, enveloping effect.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What they are: Crisp white square-neck, puff-sleeve blouses and dresses that give the impression that the wearer’s primary profession is milking cows or scrubbing the bow of a pirate ship. (But in a glamorous way, like in a Sofia Coppola movie.) There might be a corset element, like lacing, or other feminine touches such as smocking, ruching, or ruffles. Possible descriptors of this style: wenchcore, prairiecore, yodelcore.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: Miniature Australian shepherds, also known as miniature American shepherds, arguably the dog breed of the moment. Extremely smart, athletic, and loyal (a “Velcro” dog, to quote one breeder), these herding dogs have become popular pets in recent years. They’re smaller than full-size Australian shepherds — 14 to 18 inches tall and roughly 20 to 40 pounds, versus more than 18 inches and 40 to 60-plus pounds — and have wide variation in the color of their eyes, which can be mismatched or marbled in shades of bright blue, brown, and hazel; and mottled coats, which can be blue-gray, red, black, or white.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: Rattan is what’s most often used to create furniture that makes you feel as if you’ve entered a Tahitian beach resort. But to talk about rattan, we should first talk about wicker. Rattan can be wicker, but not all wicker is made from rattan, although the terms are often confused. Wicker is a form of weaving, the process of creating woven items. (Arguably, wicker is truly the rising trend, as woven material — rattan, synthetic, and beyond — is hugely popular, but the term tends to conjure images of antique farmhouse-style furniture, whereas rattan is associated with the tropics-inspired look that’s taken hold.)

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: Palm frond print. You know — a print that is just a basic illustration of the leaves of a palm tree. Sometimes conflated with banana leaf print, though they are not the same thing. (Banana leaves, when used in American fashion and design, have a distinctly colonialist vibe that palm trees do not quite have.) Palm frond print can be neon or pastel or black and white, and the palm fronds do not have to be the actual color of palm trees, which in the case of Los Angeles right now is mostly a sickly yellow.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: Colorful, painterly, hyperpigmented eye makeup in shades both neon and muted. Sometimes it’s applied in a swath across the eyelids, sometimes it’s the basis for unexpected swoops and streaks, and sometimes it’s the accent on an otherwise standard look. It can be precise or a little messy, like a rogue brush stroke on a canvas. But matte, opaque formulations, as opposed to shimmery or sparkly ones, are key here.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: Groovy, curvy, smooth typefaces used in startup and corporate branding. Does it make you think of the late 1960s and ’70s? That’s it.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: rainbow hues presented in stripes or gradients all over clothing, jewelry, and other accessories for grown-ups. These products sit at price points both accessible and ultra high-end, from independent brands and mass market players alike. Occasionally, designers exercise artistic license and scramble the order in which a rainbow’s colors naturally occur. This still counts.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: A hardy plant, called Pilea peperomioides, that once grew on rocks in the shade in the southwestern Yunnan province of China. It grows about a foot tall and forms orbs of brightly verdant round leaves. Now it’s rare in its native habitat but everywhere in homes.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: A digital or print effect where one color fades into another. Typically rendered in soft or pastel tones.

Welcome to Noticed, The Goods’ design trend column. You know that thing you’ve been seeing all over the place? Allow us to explain it.

What it is: Rugs, throw blankets, bathmats, woven wall hangings, and other textiles for the home scattered with abstract — sometimes geometric but frequently curvy or lumpy — shapes. A bit of a riff on color blocking, they’re often rendered in surprising, dissonant color combinations, like pale green and tangerine or slate blue and buttery yellow.