[gtranslate]
Film and TV

Rihanna’s Super Bowl red jumpsuit and four other fashion trends skyrocketed by pop culture

After Rihanna’s Super Bowl red jumpsuit saw a surge in fashion searches on Google, we’re counting down some past skyrocketing fashion trends, and the pop culture moments that inspired them.  

Much attention has rightfully been paid to Rihanna’s stellar performance as the headliner of this year’s Super Bowl halftime show. Offering a career-spanning setlist of old and new classics from Umbrella to Work, the singer made waves with sky-bound set design and the headline-grabbing reveal of a second baby bump courtesy of boyfriend A$AP Rocky (yet another genetic lottery winner). 

What fans might’ve missed from the halftime show, however, is Rihanna’s quiet-yet-notable spearheading of a new fashion trend, thanks to the bright red costume she donned throughout her performance. New data has shined a light on just how influential the wardrobe was on resulting search histories, so we’re counting down some past skyrocketing fashion trends and the pop culture moments that inspired them. 

rihanna

 

Rihanna sparks a red renaissance

According to a new study commissioned by Boohoo, Google searches for the term ‘red jumpsuit’ skyrocketed following Rihanna’s halftime show, increasing by 520% in the wake of the Super Bowl game. Related fashion searches like ‘red puffer jacket’ and ‘red sneakers’ likewise jumped well over 100% each. Rihanna later sported a floor-length ‘sleeping bag’ jacket inspired by fashion legend André Leon Talley.  

j lo green dress fashion
credit: Vanity Fair

Jennifer Lopez births Google Images

When Jennifer Lopez attended the 2000 Grammy Awards in a now-infamous Versace number, she unknowingly birthed an entire new search engine for Google, who created the Images feature to keep up with unprecedented search demands for the pop star’s dress. “At the time, it was the most popular search query we had ever seen,”  former Google CEO Eric Schmidt admitted of the internet-breaking moment in 2015. “So Google Image Search was born.” 

squid games vans

Squid Game revives slip-on white Vans 

Before jumpsuited security guards splashed onto Netflix screens in Squid Game, slip-on white Vans were reserved almost solely for that kid from the viral “Damn Daniel!” videos. Once the series premiered in September 2021, however, fans appeared eager to recreate the footwear donned by Squid Game players throughout the nine-episode run, with sales of the staple shoe skyrocketing by 7,800%.       

euphoria fashion

Euphoria causes a surge in apparel predictably unsuited for high-schoolers

The only thing more outlandish than Euphoria’s insistence that its characters are teenagers (the actress who plays Maddy is 32, ya’ll), is the mental gymnastics required to believe that this is what high schoolers wear. In any case, searches for a range of Euphoria-specific looks surged in the two days following its season two premiere, with Maddy’s ‘black cutout dress’ jumping by 890%. Another age-appropriate item, ‘lace-up heels’, increased by 125%.

Barbiecore fashion

Barbiecore’ Boom

Stick Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling on the set of a highly-anticipated movie and chuck on some neon apparel and you’ll have birthed what’s now known as ‘Barbiecore’. When images of the pair filming Greta Gerwig’s Barbie leaked last year, searches for adjacent paraphernalia enlarged to about the same extent as the doll’s impossibly long legs. Sales of both fuchsia clothing and blonde hair dye jumped by over 40%, while the once-loathed ‘scrunchie’ was searched 1,000 times more frequently.