Coquette and cottagecore, mob wife and office siren — this year has seen us trend cycle at a breakneck speed, oscillating between innocent and alluring, sexy and cute. We’re wearing leather, then lace. Pencil skirts then pedal pushers. There’s very little any of these trends have in common, but aesthetically, an overarching theme has emerged: hyper-femininity. 

It feels all too recent when the height of style was low-rise baggy jeans paired with skate shoes or an oversized hoodie worn over bike shorts. Now, it seems, we’ve made a sharp pivot. Returning to the workplace en masse this year, TikTokkers reinterpreted corporate-wear with a vengeance — motivating fast fashion to release “office looks” collections. In tandem, we watched the rise of the ‘trad wife’ — the young mother who makes brownies from self-grown cacao in an ethereal prairie dress. Ballet-inspired bubble skirts have been adopted with as much voracity as micro-mini shorts. 

With the exception of loungewear, it feels like dressing overtly feminine has become a style imperative. It would be easy to consider this a kind of regression. Women have been wearing pants for less than 100 years, only accepting trousers when WWII dictated they take on work traditionally done by men. In 1966, designer Yves Saint Laurent made pants feel markedly more appropriate for women by introducing ‘Le Smoking,’ a tuxedo tailored for the female form. When second-wave feminism picked up steam in the 70s, many women entered the workforce and university for the first time — dressed in jeans.   

Now, even as regular censuses reveal our generation’s growing gender fluidity, the summer ‘24 forecast seems to indicate mid-length fit-and-flare dresses and florals. It’s a stark shift when just 10 years ago we were wearing ripped flannel shirts and studded shorts with abandon, but maybe it signals a pendulum swing toward a more instinctive state. In the past decade, we’ve seen the first woman receive a presidential bid. The first woman to serve as Vice President. Women stepped out from the shadows to instigate the #MeToo movement and advocate gender equity with the Women's March.  

Maybe embracing androgyny is no longer necessary to be taken seriously. Maybe we can be pretty girls who like pretty things and expect the same respect. Maybe, the tides are turning to the point that sexy is no longer synonymous with silly. For far too long, women have been both rewarded and punished for their personal style. Regardless, it’s time to put on that frilly look and prove everyone wrong. 

On that note, here’s the ultimate case to complement with your favorite floral dress.