25.1 CHAOS CULTURE
Maximalism persists, since 2020
In these first few issues, I’ll be sharing the four key cultural trends on my radar for the year ahead. These may not all feel ✨ new ✨ — but that’s the point. In recent years, we’ve adopted a sort of logical fallacy wherein trends must always be new, which is simply not the definition and not how they work. This trend mania results in constantly repackaging the same ideas with new names, instead of interrogating the more useful and interesting aspects of trends: where they’re coming from, how they’re evolving, and their potential implications.
This newsletter does not aim to surface emerging microtrends and curate news stories, since there are plenty of others that do that work superbly.1 Instead, I’m interested in drawing the connections between those myriad cultural signals to better understand and project the evolution of the macro landscape. This approach hopefully alleviates the temptation to chase every “new” trend and helps prioritize where to invest in taking strategic action.
I believe maximalism will be a defining theme of 2025 — we’ll call it Chaos Culture. This has popped up in plenty of recent trend reports and thought pieces, and it’s an accurate read of the moment. But it’s not new. Chaos Culture can be traced back to the macrotrend Creative Codebreaking. Here’s where it shows up in the my framework and a snapshot of what the trend looked like in 2022:
In 2020, Starface made a splash by repackaging acne care in a fun new format. In 2021, Lego collaborated with artist Yinka Ilori to reimagine the dreary task of doing laundry in a colorful Launderette of Dreams. In 2022, the ‘Cluttercore’ microtrend brought chaotic maximalism to the forefront of decorative aesthetics, as reported by everyone from Architectural Digest to The Cut (and eventually NYT in 2023 🥲). Like most trends, the origins of Creative Codebreaking are rooted in an intersection of many different drivers. But I think its prominence can be primarily attributed to major shifts in technology — the rise of Tiktok and ‘the metaverse’ (and eventually AI) — all of which coincided with Gen Z’s coming of age and influence.
Maximalism is an aesthetic shift linked to a generational shift. If the 2010s were a sea of soft neutrals and sans-serif blanding, the 2020s have been, and will continue to be, defined by chaotic maximalism. “Quiet luxury” minimalism was, alas, nothing more than a blip in which Millennials stole the spotlight for a minute.2 It makes sense that we’re already back in a maximalist zone. In my opinion, this is not a super-speed pendulum swing; it’s a fairly straightforward continuation of an existing trajectory.
So, how is Creative Codebreaking evolving for the latter half of the 2020s? I think the core concept is still relevant: breaking and remixing existing codes to defy conventional expectations with a sense of openness and playfulness. But irreverent humor seems to be an increasingly important aspect of this trend. Less optimistic intentionality; more dystopian chaos:
Chaos Culture: In an increasingly stressful and unrelenting news cycle rife with socio-political turmoil, aesthetics reflect this dystopian chaos and solace is found in micro-moments of irreverent humor and levity.
Chaos Packaging: In October, the Wall Street Journal documented the rise of “chaos packaging,” a term coined by
. “Companies are selling sunscreen in whipped-cream cans, water in tallboys better known for beer and tampons in ice-cream tubs as surprising packaging becomes a sharper tool for marketers…Packages that cause some kind of cognitive dissonance are more likely to capture the attention of shoppers than traditional boxes, bottles and cans.”Mass Meme-ification: To cope with the doomscroll of news, people are meme-ifying of even the most serious topics (election, assassination), leading a December article in Digiday to claim memes are now the “lingua franca of modern audiences. They’re how we share ideas, signal belonging and make meaning. If you’re not designing campaigns with memes in mind as a brand, you’re designing for irrelevance.” Marketers must make a decision: “embrace the chaos, dive into memes, fandoms and creators, or keep it at arm’s length and risk being seen as outdated, contrived and irrelevant.” Brat set a new standard for meme marketing, and even luxury brands are exploring the concept.
Playful Surrealism: For their holiday campaigns, luxury brands like Hermes, Diesel, Loewe, and Jacquemus took an elevated spin on this chaotic energy. Social strategist
explained, “as the Internet continued to feel more slop-like, we saw brands lean further into world building for our inner child.” Loewe and Jacquemus show how incorporating playful childlike elements and surrealist visuals can be a more aspirational interpretation of this trend. Louis Vuitton re-releasing its 2000s era collaboration with Takashi Murakami feels aligned as well; calls it “cartoon high-fashion aesthetics".”Chaotic Customization: As the bag charm fashion trend continued in strength throughout the summer and fall as a way to personalize purses, brands began tapping into the potential to create charms as branded merch during the holiday season. Vogue Business argues that this is not a fad, but indicative of a more significant demand by younger consumers for ‘chaotic customization.’ This is defined as “pushing personalisation to an extreme: layering embellishments, celebrating uniqueness and embracing self-expression in its wildest, most-unrestrained forms with a DIY spirit.” Quoted experts suggest brands tap into the trend by collaborating with inspiring creators known for customization, developing limited-edition unique designs, and/or engaging customers in co-creation.
From packaging to storytelling, and art direction to product design, Chaos Culture has a wide range of implications for every kind of business and workstream. Even if the takeaway is that your older target customer is desperately craving some refined minimalism amidst all of this messiness. Just know that this is not a fleeting trend — maximalism is a key theme for 2025 and, potentially, the entire decade.
There are several reasons why the recent foray into minimalism was never going to hold, which I’ll get into more at another point. The takeaway is that trying to force-fit a brand into the quiet luxury microtrend was always illogical.