Trend Translation: How to Wear Anything After 30
A trend isn't a rule — it's a raw ingredient. Here's the three-question filter I run every runway and Instagram trend through before deciding whether it earns a place in my wardrobe.
The internet would have you believe that every trend is either for you or a sign you’re out of touch. Both are nonsense. After 30, the relationship changes: you stop wearing trends and start borrowing from them.
Here’s the exact filter I use.
Question 1: What is the trend actually about?
Strip the styling away. A trend is usually one idea wearing a loud outfit. “Quiet luxury” is just fit and fabric over logos. The “naked dress” is really about confidence and a single focal point. Find the idea underneath — because the idea is wearable even when the runway version isn’t.
Question 2: What’s the 10% version?
You almost never need the head-to-toe interpretation. You need one dose.
- Loving the cargo revival? Skip the parachute pants — take the utility pockets on a tailored trouser.
- Chrome and metallics everywhere? A single silver mule does more than a metallic dress ever could.
- Sheer layering? A slip under a kurta gets you the idea with none of the exposure.
The 10% version is almost always the more elegant one anyway.
Question 3: Does it fight my non-negotiables?
I have three: I don’t do stiff fabrics, I don’t do anything that needs constant adjusting, and I never let a trend bury my jewellery. If a trend asks me to break a non-negotiable, it loses — every time. Your taste is allowed to overrule the algorithm.
A worked example
Take a bold-shoulder, jewel-tone moment from the runway. The 10% translation: a deep emerald kurta with a slightly structured shoulder, my usual jhumkas, straight trousers, neutral mules. Nobody reads it as “trend.” They read it as you, looking current — which is the entire point.
Trends should date your photos, not your sense of self. Borrow the idea, leave the costume.