What a trend truly is
There is a distinct difference between a “trend” and something that has passed on into “mainstream”. But what is that difference? To answer this question, one has to look at the definitions of the terms first and then look behind the mere words to gain a valid interpretation.
Here’s what the Oxford Dictionaries say about the word trend: “a general direction in which something is developing or changing”.
And here’s what it says about mainstream: “the ideas, attitudes, or activities that are shared by most people and regarded as normal or conventional”.
This seems simple enough and only little further elaboration shall be made on the mere words. Next to the literal meaning, these definitions put the two terms into direct correlation to each other: while mainstream is that which is “shared by most people”, a trend is “developing” – it can be inferred that a trend always precedes mainstream.
And in fact, the author could not recall a single case where something or someone skipped the trend stage and went right from nothing to everything. It’s simply unheard of.
A beautiful forest
The insight gained by this distinction is important because there is a very common misunderstanding about trends: all too often, we use the word “trendy”, when we want to express that someone is following the mainstream. Who can blame us? “Your new boots are really mainstream” just sounds so much less like a positive compliment than “your new boots are so trendy”. Albeit, it would have been the right thing to say – well, most of the time.
Another common misconception is the metaphor of the butterfly and the storm (whereas the flapping of the butterfly’s wings on one side of the planet causes a storm on the other side). This image does not show the trend-to-mainstream relationship, but rather that of action and effect.
Now, what is a trend then, truly? If one was to think of a green forest, full of beautiful trees, grass and all kinds of plants, a trend is a stage or an age of the forest before it became a forest. But a trend is not the first seed, either – that is the idea that can spark a trend. It is the first patch of plants, growing from the seeds of the seed. That’s what a trend truly is.
Not everyone will make it…
This image is all the more fitting when we take into account that the majority of all trends never make it to the mainstream. They simply ebb and disappear into nothingness or a niche existence. Just like a newly formed patch of green can be so easily eradicated by a more dominant force (for the sake of the argument, let’s assume that it’s not a building company tearing down the lot).
It’s really simple, is it not? From now on, you can safely compliment someone on being “delightfully mainstream” and still feel good about it – after all, it means being a beautiful forest!
