A word for someone who is a follower of trends
September 18, 2014 3:36 AM   Subscribe

Can you think of a single word for a person or organisation who aspires to follow new trends and fashions? Not "hipster", which is in the ballpark, but closer to the business idea of a "fast follower"? Doesn't need to have negative connotations.
posted by dontjumplarry to Writing & Language (29 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Early adopter.
posted by tel3path at 3:38 AM on September 18, 2014 [16 favorites]


Fashionista?
posted by cogat at 3:52 AM on September 18, 2014


Best answer: Neophile.
posted by misteraitch at 3:53 AM on September 18, 2014 [7 favorites]


Trendoid, although that's pretty negative.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:58 AM on September 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


If they love to share what they find with others, Malcolm Gladwell's maven comes close.
posted by gnomeloaf at 4:14 AM on September 18, 2014 [4 favorites]


Wannabe.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 4:17 AM on September 18, 2014


Famous professional trend-follower Faith Popcorn calls herself a "futurist".
posted by Room 641-A at 4:19 AM on September 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


Digging around in French dictionaries gave me the following, with French for "fashion" being "mode" as in "à la mode":
Modilogue, subst. masc.,p. plaisant. Spécialiste de la mode vestimentaire

[A specialist in clothing fashion]

Modimane, subst. masc.,p. plaisant. Homme qui aime la mode avec passion

[A person who loves fashion with passion]

Modiphile, subst. masc.,p.plaisant. Homme qui s'intéresse à la mode

[A person who is interested in fashion]
posted by XMLicious at 4:21 AM on September 18, 2014 [3 favorites]


(I'd actually gone looking for an applicable variant of Latin "literati", and found "belligerati" and "glitterati" and "twitterati", but not a version relation to fashion and trends.)
posted by XMLicious at 4:23 AM on September 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


Can a person be trendy?
posted by meijusa at 4:28 AM on September 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


Fashion victim?
posted by Salamander at 4:28 AM on September 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


Tastemaker
posted by Yowser at 4:31 AM on September 18, 2014


If they are a little ahead of the curve they might be called a "trendsetter".
posted by Rock Steady at 4:32 AM on September 18, 2014


Trendy
posted by richb at 4:32 AM on September 18, 2014


I guess I should clarify that the word is tastemaker because the people who set fashion are a small cabal that doesn't include said tastemakers.
posted by Yowser at 4:33 AM on September 18, 2014


Trendslave. Although that definitely has negative connotations.
posted by joeyjoejoejr at 4:52 AM on September 18, 2014


The vanguard.
posted by tel3path at 4:53 AM on September 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


Bellwether
posted by tjenks at 5:03 AM on September 18, 2014 [3 favorites]


Poseur.
posted by padraigin at 6:06 AM on September 18, 2014


Are you specifically looking for a noun? Hip, fashionable, etc. all work for adjectives. For men, dandy.

I don't think neophile has quite the right connotation. That is more about being bored easily, needing lots of stimulation, liking new things, changing things -- rather than liking trends or what is fashionable.
posted by amaire at 6:50 AM on September 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


coolhunter
posted by mmiddle at 7:14 AM on September 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


Trendspotter. Trendy.
posted by ninjakins at 7:53 AM on September 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


Scenester.
posted by jessamyn at 8:43 AM on September 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


Maven.
posted by thatone at 9:47 AM on September 18, 2014


Recently, I like "basic bitch" for this. Its not gender specific, its someone who is definitely a trend follower as opposed to leader, though may not realize it. It also implies that they are fundamentally boring, so its definitely a pejorative.
posted by stormygrey at 10:02 AM on September 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


This varies depending on what kinds of trends the person is following.

In tech, it's an early adopter.

In style, it's "fashion forward" (a fashionista is a different thing; you can be a fashionista and mostly be into classic Chanel suits or something).

In politics it's the vanguard.

In music I actually would gravitate towards "hipster".

In the arts there's "avant-garde".

In advertising/marketing, yeah, "coolhunter". Though I'm not sure how much that is actually a real thing vs. how much that is a William Gibson novel.

Since basically nobody is in this category for all things, there is no term that describes this type of person across all areas of culture.
posted by Sara C. at 10:04 AM on September 18, 2014 [4 favorites]


Also "basic" is the antithesis of what you're talking about. "Basic" means someone is into stuff that was cool five years ago.
posted by Sara C. at 10:07 AM on September 18, 2014


Dandy?
posted by WeekendJen at 10:14 AM on September 18, 2014


belleweather
posted by jadepearl at 8:07 AM on September 19, 2014


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