Suddenly TikTok is obsessed with sardines. Yet as daft as it sounds, it’s part of a wider style trend: How designers got hooked on fish-inspired frocks
- The style is dubbed ‘sardinecore’ on TikTok and the started with chef Ali Hooke
- READ MORE: Now Gap’s gone super-glam, thanks to a collaboration with a New York label loved by fashionistas
Sardines are having a fashion moment. Yes, I can’t believe I’ve written that sentence either.
The small oily fish is finding favour with a whole new generation of consumers too young to remember its former life as the go-to meal for pensioners.
Dubbed ‘sardinecore’ (it seems every TikTok fad, from Barbiecore to balletcore, requires a ‘core’ on the end), the trend started with the appropriately named chef Ali Hooke, who posted a viral video of herself sharing a tin of Nuri ‘artisanal sardines’ during date night with her boyfriend.
I have no idea why this would capture anyone’s imagination, but alas it did, kick-starting a trend for posh canned fish.
But what, you’ll rightly ask, has this got to do with clothes? Well, such is the supposed hype, the sardine has now made it off the plate and into our wardrobes.
The sardine has now made it off the plate and into our wardrobes. Pictured: Halle Bailey attends the World Premiere of Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ in May
Bottega Veneta’s Sardine handbag features a gold handle in the shape of, you guessed it, a sardine, while U.S. designer Clare V has sold out of her Liberez Les Sardines (Free the Sardines!) T-shirt. Yet, laughing aside, the sea has long helped to influence fashion.
One of Chanel’s most opulent shows was the Spring/Summer 2012 collection inspired by ‘the bottom of the ocean’.
It featured skirts with ruffles like sea foam, bags in the shape of conch shells encrusted with seed pearls, and dresses with long strands of seaweed-inspired ribbon.
Two years ago, Versace produced an aquatic-themed show with bejewelled starfish and clam bustiers, and dresses printed with underwater seascapes.
Elsa Schiaparelli’s famous 1937 ‘lobster dress’ has had many incarnations over the decades, notably when Anna Wintour wore a Prada version to the Met Gala.
And who can forget the late Alexander McQueen’s Spring/Summer 2010 show, Plato’s Atlantis, featuring dresses that shimmered like fish scales and shoes that looked like blowfish.
Sardines are having a fashion moment. Yes, I can’t believe I’ve written that sentence either. Pictured: Kendall Jenner attends the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party
One of Chanel’s most opulent shows was the Spring/Summer 2012 collection inspired by ‘the bottom of the ocean’
Last week, Lily Allen opted for an asymmetric black Clio Peppiatt dress with red beaded starfish
Endless celebrities have walked the red carpet in dresses designed to look like shimmering scales, or adorned by shells, such as Bond Girl Ana de Armas’s mermaid-inspired Louis Vuitton gown at this year’s Oscars.
Last week, Lily Allen opted for an asymmetric black Clio Peppiatt dress with red beaded starfish. And the High Street is full of clothes and accessories featuring sealife motifs, from crabs to clams to jellyfish.
So why does the fashion world so routinely turn its gaze beneath the waves? In the words of the late Karl Lagerfeld: ‘The shapes of the sea are very modern and very inspiring.’
Just look at the romantic curves, textures and details of pearls, starfish and seahorses.
The indescribable shape of coral, for example, serves as an elegant print on clothing or as beautiful earrings and pendants.
The gold-plated earrings by Alex Monroe, combine both the shapes of the sea and the aquamarine colours.
Irina Shayk walks the runway at the Versace fashion show during the Milan Women’s Fashion Week in Milan, Italy on September 26, 2020
The High Street is full of clothes and accessories featuring sealife motifs, from crabs to clams to jellyfish. Pictured: A model walks the runway during the Emilio Pucci show in 2015
Endless celebrities have walked the red carpet in dresses designed to look like shimmering scales, or adorned by shells, such as Bond Girl Ana de Armas’s mermaid-inspired Louis Vuitton gown at this year’s Oscars (pictured)
Coral prints adorn Rixo’s perfect summer tea dress. And you can see the sea’s appeal in the starfish sandals by Aspiga, Lulu Guinness’s pearlescent clam-shaped handbag and even Kurt Geiger’s lobster slip-ons.
As for the various blues and crisp whites of the sea, these are hues that suit almost every skin tone.
So, if you want to get in on one of summer’s hottest trends without having to eat canned fish for supper (leave that to Gen Z) then perhaps ‘Seacore’, rather than Sardinecore, is the way to go.
How to get the look
Dress, £265, rixolondon.com
Sandals, £90, aspiga.com
Top, £99, neverfullydressed.com
Earrings, £290, Lizzie Fortunato at libertylondon.com
Skirt, £225, toast
Earrings, £270, alexmonroe.com
Bag, £250, luluguinness.com
Shoes, £79, kurtgeiger.com
T-shirt, £74, katespade.co.uk
Slippers, £45, wolfandbadger.com
Cami, £12.50, cyberjammies.com
Shorts, £12.50, cyberjammies.com
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