How TikTok convinced us all to try this matchy-matchy fashion trend

Written by Kayleigh Dray

Kayleigh Dray is Stylist’s digital editor-at-large. Her specialist topics include comic books, films, TV and feminism. On a weekend, you can usually find her drinking copious amounts of tea and playing boardgames with her friends.

There’s a reason we’re all getting our coord on right now, and it’s all to do with TikTok’s #matchingsets trend.

Everyone remembers that iconic scene from The Devil Wears Prada, in which fashion director Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) gives her hapless assistant, Andy (Anne Hathaway), a lesson in where trends come from.

Basically, it goes a little something like this: Andy believes that her “lumpy blue sweater” is a choice that makes her exempt from the fashion industry. Miranda, though, informs her that her jumper “is actually cerulean” and that, in 2002, “Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns.”

Cue cerulean quickly showing up in the collections of eight different fashion designers, before filtering down through the department stores and then trickling on down “into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin.”

Here’s a reminder of the iconic movie moment, for anyone who needs it:

Things have changed, of course, since The Devil Wears Prada first roared into cinemas back in 2006. Because, nowadays, there’s an extra step in the process, and that step is social media – TikTok, specifically.

And, recently, we’ve seen the platform peddling one big summer style trend in particular.

Check it out:

As previously reported by Stylist, fashion platform Lyst, which analyses the behaviour of online shoppers to track consumer demand, noted a spike of searches for shorts of 36%.

“Short hems are amongst this season’s fastest rising trends,” the platform noted in correlation with its findings.

So, yes, shorts are big. But, as TikTok aficionados are undoubtedly all too aware, matching shorts sets are even bigger.

That’s right, everyone: the hashtag ‘matching sets’ has 17.6 million views on TikTok and counting.

And, as such, it’s begun filtering through to Instagram’s #OOTD tag in a big way.

Don’t believe us? See for yourself…

The trend requires just two items in your wardrobe; either an oversized top or a button-down shirt with long or short sleeves, and coordinating shorts.

Ideally, you want to find a set in a lightweight fabric, such as cotton or poplin – and bonus points if you can secure yours in a summery print, too.

Of course, there are plenty of ways to add your own twist to the matchy-matchy shorts trend.

You could, for example, swap out the shirt for a chic blazer:

Or a silk blouse:

Or, y’know, something that feels completely and uniquely you.

Essentially, the key to nailing this look is simple; get your legs out of hibernation… and nail those matchy-matchy vibes at the same time. The rest, as they say, is up to you.

Anyone else suddenly in the mood to get their coord on?

Images: Getty

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