15 new lifestyle trends worth paying attention to in the post-epidemic era

Epidemic control has been basically relaxed, and the post-epidemic era has arrived. How can we make up for the lost three years through a new lifestyle? The biggest expectation at the moment is to live a safe and healthy life. Let's take a look at the 15 new lifestyle trends summarized by the author, draw inspiration from them, and capture the beauty in the post-epidemic era!

Standing in 2023, born out of the chaos of 2022, we are eager to "make up" for the lost years, and even more looking forward to reuniting with the world.

The world is changing dramatically. We need to find the right direction as soon as possible to get our lives back on track. The consumer electronics market is experiencing a huge explosion in terminal connectivity, data transmission and sharing. AIGC is moving towards the "big application era" of instrumentality, universalization and industrialization.

As life continues to be segmented and the carnival of consumerism recedes, "rational consumption" becomes the new standard for "intelligence" judgment. This year's ifanRank, we hope to find you the propositions and actions that will make 2023 more stable, warmer, and better.

I remember that the book "The Triumph of the City" mentioned that "cities make people richer, smarter, greener, healthier and happier" - this victory has stagnated for nearly four years, and finally began to return, bringing us into the post-epidemic era. Just as postmodernism is not the end of modernism, the post-epidemic era does not mean that the epidemic has passed. We must always get used to coexisting with the virus and being stuck with the uncertainty of the moment.

The biggest expectation at the moment is a real, practical and powerful life. To this end, we have observed and summarized 15 new life trend exploration guides in the post-epidemic era. Cities have just recovered and consumption has hit crazy. I hope they can show you practical and beneficial values ​​and gain positive inspiration for the new year. Perhaps in these optimistic foresights, we can regain the resilience of the past and rebuild the meaning of tomorrow.

01 The Kingdom of Crazy Colors——Boldly release the bold colors in your heart.

Earth tones were all over Instagram in 2022. Kim Kardashian's favorite "wabi-sabi style", movies such as "Dune" and the "wasteland style" that celebrities wear all contributed to this undercurrent, which is actually a yearning for a soft and quiet life. But in 2023, saturated colors will shine.

Since the color research organization Pantone officially released the 2023 popular color "Long Live Magenta", it also foreshadowed a new power signal in the post-epidemic era, and more bold visuals will appear in various aspects of life. The popularity of Barbiecore, Cottagecore, and IKEA in 2022 are all signs that saturated colors will become popular. Bright colors such as red, pink, and purple will appear in large quantities.

Vaporwave, known as the "digital punk movement" - this psychedelic hybrid style that combines retro, avant-garde and futurism is also expected to return in 2023. In an era of wanton visual sales, brands only need to seize the aesthetic dividend. Bold and wild colors will also reflect our new attitude in the new year.

02 Big Brand Absurdism - Black and red are also red. Everyone enjoys watching it, so how can it not be considered an innovation?

If you don't have enough explosive power, how can you be a big entertainer? This sentence is not an exaggeration to describe Balenciaga. It has launched potato chip bags worth 10,000 yuan, garbage bags worth 10,000 yuan, the ugliest and most worn-out shoes, and poor rough houses... Balenciaga can be said to have invaded people's visual perception in all directions, hitting every traffic G-spot, but it has gained strong recognition and attention.

In order to maintain traffic, big brands now use all kinds of tricks: LV launched a paint bucket worth 20,000 yuan, Coca-Cola launched metaverse flavors, ginger flavors, charcoal flavors, and dream flavors. The absurd flavors in the coffee industry are even more popular: sauerkraut coffee, fried dough stick coffee, pepper coffee, century egg coffee, soy sauce latte...

When people commented that it was a "tax on IQ", Balenciaga responded: "Balenciaga itself is a social experiment, designed to understand how far people are willing to go for the brand's value." Ah, this is not a business, this is art. This level, this height, is really heavenly. But who let today's consumers buy into this?

An interesting piece of information is that the trend research platform Trendwatching found that in 2022, 72% of the global Z generation listed "fun" as their first value. Fun, creative, and full of slots are all reasons for their attention, and this party will continue. Only by being curious and absurd can you stay young forever.

03 Antiquarians - Finding peace of mind and certainty in objects and buildings from the past.

When Newjeans' new songs OMG and Ditto went viral recently, this Korean phenomenon girl group, which is hailed as "the next wave to sweep the world", turned the retro Y2K aesthetics into a trendy youth style. Searching for keywords such as "second-hand", "millennial", and "hot girl" on Xiaohongshu, you will find that Y2K fashion culture has penetrated into the lives of this generation of young people - complex patterns, exaggerated thick-soled shoes, and eye-catching metal accessories, which is also the popular symbol of LV's brand Heaven this year.

From clothing to home furnishings, IKEA vintage products are also very popular this year. The MCM style of the mid-20th century has returned again. VINTAGE IKEA on Xianyu has become the latest home life tips for young people. Go out and take a look. Apple announced in November last year that it would move its UK headquarters to the renovated Battersea Power Station. Dyson's global headquarters also moved to the century-old St. James Power Station in Singapore.

Retro is not a new topic, but this year, we can always see its shadow in entertainment, consumption, and architecture. Moreover, it is sustainable and environmentally friendly. Next year, it will surely be even more popular. The epidemic has also distorted and confused people's concept of time in life. The academic community calls the lack of time concept the "isolation paradox." We all hope to find the beautiful certainty of memories in these objects and utensils of the past.

By the way, when will China's non-mainstream return?

04 The number of locally rich people has increased dramatically - choose with passion, compare rationally, and consume wisely.

What are the “partially wealthy”?

Some people call them a group of people who are not actually rich but are willing to spend money on the things they like. In fact, this characteristic of theirs will become a more common phenomenon in the post-epidemic era. It is not a derogatory term, but a more contemporary and rational choice.

In consumer economics, there is a theory called the "ratchet effect," which means that people's consumption habits are like ratchets, and once formed, they can only go up and not down. The epidemic has dealt a heavy blow to everyone's economic ability, but after everyone has adapted to higher-quality consumption, they cannot stop admiring high-quality goods, and will turn to paying more attention to cost-effectiveness.

Next, we will also place orders for items that are flexible, durable, and long-lasting enough for high-quality consumption; at the same time, we will also flock to live broadcast rooms and compare prices on various channels and platforms for "intensive consumption." This will also make the simple big-name effect less attractive, and the luxury trend is becoming less attractive. In fact, in some Nordic countries, conspicuous consumption is no longer popular - this reflects that they are embracing a more real and down-to-earth life. After all, excessive consumption does not mean happiness.

05 The counterattack of the new Chinese style - see the charm of the new Chinese style in the hard-to-find domestic products.

Xixi Wetland has rising water vapor all year round. When the rainy season comes, the meadows, gentle hills, and lakes meet the sky, presenting a light gray tone like ink painting, which is fascinating. A while ago, the aromatherapy brand "Guanxia", which is deeply rooted in oriental aesthetics, opened a new store in Xixi Wetland, Hangzhou. This new Chinese brand, which has long queues to enter the store, has gained enough popularity and topics. From product names such as Kunlun Boiling Snow, Yihe Jingui, and Shuyuan Lotus Pond, to innovative material selection and unique oriental store design, it is enough to make young people excited.

Other new Chinese brands that have become popular include the fragrance brand "Wenxian", the tea brands "Yinian Caomuzhong" and "Tea'stone", the skincare brand "Xiwuji", the home brand "Guanyuanji", the beauty brand "Huaxizi", etc. They all use Chinese philosophy and oriental culture with new vision and concepts to give traditional Chinese culture a new look.

Chinese culture has a long history, and too many treasures have yet to be discovered. In the past, we looked for confidence in national trends from Li Ning, Liushen, Warrior Shoes, and White Rabbit. Next, new Chinese brands will use new audio-visual language and product ideas to take back their territory in the face of competition from global multi-brands.

06 Local culture emerges - find poetry and distance in the neighborhood.

Two new stores in Shanghai that opened in 2022 and attracted long queues are Blue Bottle Coffee, known as the "Apple of the Coffee World", and Aesop, a lifestyle brand that is popular in Australia.

Both foreign brands combined Shanghai's local culture and architectural language to design their stores locally, attracting a large number of new middle-class people to visit. All the big brands have tried localization last year: COS held a four-day "Drink a Bowl of Tea" tea party in Chengdu in November to showcase the local teahouse culture; Heytea has long launched the "Let Inspiration Speak Local" project, combining a series of localized products, spaces, activities and urban culture; Burberry has also entered 10 ethnic minority areas to revive handicrafts such as embroidery, batik, and brocade...

In addition to these big brands, there will be more and more small and beautiful original brands created by the original managers. Local brands that quietly appear on the roadside can create unforgettable aesthetics, and have begun to expand their branches in the new year. Jijijiao Coffee, which is based on Cantonese culture, has made "green creativity" a new Cantonese symbol in the eyes of young people. They use their brand power to actively integrate into the local culture, and at the same time, they are also creating a new local culture that is respected by young people.

07 Miniature Urban Jungle——Forests are everywhere, bringing you close to nature anytime and anywhere.

In crowded and precious urban spaces, more and more "green" will no longer appear in the form of large parks, but will become more creative miniature jungles. San Francisco's Paley Park and PARK(ing) Day have become popular around the world. They turn parking spaces into "temporary parks", turn benches on the streets into green attractions, and plant trees and vegetation on trash cans. These surprising "miniature jungles" allow people to encounter nature in unexpected places and form a new way to stay and appreciate nature.

As Jonce Walker, who works in sustainable design in New York, said, "Nature acts like acupuncture on residents, and small-scale construction can also greatly reduce the burden on residents." The micro-creative aesthetics of returning to nature will also extend from the outdoors to where we live.

There will be more and more small green spaces in community public spaces, where people will have picnics, exercise and have fun. We will also spontaneously create more green spaces at home, such as designing "roof gardens" in suburban apartments, creating "one square meter vegetable gardens" in urban communities, and growing "microgreens" at home. They will revitalize cold spaces, and the sustainability, inclusiveness and livability of cities will gradually take shape.

08 Wilderness adventures are in fashion - upgrade your mountain life, go and experience sports in depth!

First came camping, then Frisbee, then flag football, then cycling, land rushing, paddle boarding, river trekking... Outdoor sports, which were once niche, now have a new one appearing in the WeChat Moments every once in a while, and outdoor sports have even become a new social currency. The next one may be "picklet", a hybrid of tennis, badminton, and table tennis.

This is not surprising. The popularity of outdoor activities is more or less related to the epidemic, and in the new year, the craze for outdoor sports will continue to heat up. More people will go from just trying and playing to having a more extreme and in-depth experience. Alpine skiing, ice camping, and ice hiking have quickly become popular this winter. Next, free rock climbing, cliff rappelling, high-altitude mountaineering, and wilderness survival experiences will attract more young people who want to pursue excitement and challenges while exploring new things.

According to the 2023 Global Consumer Trends released by Mintel, 50% of Chinese adults who pay attention to fitness culture believe that the interest in fitness culture has affected their attitude towards life. They need products that can develop skills and look forward to breakthroughs in their personality and identity. Exercise is a good thing, but safety must be kept in mind.

09 Soul Healing Exercise——Feel the spiritual healing and relaxation anytime, anywhere.

Remember that not long ago, NetEase Cloud Music added a new interesting activity of "beating wooden fish" in its annual report? It's boring to beat, but it's really healing. Now, our definition of health is constantly evolving - it has gone beyond the body and also covers psychological, emotional and spiritual health.

Data from the well-known market research organization ipsos found that 76% of global citizens now believe that mental health is as important as physical health. Emotional diversity is our daily state during the epidemic. Everything is changing, collapsing, and rebuilding at any time. We once gave priority to public health and safety during the epidemic, but in the future we will come out of the epidemic and focus on ourselves again.

There are long queues at outpatient clinics of psychological aid centers in various places. Meditation and mindfulness activities are constantly being carried out in various cities. There will be more and more activities that allow the mind to relax, such as flow crafts, ceramic making, art therapy, short-term meditation, handpan concerts, etc. It may be effective or ineffective, but people will be more willing to try it - in the past, people were unfamiliar with mental health, but now rebuilding the psychological order will be the first action.

Psychological counselor Chen Haixian has proposed 8 directions for rebuilding inner peace in daily life. You can refer to them: Make a decluttering of information. Distinguish life, work and family. Divide space. Think about the things that are close to you. Change your frame of reference. Create a sense of meaning. Connect with others. Remember that you have a choice.

10 Short-term nomadism has become the norm - step out of the "comfort zone" to create more new possibilities for work models.

In 2020, when the pandemic first started, Fujitsu of Japan developed the "Borderless Office", which allows employees to exchange locations between different offices such as central offices, satellite offices, and shared offices. As remote work has to increase, people are beginning to choose more comfortable, quiet, and desirable cities and suburbs to work, and more large companies such as Google have begun to announce that remote work will become a permanent choice for employees.

At the same time, Iceland successfully implemented a four-day work week the year before last, Belgium also announced the measure at the beginning of last year, and LeTV took the lead in starting a four-and-a-half-day work week at the end of the year. In 2023, remote work and short-time work will be more closely integrated. The situation in which large cities are full of vitality and the center of competitiveness will change. People can start a short trip at any time to handle their work flexibly, such as working from Tuesday to Thursday, staying at home for the rest of the day, and going to a new city for three days.

Numerous studies have discussed the relationship between happiness, productivity, and the future of the office. The book "The Nowhere Office" has also been very popular during the epidemic. It points out that as the workforce becomes increasingly diverse, the post-90s and post-00s who have become the main force in the workplace have a freer lifestyle and are more inclined to choose the working method that best suits them.

Of course, this will also be a test for the supervision of middle-level managers, but if the boss only wants employees to return to the office, it will definitely be a wrong decision. How to strike a balance between the three dimensions of "collaboration, efficiency, and health" will become a new important proposition in the post-epidemic era.

11 The trend of light luxury for pets – embrace the warmth of new family members, they deserve a better life.

Gucci pet beds, LV custom pet bags, Tiffany & Co. pet tags, Versace pricey food bowls, Monogram canvas pet boxes... Did you also get shocked by these luxury pet products that cost hundreds of thousands of RMB last year? It can be seen from the background that the trend of keeping pets is becoming more and more popular among young people, and it will become more popular.

In the post-epidemic era, the need for companionship and affection, as well as the rise of celibacy, will lead to more and more people keeping pets. Of course, not everyone has so much money to buy luxury goods for their "masters", but pet consumption will indeed become more refined in the new year. There will be more and more functional pet foods, closer to human health products; the toy categories will become more and more abundant, and beauty care will be more refined; more products that extend the life of pets and prevent health problems will also be developed; there will be more and more pet activities, like holding weddings, birthday parties, Christmas holidays for dogs, and even buying tombstones and cemeteries for them after they die, which will become the norm.

In addition to mainstream cats and dogs, the categories of pets will also extend to aquatic animals, reptiles, rodents and other exotic and niche animals, which will also drive the growth of new markets. Don’t ask whether it is worth it, who would not be addicted to keeping a pet?

12 Homemade health prescriptions - regain self-discipline in a more comfortable way by lying down and relaxing.

Whether you are a lazy homebody or a stay-at-home mom or a stay-at-home mom, you must have learned how to take care of your daily health after staying at home for a few years. According to the latest report from Accenture, in the post-epidemic era, Chinese consumers will mainly adopt two ways to embrace a healthier lifestyle: one is to increase indoor exercise, and the other is to choose a healthier diet.

More people have also learned to watch live fitness, use fitness apps to manage their health, and even buy fitness mirrors to exercise at home. Frost & Sullivan predicts that China's sports participation rate will continue to increase to 23.4% in 2023, further narrowing the gap with Europe and the United States. In addition to sports, people's pursuit of food and beverage ingredients and functions, such as low sugar and low calorie products, high-quality food processing, taking various vitamins, and more functional effects of products (such as meal replacement, sleep aid, digestion aid), also shows their concern for dietary health.

As we stay at home more and more irregularly, we will also get used to having health supplements at home, buying more healthy snacks and pre-made meals, and choosing and balancing more nutritious, natural and healthy foods. Another point worth noting is that people's clothing choices are becoming more and more "healthy". Tight and tough clothes are fading, and comfortable elastic yoga pants, sweatshirts, and loose styles have become the new trend. This is probably about being healthy and relaxing.

13 Glass box environmental protection - tear off the gimmick mask and see the real actions.

The era of deceiving consumers with an eco-friendly label will soon be over. Investors, regulators, and consumers are all re-examining the sustainable development declarations of brands. If brands want to win the favor of consumers by being environmentally friendly, they must be "transparent" and truly take responsibility to do it well. This means that they must also bear the huge costs of the entire path from production sites and supply chains to manufacturing, selling, and recycling products, while also allowing consumers to actively participate in it at a low cost.

Everlane has previously set off a wave of "transparent pricing" by disclosing all production line and cost information on the tag, which has won a lot of goodwill. It is never an easy thing to truly do it, but there are more and more hypocritical environmentally friendly brands, and their trust is also declining.

The latest report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that 70% of consumers around the world are cautious about corporate sustainability statements and commitments. The Internet has ushered in an era of complete transparency. The internal workflow of brands will become increasingly important in external presentations. Consumers will also be keen to interact with the values ​​of brands and hope that all the products they get can be "traceable".

For the new generation of consumers, the company's cultural philosophy will be one of the important factors that influence and impress them to place orders, and sustainability is a crucial link. In the future, the brand's sustainable "transparency" will become the most important value of the brand, just like integrity.

14 New co-creator brands——entering an era where the public and brands help each other.

Batches of brands will become "creator brands". Why? Using age, gender, social status and other markers to divide consumers is outdated. Catering to their values, passions, beliefs, attitudes, and getting the public involved is the way to touch the hearts of consumers. As early as a few years ago, many new consumer brands focusing on "lifestyle" have emerged. The purpose behind them is to make the products penetrate into our lives, connect with our lives, and make us identify with and continue to consume.

Now, for both new and old brands, creating content has become an indispensable part. Aesthetics, design, and consumer-generated content are all new content they need to pay attention to. Simply put, cultural value has become very important. Whether it is making magazines, podcasts, pop-up stores, or community activities...

From telling a concept to spreading a good story, the cold material world is transformed into a vivid and attractive scene. Although the long-term development of a brand still depends on functional and innovative products, everyone is a creator in the post-epidemic era. Consumers can create their own brands, and brands should also draw inspiration from the content shot and released by the public. This is a new era of content co-creation.

15 Slow global travel - Don't be in a hurry, go out slowly and see the world.

When outbound travel was allowed, the circle of friends immediately "exploded", and everyone was waiting to see who would be the first to locate abroad, but not many actually went abroad. Epidemic prevention is still a protracted battle, and new variants of the virus and new risk factors are still emerging. The real free travel will start in 2023, but it will not break out in 2023. Global travel will start slowly.

In 2023, the evolutionary year for travel, we will see a strong and steady recovery in the tourism industry -

Booking.com predicts that people are looking forward to more innovative and creative travel, exploring the unknown in a new way; looking forward to returning to nature, finding simple happiness; looking forward to nostalgic and retro travel, revisiting the good old days; looking forward to more cost-effective travel, being able to control a reasonable budget; and also hoping to get a deeper, more interactive, more humane and more emotionally connected local experience (Airbnb is ecstatic at this time). The background of the theme of the new year is an optimistic return, but the basis of practice is still to maintain stability.

But at least we can start preparing.

Finally, the above 15 new lifestyle consumption trends may not be able to escape the current rapid changes, but we can still see that after being dim for too long, the bright spots in life are finally beginning to magnify. Everything grand begins with small things.

From a global perspective, Chinese consumers are the most confident about returning to normal life after the epidemic. According to McKinsey's annual survey, Chinese consumers' net optimism about economic recovery has stabilized at around 50%, higher than Europe, the United States, Australia, and Japan. They are the most optimistic consumers in the world, more confident about returning to normal, and can also drive the global economic recovery.

Restoration is of course an unattainable wish - there is no end to things, and there will be endless changes. But we always have to find some new ways to adapt to change. We still need beauty, pleasure, and hope. Wang Xiaobo said, "Destruction always has its limits, only the joy of construction is endless." Just build. Until the positive illusion and prediction land on the ground of realism.

Author: Wu Zhiqi, public account: ifanr (ID: ifanr)