This year, summer style feels split: To be on trend, it seems like you either need to embrace bright Barbie pink, become a TikTok-viral tomato girl, or opt for minimalist quiet luxury.
And colour-wise, these aesthetics make sense: Reds and pinks are common in sexy seasonal ensembles, while understated neutrals retain less heat than darker hues. But what if I told you a whole new aesthetic trend, corresponding palette, and dare I say way of life has been simmering in the background this whole time? Well, it has, and it's my new summer style obsession: lemon girl summer.
Bold, bright, fresh, and fun, lemon girl lifestyle combines the lighthearted optimism of dopamine dressing and manifestation manicures while simultaneously embracing tomato girl's Southern European holiday style. It's a very welcome addition to the (occasionally quite hard to navigate) world of aesthetic trends, if I do say so myself.
Feel good vibes.
"The emergence of the lemon girl is a natural progression of growing awareness around aesthetics," Yarden Horwitz, co-founder of consumer-trend data-aggregation platform Spate, tells Glamour. “It also aligns with the idea of 'dopamine beauty' that has persisted following the end of lockdown: People share and continue to share their enthusiasm for a reopened world by wearing bold colors like lemon yellow."
Addison Cain, Spate's beauty strategy and innovation manager who specializes in trends, agrees, pointing to quiet luxury's minimalism as something that may have partially prompted this rise in over-the-top pigment.
“For everything, there's an equal and opposite reaction,” she says. "We're seeing lemon girl style alongside quiet luxury, so I think this is an answer to that. I also think we're seeing this whole ‘Italian girl summer’ where everybody, even if they're not going to Europe, wants the vibe of being in Europe.”
The European influence on lemon girl is undeniable—in fact, I developed my personal passion for the look while in France last month. While there, I visited a town called Menton known for its large lemons and so happened to be wearing a bright yellow dress I had to emergency purchase from a French Urban Outfitters (long story). Surrounded by storefront citrus symbolism in this yellow-tinted town, I joked that one of the locals might confuse me for one of the lemons; or I'd fade into the background a la Homer Simpson. But then, it dawned on me: I'm getting really bored of pink. Maybe I should be a large lemon! Cut to: Me at my work dressed like a highlighter one month later.
Upon my return home, I was pleased to discover that Doeneseya Bates, one of my favourite beauty content creators, had started incorporating lemon accessories and bright yellow shades into her summertime looks too. Feeling vindicated, I asked why she thinks the lemon girl lifestyle is on the rise.
Summer ready.
“Summer is bold, bright, and colorful, and yellow is the colour of happiness,” Bates tells Glamour. “I believe fruit-inspired trends are showing up more in fashion and makeup because we’re trying to embody that vibrancy.”
It's true that lemon girl summer is not specific to clothing: pops of yellow and neon green have been making their way into makeup looks for months, and Cain loves KVD Beauty Super Pomade for creating a bright yellow eye makeup look. Spate has also seen a growing interest in lemon-scented perfume, saying, “I’ve always associated citrus with ‘fresh and clean,’ so it comes to summer skin care and fragrances, it just makes sense to incorporate citrus scents and ingredients for that light, fresh, and clean vibe.” Considering how oppressively hot and humid the season has been, you can't exactly blame us for craving something refreshing.
The fashion to beauty and fragrance pipeline is a familiar tale in terms of aesthetics. This is mainly because it makes things easier on the consumer, which is part of why finding one's aesthetic is as popular as it currently is.
“It's much easier to say, 'I want to subscribe to this vibe, and I'm going to follow this template,' versus having an overwhelming amount of trends to follow," Cain says. “Instead, you can say, okay, lemon girl summer: I know that I want to buy this citrus fragrance and have nice yellow dress.' It makes trends digestible when we can associate them with something that we are comfortable and familiar with.”
Also of note? My infamous manifestation manicure—the one I got just before finding out I got this job, in fact—was yellow! I was always convinced it was good luck, and according to astrologers, that's not totally off base. “By wearing different colours, one can manifest their reality; this is called glamour and color magic,” Lisa Stardust, astrologer and writer of The Love Deck, tells Glamour, noting that yellow represents optimism and courage.
My favourite part of lemon girl summer, however, is the fact that it's applicable to all five senses. Atop wearing yellow clothing and makeup, one can opt for lemon and citrus-infused skin care, candles, fragrances, and even beverages—like the limoncello, prosecco, and a scoop of lemon sorbet drink that's going viral on TikTok. So whether you're a fashion girlie, beauty buff, or fragrance fanatic, you can live your best lemon girl summer however it feels right for you.
When life gives you lemon girl summer, make lemonade and embrace it. Shop everything you need to live your best lemon girl summer below.
This story was originally published on GLAMOUR US.
