Jul 20, 2017

We're So Vegan Right Now: Fruit Is Trending in Fashion

by Natalie Hammond

It’s a hot day, you’re at a friend’s barbecue and, bless her, she’s carved up a watermelon to keep you cool. You start to wolf down a piece, and said friend slaps it out of your hand. What—you’re not supposed to eat it? If you even have to ask, then you obviously haven’t been doing your Instagram homework—#watermelondress is taking over feeds, and it involves (you guessed it) watermelon slices masquerading as dresses.

Let me explain. Some genius has realised that holding up a slice of watermelon to a person’s chin while standing a few metres away makes them look like they’re wearing a (rather delicious) red dress. Babies, men, dogs—they’re all at it, posting pics of watermelon wedges that have been carefully nibbled into dresses with sweetheart necklines. One boy even fashioned himself a watermelon jumpsuit.

A post shared by Mercedes Salazar (@mercedessalazar) on Jul 16, 2017 at 4:00pm PDT

Watermelons are in high demand this summer—and not just the kind you get in Tesco. According to the global fashion search engine Lyst, searches for watermelon are up 140% year on year. Skinnydip’s floating watermelon phone case is currently the most popular item (£18). Lazy Oaf’s £58 watermelon swimsuit—the scarlet body is covered in black seeds and has luscious green frills at the hips—is all but sold out. There was also a spike in searches for “watermelon shorts” in the 48 hours after Lily Allen wore a pair to Glastonbury.

Photo:

Rex Features

But it’s not just watermelons in shopping baskets. Searches for “pineapples” have been at an all-time high over the last six months, with lemons, avocados and cherries not far behind. Harley Viera-Newton’s fashion line, HVN, has made cherry prints a mainstay for the A-list set all over the globe—like Lily Aldridge wearing the Jordan Dress (£490) above. Meanwhile, other new brands are coming to our attention thanks to this juicy trend: Take the Colombian jewellery designer Mercedes Salazar for starters—influencers like Man Repeller’s Leandra Medine can’t get enough of her Carmen Miranda–ready earrings.