Style vs. Trend — What's the Difference?
By Urooj Arif & Maham Liaqat — Updated on March 16, 2024
Style is a distinctive and enduring expression of personal or collective identity, while a trend is a popular direction or movement in preferences, often temporary.
Difference Between Style and Trend
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Style embodies an individual's or a group's consistent and unique way of expressing themselves, whether through fashion, writing, art, or lifestyle. It's deeply personal, often reflecting long-term preferences, values, and attitudes. Style can evolve but maintains a core identity that distinguishes it from fleeting changes in taste. In contrast, trends are more about the collective adoption of certain styles, products, or ideas for a period, heavily influenced by cultural shifts, media, and industry promotions. Trends have a cyclical nature, coming in and out of popularity, and serve as a snapshot of societal interests and values at a specific time.
While style is about self-expression and authenticity, remaining relatively stable and true to one's character or group identity, trends signify the current interests and preferences of the broader public, often changing rapidly and influenced by external factors. A person's style may incorporate elements of various trends, but it remains identifiable and unique to them, transcending the fluctuations of popular taste.
In fashion, for example, style refers to an individual's or designer's signature way of dressing, which remains identifiable over time, whereas fashion trends might dictate the popularity of specific garments, colors, or patterns for a season. Similarly, in literature or art, style pertains to the unique voice or technique of an author or artist, while trends can refer to the prevailing themes, genres, or movements that capture the public's interest at a moment.
Style and trends both play significant roles in influencing consumer behavior and cultural dynamics. While trends drive the market by creating demand for new and current items, style fosters individuality and can often lead to the recognition of timeless pieces or works. Understanding the interplay between style and trends is crucial for industries like fashion, design, and entertainment, where success often depends on the ability to navigate and influence both.
Comparison Chart
Definition
A distinctive and enduring expression of identity.
A popular movement or change in preferences, often temporary.
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Nature
Personal, unique, consistent.
Collective, widespread, cyclical.
Influence
Reflects personal or collective values and attitudes.
Influenced by cultural shifts, media, and industry.
Duration
Long-term, evolves while maintaining core identity.
Short-term, subject to change with societal interests.
Examples
An artist's signature technique, a personal fashion sense.
Seasonal fashion colors, the rise of a literary genre.
Compare with Definitions
Style
An enduring way of expressing personal or group identity.
The punk style, with its rebellious fashion and ideology, has influenced generations.
Trend
A popular fashion movement that changes with seasons.
This year, oversized sunglasses are a major trend.
Style
A personal fashion sense that's unique and enduring.
Her style is classic and minimalist, favoring neutral colors.
Trend
A temporary shift in public interest.
The trend of plant-based diets has grown significantly in recent years.
Style
The characteristic way an artist creates their work.
Picasso's style evolved across different periods, but his genius was unmistakable.
Trend
A direction in which something is developing.
There's a trend towards remote work in many industries.
Style
A writer's unique voice or technique.
Hemingway's style is known for its simplicity and directness.
Trend
A widespread practice for a limited time.
Posting dance challenges on social media is a current trend.
Style
A distinct approach to living or decorating.
Their home's style blends modern design with rustic elements.
Trend
The current preference toward a certain lifestyle.
Minimalism has become a trend in home decor and personal belongings.
Style
A particular procedure by which something is done; a manner or way
Different styles of management
Trend
A general tendency or course of events
A warming trend.
Style
A distinctive appearance, typically determined by the principles according to which something is designed
The pillars are no exception to the general style
Trend
Current style; vogue
The latest trend in fashion.
Style
Fashionable elegance and sophistication
The world-famous hotel attracts guests because of its style and taste
Trend
The general direction of something
The river's southern trend.
Style
(in a flower) a narrow, typically elongated extension of the ovary, bearing the stigma.
Trend
To show a general tendency; tend
The magazine's circulation is trending downward.
Style
(in an invertebrate) a small, slender pointed appendage; a stylet.
Trend
To undergo a rapid increase in public interest or attention
News of the earthquake is trending on social media.
Style
Archaic term for stylus (sense 2)
Trend
To extend, incline, or veer in a specified direction
The prevailing wind trends northeast.
Style
Design or make in a particular form
The yacht is well proportioned and conservatively styled
Trend
An inclination in a particular direction.
The trend of a coastline
The upward trend of stock-market prices
Style
Designate with a particular name, description, or title
The official is styled principal and vice chancellor of the university
Trend
A tendency.
There is a trend, these days, for people in films not to smoke.
Style
The way in which something is said, done, expressed, or performed
A style of teaching.
Trend
A fad or fashion style.
Miniskirts were one of the biggest trends of the 1960s.
Style
The combination of distinctive features of literary or artistic expression, execution, or performance characterizing a particular person, group, school, or era.
Trend
(mathematics) A line drawn on a graph that approximates the trend of a number of disparate points.
Style
Sort; type
A style of furniture.
Trend
(nautical) The lower end of the shank of an anchor, being the same distance on the shank from the throat that the arm measures from the throat to the bill.
Style
A quality of imagination and individuality expressed in one's actions and tastes
Does things with style.
Trend
(nautical) The angle made by the line of a vessel's keel and the direction of the anchor cable, when she is swinging at anchor.
Style
A comfortable and elegant mode of existence
Living in style.
Trend
Clean wool.
Style
A mode of living
The style of the very rich.
Trend
(intransitive) To have a particular direction; to run; to stretch; to tend.
The shore of the sea trends to the southwest.
Style
The fashion of the moment, especially of dress; vogue
Clothes that are in style.
Trend
(transitive) To cause to turn; to bend.
Style
A particular fashion
The style of the 1920s.
Trend
To be the subject of a trend; to be currently popular, relevant or interesting.
What topics have been trending on social networks this week?
Style
A customary manner of presenting printed material, including usage, punctuation, spelling, typography, and arrangement
A manual of style.
Trend
To cleanse or clean (something, usually wool).
Style
A name or title
Businesses under the style of Wilson and Webber.
Trend
To have a particular direction; to run; to stretch; to tend; as, the shore of the sea trends to the southwest.
Style
An implement used for etching or engraving.
Trend
To cause to turn; to bend.
Not far beneath i' the valley as she trendsHer silver stream.
Style
A slender pointed writing instrument used by the ancients on wax tablets.
Trend
To cleanse, as wool.
Style
The needle of a phonograph.
Trend
Inclination in a particular direction; tendency; general direction; as, the trend of a coast.
Style
The gnomon of a sundial.
Trend
Clean wool.
Style
(Botany) The usually slender part of a pistil, connecting the ovary and the stigma.
Trend
A general direction in which something tends to move;
The shoreward tendency of the current
The trend of the stock market
Style
(Zoology) A slender, tubular, or bristlelike process
A cartilaginous style.
Trend
General line of orientation;
The river takes a southern course
The northeastern trend of the coast
Style
(Medicine) A surgical probing instrument; a stylet.
Trend
A general tendency to change (as of opinion);
Not openly liberal but that is the trend of the book
A broad movement of the electorate to the right
Style
(Obsolete) A pen.
Trend
The popular taste at a given time;
Leather is the latest vogue
He followed current trends
The 1920s had a style of their own
Style
To design or fashion in a certain way
Styled the new model after the classic sports cars.
Trend
Turn sharply; change direction abruptly;
The car cut to the left at the intersection
The motorbike veered to the right
Style
To arrange (hair) in a certain way, as by cutting, coloring, or curling.
Style
To call or name; designate
George VI styled his brother Duke of Windsor.
Style
To make consistent with rules of style
Style a manuscript.
Style
Senses relating to a thin, pointed object.
Style
(historical) A sharp stick used for writing on clay tablets or other surfaces; a stylus; an instrument used to write with ink; a pen.
Style
A tool with a sharp point used in engraving; a burin, a graver, a stylet, a stylus.
Style
The gnomon or pin of a sundial, the shadow of which indicates the hour.
Style
(botany) The stalk that connects the stigma(s) to the ovary in a pistil of a flower.
Style
(surgery) A kind of surgical instrument with a blunt point, used for exploration.
Style
(zoology) A small, thin, pointed body part.
Style
(by extension from sense 1.1) A particular manner of expression in writing or speech, especially one regarded as good.
Style
A legal or traditional term or formula of words used to address or refer to a person, especially a monarch or a person holding a post or having a title.
Monarchs are often addressed with the style of Majesty.
Style
A particular manner of creating, doing, or presenting something, especially a work of architecture or art.
Style
A particular manner of acting or behaving; (specifically) one regarded as fashionable or skilful; flair, grace.
As a dancer, he has a lot of style.
Backstabbing people is not my style.
Style
A particular way in which one grooms, adorns, dresses, or carries oneself; (specifically) a way thought to be attractive or fashionable.
Style
(computing) A visual or other modification to text or other elements of a document, such as boldface or italics.
Applying styles to text in a wordprocessor
Cascading Style Sheets
Style
A set of rules regarding the presentation of text (spelling, typography, the citation of references, etc.) and illustrations that is applied by a publisher to the works it produces.
The house style of the journal
Style
(transitive) To design, fashion, make, or arrange in a certain way or form (style)
Style
To call or give a name or title to.
Style
To create for, or give to, someone a style, fashion, or image, particularly one which is regarded as attractive, tasteful, or trendy.
Style
To act in a way which seeks to show that one possesses style.
Style
An instrument used by the ancients in writing on tablets covered with wax, having one of its ends sharp, and the other blunt, and somewhat expanded, for the purpose of making erasures by smoothing the wax.
Style
Hence, anything resembling the ancient style in shape or use.
Style
A pen; an author's pen.
Style
Mode of expressing thought in language, whether oral or written; especially, such use of language in the expression of thought as exhibits the spirit and faculty of an artist; choice or arrangement of words in discourse; rhetorical expression.
High style, as when that men to kinges write.
Style is the dress of thoughts.
Proper words in proper places make the true definition of style.
It is style alone by which posterity will judge of a great work.
Style
A sharp-pointed tool used in engraving; a graver.
Style
Mode of presentation, especially in music or any of the fine arts; a characteristic of peculiar mode of developing in idea or accomplishing a result.
The ornamental style also possesses its own peculiar merit.
Style
A kind of blunt-pointed surgical instrument.
Style
Conformity to a recognized standard; manner which is deemed elegant and appropriate, especially in social demeanor; fashion.
According to the usual style of dedications.
Style
A long, slender, bristlelike process, as the anal styles of insects.
Style
Mode or phrase by which anything is formally designated; the title; the official designation of any important body; mode of address; as, the style of Majesty.
One style to a gracious benefactor, another to a proud, insulting foe.
Style
The pin, or gnomon, of a dial, the shadow of which indicates the hour. See Gnomon.
Style
A mode of reckoning time, with regard to the Julian and Gregorian calendars.
Style
The elongated part of a pistil between the ovary and the stigma. See Illust. of Stamen, and of Pistil.
Style
To entitle; to term, name, or call; to denominate.
How well his worth and brave adventures styled.
Style
A particular kind (as to appearance);
This style of shoe is in demand
Style
How something is done or how it happens;
Her dignified manner
His rapid manner of talking
Their nomadic mode of existence
In the characteristic New York style
A lonely way of life
In an abrasive fashion
Style
A way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period;
All the reporters were expected to adopt the style of the newspaper
Style
Distinctive and stylish elegance;
He wooed her with the confident dash of a cavalry officer
Style
The popular taste at a given time;
Leather is the latest vogue
He followed current trends
The 1920s had a style of their own
Style
(botany) the narrow elongated part of the pistil between the ovary and the stigma
Style
Editorial directions to be followed in spelling and punctuation and capitalization and typographical display
Style
A pointed tool for writing or drawing or engraving;
He drew the design on the stencil with a steel stylus
Style
A slender bristlelike or tubular process;
A cartilaginous style
Style
Designate by an identifying term;
They styled their nation `The Confederate States'
Style
Make consistent with a certain fashion or style;
Style my hair
Style the dress
Style
Make consistent with certain rules of style;
Style a manuscript
Common Curiosities
Why do trends change frequently?
Trends change frequently due to shifts in societal interests, technological advancements, and industry efforts to drive consumer engagement and sales.
What defines personal style?
Personal style is defined by an individual's consistent and distinctive way of expressing themselves through fashion, art, writing, or lifestyle.
How do trends emerge?
Trends emerge from shifts in cultural preferences, influenced by media, celebrities, industry promotions, and societal values.
How can one identify their personal style?
Identifying personal style involves self-reflection on preferences, values, and the consistent choices one makes in expressing themselves.
Can style incorporate trends?
Yes, an individual's style can incorporate elements of trends without losing its unique and enduring nature.
What role do trends play in the fashion industry?
In the fashion industry, trends drive demand for new styles, shapes, and colors each season, influencing design and retail.
How do style and trend influence consumer behavior?
Style influences long-term consumer preferences and loyalty, while trends affect short-term purchasing decisions and market dynamics.
Can trends become a part of one's personal style?
Trends can become part of one's personal style if they align with individual preferences and are integrated in a way that complements their unique identity.
Is following trends necessary for being stylish?
Following trends is not necessary for being stylish; personal style is about authenticity and consistency, regardless of current trends.
What distinguishes a timeless style from a fleeting trend?
A timeless style maintains its appeal and relevance over years, reflecting a deep personal or cultural identity, while a fleeting trend is temporary, often replaced by new interests.
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Written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
Co-written by
Maham Liaqat
