Suddenly TikTok is obsessed with sardines. Yet as daft as it sounds, it’s part of a wider style trend: How designers got hooked on fish-inspired frocks

Sardines are experiencing a fashion moment. Yeah, I can’t believe I wrote that sentence either.

The little oily fish is finding favor with a whole new generation of consumers too young to remember its former life as the go-to meal for retirees.

Dubbed “sardinecore” (it seems like every TikTok craze, from Barbiecore to balletcore, eventually requires a “core”), the trend started with aptly named chef Ali Hooke, who posted a viral video of her doing a can of Nuri shared. artisanal sardines’ during a date night with her boyfriend.

I have no idea why this would capture the imagination, but unfortunately it did, sparking a trend for fancy canned fish.

But what does this have to do with clothing, you will rightly ask. Well, that’s the supposed hype: the sardine has now made it off the plate and into our wardrobes.

Bottega Veneta’s Sardine handbag has a gold handle in the shape of, you guessed it, a sardine, while American designer Clare V has sold out her Liberez Les Sardines (Free the Sardines!) T-shirt. But apart from that, the sea has long helped influence fashion.

One of Chanel’s most lavish shows was the spring/summer 2012 collection, inspired by ‘the bottom of the ocean’.

It featured ruffled seafoam skirts, shell-shaped bags inlaid with seed pearls, and dresses with long strands of seaweed-inspired ribbon.

Two years ago, Versace produced an aquatic-themed show, featuring jeweled starfish and clam bustiers and dresses printed with underwater seascapes.

Elsa Schiaparelli’s famous 1937 “lobster dress” has seen many incarnations over the decades, most notably when Anna Wintour wore a Prada version to the Met Gala.

And who can forget Alexander McQueen’s late spring/summer 2010 show, Plato’s Atlantis, with dresses that glittered like fish scales and shoes that looked like puffer fish.

Endless celebs have walked the red carpet in dresses designed to look like shimmering scales or embellished with seashells, like Bond Girl Ana de Armas’ mermaid-inspired Louis Vuitton dress at this year’s Oscars.

Last week, Lily Allen opted for an asymmetrical black Clio Peppiatt dress with red beaded starfish. And the High Street is full of marine-themed clothing and accessories, from crabs to mussels to jellyfish.

Why does the fashion world so routinely watch the waves? In the words of the late Karl Lagerfeld, ‘The shapes of the sea are very modern and very inspiring.’

Just look at the romantic curves, textures and details of pearls, starfish and seahorses.

The indescribable form of coral serves, for example, as an elegant print on clothing or as beautiful earrings and pendants.

Alex Monroe’s gold plated earrings combine both the shapes of the sea and the aquamarine colours.

Coral prints adorn Rixo’s perfect summer tea dress. And you can see the appeal of the sea in Aspiga’s starfish sandals, Lulu Guinness’s pearly shell-shaped handbag, and even Kurt Geiger’s lobster flip flops.

As for the different shades of blue and the fresh white of the sea, these are shades that suit almost every skin tone.

So if you want to get in on one of summer’s hottest trends without having to eat canned fish for dinner (leave that to Gen Z), maybe ‘Seacore’, rather than Sardinecore, is the way to go.

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