SPECIAL REPORT: updates & trends from London 🫖💂🇬🇧
A trip across the pond — but first! Some exciting developments in Trend Report™ world to share.
Here we are, at the midpoint of 2025 or, as some in the biz would say, the start of “H2.” For those of you unfamiliar with that expression, may you always be so pure. For everyone else? May you enjoy your daily eye bleaching.
Anyway, I come bearing two gifts today: a miniature state of the union for The Trend Report™ followed by a recap of trends and signals of note during my recent trip to London. Lots to share!
So! After months and definitely a year of feeling this pressure, it’s finally time to upgrade this newsletter, meaning it’s time for it to become a business. I’ve talked about this all year — from this conversation to that podcast — but The Trend Report™ has reached a point in its near half-decade run where it has outgrown its home as a hobby and is quickly colonizing my life. Thanks to so many of you reading and sharing, we’re now at 17K subscribers, much of which was accrued in the past year as my readership more than doubled. That’s major! But I know that this growth won’t last forever and it’s incumbent upon me to take advantage of this platform and moment to turn this work into something more, evolving The Trend Report™ from a “silly brain dump I take every Sunday” to a “serious dump I take for pay.”
Building upon my goals for 2025, I’m instituting some changes, some of them so subtle that you may not be aware of the shifts. These changes are all to make the newsletter itself and the expertise shared more of a “product” in the sense that I’m hoping to make it a value item that one would pay for. Here’s what’s happening —
Sunday’s Weekly Report™ will remain unchanged, as this is the format everyone knows and loves — and has always been free and will always be free. I think of this as a service more than anything else, to help you all get offline and live life, via a recap and thoughts shared from one person to another. If you’re someone who wants to “pay” for that, fab: upgrade your account or drop a tip.
The cultural deep diving Taste Report™ and Change Report™ along with How To Be Creative™ and City Trends™ will shift to Wednesdays. The goal of these is to spotlight people and places crafting culture while offering insights and guidance on how you can follow similarly. They former will have light paywalls while the latter will be very paywalled.
Friday’s paid weekly recap TR.BIZ™ will end but will be replaced with a new, shorter, more informative dispatch: enter a new Tuesday and Thursday report, a break down of five or six mid-weekly insights to know on what’s happening in the world. Consider these bite-sized Sunday dispatches delivered early!
Note that pricing will remain the same, which is as cheap as the platform allows: $5 a month, $50 a year, or $150 a year to be a ~founder~. Upgrade your account or drop a tip, if you’re into the cause!
As you can see, none of this is that major as far as the newsletter itself. What is shifting is my being more proactive about offering deeper access to expertise and perspective “as a service.” If you’ve been looking to collaborate or want my help, here’s your chance via brand new capabilities. I’ve even created this beautiful deck of what I, Kyle “Trend” Raymond “Report” Fitzpatrick, am offering. The overview of offerings is —
Consulting and cultural analysis, to help you go under the surface of trends to translate noise into action.
Communication strategy, to develop relevant communication and a story that speaks to people now (versus shouting just to shout).
Custom Trend Reports™, to focus in on a team or business’ needs with analysis, recommendations, and deep dives into specific subjects pertinent to you. (Note: the premium, daily TR.BIZ™ dispatch will continue as a daily newsroom of top stories and trending subjects for the day. Message me for more inforon that!)
Advertising in The Trend Report™, to offer space for select partners who fit the vibe of my interests and audience interests.
Creativity workshops, to help develop community and build connections through writing and digitally relevant exercises.
Down to collab? Reply to this dispatch or send me a message…and let’s get started!
Beyond this, I’m going to be making TikToks while posting more to Instagram and LinkedIn while aiming to do few public talks at select gatherings worldwide (OFFF, SXSW, Cannes Lions, etc.). This was one of the biggest takeaways from London: people want more, meaning they want to hear and see more from me. Which is validating! But all this is also…work: that’s why I’m sharing this shift openly, as a call for support, help, and ideas. As the newsletter continues to grow, this momentum ideally will open up more avenues that I’ve not had time to pursue like contributing and collaborating with other publications while starting a trend-based nonfiction book, two items that are repeatedly neglected when my well of time runs dry. But if The Trend Report™ can sustain itself? More time opens up — and that means creating more thoughtful items to share with you all.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Want to get started working together? Reply to this email and or message me — and let’s talk! I am entering my Big Boy™ era and that means taking what I do more seriously, evolving it from a writerly practice and into an actual business. Such is the mid-career high/low: turning what you love into something that compensates you for your time. It’s a good problem to have — and I thank you all for joining me on this journey 🦋
Now…on with the show! And into trends from London!!!!
and I just spent ten days in London for three reasons: to celebrate our fifteenth (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) anniversary, to see the Leigh Bowery show at the Tate Modern, and to take meetings in the hopes of sparking work, this final reason being why I travel every quarter or so, as a means to meet people and build this business.
London has never been a place that I was drawn to but, in the past two years, I’ve found myself to be a deep London Lover™. I really do think London is the best city in the world right now! I have not lived there, no, but it’s the rare big city that still has a life to it, in the same way that a place like Atlanta still has a life to it. Is it way pricey? Yes. Are creatives being priced out? Absolutely. Perhaps my view would change if I lived there but the city’s spirit and a force is undeniably, a quality that few other (Western) cities have. To me, London feels like what people say New York City is; granted, much of that is novelty for me: London “still feels new” to me, versus NYC which I’ve had an on-and-off relationship with for much of my life. The lack-of-language barrier in proximity to Europe is a plus too as being in a place where you can properly communicate means a lot more than one thinks, having lived in place(s) where communication is a barrier to thriving. Such is the immigrant experience!
All this to admit a bias. I’m smitten by the city! It’s impossible for me to dislike a place where I can feel and see trends emerging in real time, in a way that is unlike the exclusivity of fashion trends in Paris but very similar to how trends-through-life emerge in Los Angeles. It is a city where things are happening, where you are the center of a universe — and I am starved for that contact, as that is my ongoing gripe with Barcelona.
What did I see and track during my trip? A few things, many of which validate signals I’ve been following while revealing a few things I wasn’t expecting. Let’s get into it!
Smaller, local trends and signals —
The micro-mullet is the big boy cut as I saw so many dudes with these lil wisps of hair at the back. It felt like a reverse Chelsea cuts via Post Malone.
High-waist is the waist length for dudes given the amount of young men looking like 1960s, A Serious Man dudes, all with pants hiked up to the navel. It’s a good look that I would never don myself and is fascinating given its opposite — midriff and lowrise men — were just as superfluous. Perhaps this represents the modern two genders of men? Or is this yet another example of conservatism expressing itself as men are now dressing “more traditionally”?
Pride was pride-ing, despite someone calling me a f@ggot on the street. We all know it was Pride but it felt very pronounced in London given the recent transphobic Supreme Court ruling in the country. Flags were everywhere, as were very vocal expressions of solidarity, as if to tell the rest of the country that the city cannot and will not stand by such ideologies which, in turn, is a message to the world. I also saw three people wearing “Protect The Dolls” shirts, which is unsurprising given it came from a London designer.
Go gay in Hampstead Heath was what people told me again and again, as that was the recommendation of thing-to-do in the summer from the locals. Granted: it was hot as hell given the ongoing heatwave — and people were perhaps thinking longingly of taking a dip in the ponds. This may seem random but consider Lorde’s recent video at the site. Coincidence? I think not! It’s having a moment, Harry Styles aside. Also of note: Margate is the new getaway as I had four friends who were taking jaunts to the seaside city while I was there. The spot is, as described to me and was repeated by others, an emerging art hub that is colonizing a faded seaside attraction, a la Coney Island.
Is the UK the capital of silly names? I’d say so. While techno/start-up infused, I was constantly distracted by the ridiculous names of businesses and bits and bobs in the city. Here were a few, some of which are more well known and or common in British culture: Zooki, Veetee, Baps, Envato, Monzo, Skiddle, Vanta, Odoo, Jenki, Scrumbles. This is maybe less UK and more “current culture” of brands trying to “differentiate” themselves in the market — but it is exhausting. I’m tired of taking a scrumble skiddle so I can zooki my jenki monzo!!!! God damn.
Bars need reservations??? We went to a lot of bars that, like restaurants, required a reservation in order to sit — and we were trying to get drinks at 6P, 7P, and 8P! Huh? Granted, this happened repeatedly more in the center of the city (Soho, Covent Garden) so that may be more of a reaction or response to workers and tourists. Who knows! What I do know is that drinking and drug culture is Americanizing too: Buzzballs were all over the place as were White Claws, which had a PR push that indicated recent entry into the market, all underscored by huffing canisters littered all around the city. The trend that I love and hate most, that I’ve been following for years is the rise of English wines as climate change makes the area more hospitable to wine growing. Yes, it’s making lemons out of eco-disastrous lemonade — but should the British be growing wine? No. The world should be normal and yet here we are.
Pink Pantheress will be the new Charli XCX as the homegrown local talent has the same indie cred and appeal and promotion as Charli did a decade ago. I didn’t realize this until I was in the city, encountering the street art and fan art honoring her all around the city. People are proud of her! And the vibe with Charli was similar in the 2010s. We should await PP’s brat in the early 2030s.
The $300 Acne logo shirt might be summer’s “it” tee as this was the most worn item I saw on the trip.
Are pavlovas the new “it” dessert? They might be, as this unique dessert was being pushed at both Noisy Oyster and St. John.
Bigger, international trends confirmed —
Anti-Trump and Elon graffiti was all over, as was the presence of Luigi Mangione. This may sound shocking but, as I say again and again (but people may not listen…), everyone outside of the United States is dominated by the country’s politics, sharing not only in the news of what happens there but knowing that the runoff of conservatism and liberalism colliding is going to hit you no matter where you are. American icons (Ew.) Trump and Elon best represent the current issues of our time while Luigi best represents current solutions. This is perhaps why I see MAGA hats and tags in Spain: American figures and expressions have come to represent international political ideologies divorced of geography. If you are anti-immigrant and anti-queer, you are of the international MAGA camp. If you want to eat the rich and support a more liberal future? Luigi is your mascot. Everyone, everywhere (in Europe) is dealing with the same shit. Life is only so different across the pond, to the point that we have the same angels and demons.
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