Rococo's 2025 revival, explained

I'm always gonna be a hater

F*** Le Bou Bou and f*** Rococo. A lot of this has to do with manufactured whimsy

but mostly it's just my personal aesthetic taste. Like I love useless shit

but I'm not really into pastels, you know? But I do think it's interesting to see the rise of Le Bou Bou

at the same time that we're seeing the resurgence of Rococo. So you might know Rococo as the late Baroque period art style

from 18th century France. It's ornate and playful and it has a lot of lighthearted qualities

It's expressed through pastel colors and asymmetry, intricate curves and shell or flower motifs

basically whatever makes you think, oh my God, that's so whimsical. Rococo does lack the grandeur of Baroque

So instead it incorporates more intimate and decorative elements without appearing delicate

So consider the Catherine Palace in Russia or Sabrina Carpenter's whole thing

If you're thinking, wait a minute, that sounds a lot like 2025's most ubiquitous accessory

the Labubu, then you and I are on the same page, right? They're arguably whimsical

their colorway is predominantly pastel, they are undoubtedly useless beyond aesthetics, they're frivolous and lighthearted

and playful and ornate fellas, they're Rococo. And Rococo is also having a moment

according to Pinterest, which included Rococo Revival in its Pinterest Predicts 2025 trend report

interest in Rococo is on the rise. Rococo weddings are up 95%, Rococo parties are up 140%

and a simple search for Rococo outfit is up 5 Sydney Stanback the global trends and insights lead told me that this trend fits into a bigger cultural shift around vintage we seen over the past few years This is in combination with Bridgerton TikTok coquette aesthetic and Sofia Coppola Marie Antoinette that will forever be on the mood board of FM you probably know

Rococo's return also mirrors the cultural forces that birthed it the first time

Rococo rose to prominence after the death of Louis XIV, whose Baroque tastes built Versailles as a monument to order and spectacle and absolutism

His cult of personality was so strong that he became synonymous with the nation itself

Rococo, by contrast, was this ever so slight rejection of that weight

It embraced wit and whimsy and playfulness over symmetry and grandeur. It was right on the edge of the French Revolution

Fast forward to now. You see the new and improved Oval Office. Our culture too is saturated with personality driven politics and media spectacle from stadium

rallies to social feeds that blur the line between world leader and celebrity

and power is once again performed through image and loyalty is measured by spectacle

that might be why rococo's pastel whimsy hits so hard today just as 18th century artists

responded to the heaviness of baroque with satire intimacy and excess we're reaching for a style

that feels both escapist and subversive in a culture obsessed with order and dominance and

endless seriousness rococo offers something else some celebration and fantasy and play

Seashell jewelry, frothy corset gowns and labubus. It's kind of history repeating itself in pastels