It’s fish and fruit summer. But why?

Food-inspired clothing is everywhere. Here’s why Gen Z is daydreaming about abundance in an anxious economy.

From sardines and guavas all over my for you page, to the tomatoes, cherries, and full on tablescapes taking over fashion trends, the farm-stand aesthetic is everywhere. Google searches for “guava girl” spiked nearly 100% last week and sardine imagery on Pinterest keeps climbing with 18-34-year-olds. If 2023 was all about Barbie and 2024 was brat, 2025 is officially fruit and fish summer.

Examples of food-inspired fashion items, from luxury to mainstream.

So why is seasonal produce imagery suddenly so popular?

When you think about it, the whole food fixation flies in the face of the economic anxiety and geopolitical instability young people are currently experiencing. That’s exactly the point. There’s a clear juxtaposition in how young people feel about the world and their future in it and the fulfilling appeal of ~abundance~ imagery.

From where I’m sitting, here are the top 3 factors why fruit and fish are this summer’s fixation:

1. Fawning over food offers a sigh of relief from economic anxiety

2. The MAHA effect

3. Nothing says nostalgia more than a home cooked meal

Fawning over food offers a sigh of relief

There’s plenty of evidence of young people’s financial woes. This is the worst job market for college graduates in years, and in my own Class of 2025 report, I found that 70% of this year’s college graduates feel their job/financial prospects are worse than their parents were when they entered the job market. But it’s not just graduates feeling financial angst. Nationally, 42% of young Americans are struggling financially, according to the Harvard IOP spring 2025 poll.

Beyond the economy, we’ve been in a constant Gloomcycle for weeks, with little to no good news. After the U.S. strike on Iran, Gen Z flooded the internet with memes about the possibility of World War III.

At a time of fear and frustration, fawning over food offers a sigh of relief.

And let’s be clear. The foods depicted on this summer’s trendy items aren’t just any foods. The hot prints of the summer from brands like Staud, Reformation, and yes, of course, Loewe, feature fresh produce. And while this isn’t necessarily new in the luxury fashion market, it’s now mainstream. This summer, Old Navy, The Gap, and Abercrombie are taking part in the trend, too. Fresh, nutritious foods, rather than processed, sugary, packaged concoctions.

They’re guilt free symbols of everything real and from the earth. It’s healing.

The MAHA effect

Growing up with wellness culture and body conscious feeds, Gen Z is focused on feeling good – physically and mentally. And though health and wellness has become Republican-coded in some circles thanks to the MAHA movement, the longevity movement is truly nonpartisan, with Gen Z allies on both sides of the aisle. Regardless of party affiliation, MAHA creators have cracked the algorithmic code. Whole foods can be pricey and require the luxury of time to cook, but there’s a cadre of creators who focus on bringing wellness to the masses, finding cost and time efficient ways to use food as medicine. And though fridge cigarettes are all the rage, you’d be hard pressed to find a Gen Zer who doesn’t know the pros and cons of processed sugar.

The result of our very online dialogue about health and wellness is a generation that glamorizes produce.

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is a Gen Z trademark. And what’s more nostalgic than a home cooked meal with real ingredients? Gen Z is sick of how quickly everything moves online and fast-casual everything. That impulse has fueled an even higher rise of dinner parties, tablescaping, and Martha Stewart core among this generation. Whole foods transport young people back to a pre-Uber Eats era.

Produce-inspired imagery is just the latest manifestation, dovetailing with tradwife content that romanticizes domesticity. When the world feels fraught, the ability to make a meal at home has massive appeal.

It’s more the idea of it than the actual thing

While the idea of tablescaping dinner parties with delicious whole foods has traction, in practice, it’s expensive. Strapped for cash, Gen Z is really hungry for control, optimism, and joy – and a picture (on a piece of clothing) can deliver all three.

Noteworthy reads

• Why is everyone crashing out?, Kyndall Cunningham for Vox

• How social media videos fueled Zohran Mamdani’s success, Dodai Stewart for The New York Times

• Gen Z and millennials push into politics, April Rubin for Axios

• Is the local weed store the new place to hang out?, Ashley Southall for The New York Times