The Strawberry Dress Information Cascade
An information cascade is when those in a group make public decisions one at a time, so all the previous decisions are public information, but the processes behind how those decisions were made are private. Fashion trends, especially in the era of social media, are examples of information cascades. When one person, an influencer or celebrity for example, shows off a new item on social media, they are illustrating to their fan base or associated network that they have deemed this item “cool,” or worthy of purchase. As people in their network see their post, they then decide for themselves if they think the item is cool or worthy of purchase. As each person decides for themselves, their decision is influenced by those who decided before them, and is illustrated in them sharing or wearing the item, without explaining why.
For example, in 2020, there was “The Strawberry Dress.” It was first posted to social media on Instagram by its designer, Lirika Matoshi, where it was well received. Model Tess Holliday wore a version of it to the Grammys, and some influencers and celebrities were also gifted the dress, but the viral nature of the strawberry dress’s popularity went beyond these advertising efforts. The first few steps in this information cascade may have been these influencers and celebrities, but as people began sharing photos, making memes, diy-ing, and drawing their favorite characters in the dress, they were publicly indicating that they believed as individuals that dress was “cool,” further influencing those around them to look into the strawberry dress and make their own decisions. Since the influencers and celebrities in this situation were gifted the dress and didn’t have to decide for themselves as to whether or not the dress was “cool” or worth purchasing, they didn’t have the same reasons for posting as those later in the cascade did. However, since their decision making processes were private, this did not affect the outcome of the information cascade. Consumers were still influenced into looking into, and then sharing or purchasing the dress.
The strawberry dress was such a large trend that fashion news editor Sarah Spellings wrote an article for Vogue about it titled “How Did This Dress Get So Popular in a Pandemic?” In this article, she recounts its rise to fame, which occurred while the “cottagecore” aesthetic was popular and during the beginning of the pandemic. She explains that part of why it spoke so strongly to people was that it reminded them of special occasions and life before Covid-19 while people were still grappling with their feelings about the pandemic. This relationship between current events, fashion trends and the items that become popular during those trends illustrates how important context is to the initiation of a fashion information cascade.
https://www.vogue.com/article/strawberry-dress-lirika-matoshi-popular