From slime, to fidget spinners: these are the top 7 trends of 2017

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Last year saw the spread of some awesome - and some pretty crazy - trends. Here are some of the most memorable

Susan Ramsay |
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Unicorn inspired drinks were all the craze last year.

Call them fads, trends or waves, there were a lot of people trying popular new things last year.

Here are seven of the most talked about things we’ll miss about 2017 – or not.

Dabbing

After sprinter Usain Bolt’s bolt pose, and the Mo pose from marathon runner Mo Farah, 2017 saw the rise of the dab, or dabbing. Originally a dance move, the dab is also the art of hiding your face during photo opportunity moments. It was started by rappers and hip hop artists, and became more mainstream when Jason Derulo taught James Corden to dab on Carpool Karaoke, then when American footballer Carn Newton of the Carolina Panthers did it to celebrate winning a game.

Unicorns

Yes, we know, unicorns have been around for hundreds of years, but last year they made it big. With unicorn toast, started by food stylist Adeline Waugh, unicorn drinks to be had at Starbucks, and Mongolian unicorn tears for sale online, the mythical creatures maxed out our imaginations and our sugar limits. Too bad the unicorn frappes didn’t make it to Hong Kong, but you can make your own with food colouring and ice cream – the more colours, the better, obvs.

Fidget spinners

In the old days, bored students would spin their pens. But spinning for fidgeters was kicked into overdrive with the rise of fidget spinners. Originally credited to Catherine Hettinger, the spinners were really made by Scott McCoskery who had trouble sitting still in meetings. Claims that they could calm students who have Attention Deficit Disorder or anxiety issues were not scientifically proven. It seems they had the opposite effect on teachers, though, with some schools banning them for being too distracting.

Charcoal

Forget rose gold and millennial pink, dreary old charcoal was on fleek for the year, possibly as an antidote to the rainbow and glitter brought by unicorns. Not only was the colour popular but people thought eating would be good for them too. From face masks to toothpaste, anything with charcoal in it seemed to make us feel cleaner.

Rooftopping

An offshoot of urban exploring which is particularly popular in Russia, this activity was all over social media this year. It involves climbing to the tops of skyscrapers and videoing yourself, often moving around dangerously close to the edge. Some well known rooftoppers made the most of Hong Kong’s famous buildings. While we love a good vista photo, we’re pleased more people are switching to drones these days.

Eyebrows

Here we were busy cramming for exams and sweating over assignments, but it turns out all you needed to be a huge hit in 2017 was eyebrows. From rainbow colours to braided, eyebrows became “a thing”. We particularly like the “lightning bolt” which began making waves around September. One thing’s for sure though, uni-brows are still not cool.

Slime

It may have first been introduced in the 1970s, but 2017 was undoubtedly the year of slime. Last year, the squishy stuff came in a range of colours; it could contain glitter, or beads or googly eyes; or it could, of course, be unicorn slime. Not only was it available for sale in every other stationery shop, how-to videos were some of the most watched of the year.

Edited by Karly Cox

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