By Lindsey Weedston
Copyright dailydot
The nautical theme of 2025 has laser-focused on an unexpected fishy theme that has TikTokers confused about all the sardines.
Suddenly, sardines are everywhere, and no one can figure out exactly why.
@holxbeauty I don’t get it #sardines #sardine ♬ suono originale – AIVIDEO
This must have something to do with those lobster beaded bags from April.
What’s with all the sardines?
Starting in May, sardine prints and decor began to flood store shelves, online shops, and social media. Stores like Urban Outfitters, West Elm, and Anthropologie still have sardine sections up online full of striped fabrics and tin cans.
As the summer wore on, TikTok users started to openly wonder why these little fish have been everywhere all season. Nobody saw the sardine summer coming, and even among those who like it, few appear to get it.
@steph_unnie LITERALLY WHY SARDINES??? 😭 ♬ Lucifer’s Waltz – Secession Studios
“Whose great idea was it in the year of 2025 to make all home decor pieces sardine themed?” asked @steph_unnie back in July. “Who? Why sardines?”
Many commenters responded with images of seals, suggesting some kind of great seal conspiracy to push the sardine aesthetic.
Others remembered that random animal decor trends are cyclical, pointing to the love of ducks and roosters from past generations.
By why sardines, and why now? Some think that the inexpensive, often canned fish may serve as yet another recession indicator. There have been multiple signals that younger generations are casting off flashy fashion for a simpler lifestyle, and sardines fit perfectly.
“Sardines are a very humble fish,” Oxford University Professor of Italian Cultural History Guido Bonsaver told USA Today. He theorizes that they symbolize the ability to embrace a frugal existence, “and be happy with it. Not take it as a failure, but as a new dimension in which you find a smaller place to be happy.”
Tomatoes and nautical bags
Simple, quaint themes have extended beyond the cheap little fish. The coming warm season brought along with it a deep need for beaded bags sporting lobsters and other nautical items back in April. TikTokers were offering their kidneys for specific bags from Marshall’s carrying little sea creatures, including sardines.
This extended into an entire “fisherman aesthetic” that Pinterest users predicted in late 2024. Long rubber boots and overalls became a fashion statement. Things got weird.
To go with sardines, of course, you need tomatoes. In May, Bath & Body Works started promoting a “tomato girl fantasy.” This baffled the internet at first, but many did not hate the savory scents offered.
As things heated up, tomato cocktails became the drink of the summer.
“Me and my friends have been calling it a stinky girl summer because of all the tomato and sardine decor that is out rn,” said one TikTok commenter.
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