8 Best And 8 Worst Trends Of 2016

Let's get one thing straight: 2016 sucked. Like, really badly. It was full of anger and hatred and violence and people kept declaring that this was the worst year ever. Thanks in large part to the US presidential election and Brexit, 2016 was a year of separation and anxiety, where years of progress were quickly turned backwards. Add to that the fact that we saw a lot of visionaries say their final goodbye to their adoring fans and we have a trash fire of a year. I don't think as many people have looked forward to New Year's Eve as they will this year!

That being said, 2016 also gave us some good things, like our ability to come together in the face of adversity and the sequel to Finding Nemo, to name a couple. Sure, the best parts about 2016 seem pretty small in comparison to the garbage we were given most of the year, but it's still something, right? As we look back on the past 366 days (yep, 2016 was a leap year, so we got an extra day because it sucks that much), let's recall the best and worst trends of the year.

16 BEST: Your Hair, Your Way

2016 was a really good year if you wanted to experiment with your hair. All over Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest was inspiration for you to break out of your comfort zone and test drive something new, beautiful, and totally fierce. Some of the biggest and most notable hair trends were hidden rainbows, mermaid hair, peachy pinks, and rainbow or glitter roots. The all-around idea was to not play things safe and have some fun with your hair! Sure, these looks required a lot of upkeep, but not a day went by in 2016 where we didn't hear about a celebrity testing the dye waters with a peach-coloured new 'do or of ladies lining up to get the rainbow treatment. 2016 was a dumpster fire in a lot of ways, which may be part of the reason why women everywhere threw caution to the win and decided to have fun with their hair and go way outside of their comfort zone. Only time will tell if 2017 matches 2016 in terms of hair glory.

15 BEST: Toast

2016 was a pretty rough year if we're counting toast as one of the best trends, right? But seriously, you couldn't go anywhere or even scroll through Instagram without seeing someone's artfully-arranged, high-piled toast. Leave the peanut butter and jelly at home, because toast got an artisanal upgrade in 2016 and became a huge restaurant favourite across North America.

Avocado toast was the clear winner here, with people finding new and complicated ways to arrange it on their bread (see: avocado roses), but here were also toppings like ricotta, tomato jam, broccoli rabe, goat cheese, and figs. Eventually, people began nixing the bread altogether, in favour of topping up things like sweet potatoes (which we're not sure still counts as toast, but whatever). Breakfast became the meal of the day with this major food trend of 2016, and the taste is something we can totally get behind. The return to carbs was comforting and we definitely needed some comfort food this year.

14 BEST: Lemonade

Beyoncé never left, but in 2016 she was back in a big way. Dropped without warning in April, the visual album let the world know - on no uncertain terms - that Beyoncé was in charge. In a year when women's rights have been threatened, Queen Bey came to the throne and stood up for herself and women everywhere. Lemonade is a standout album that truly shows Beyoncé's incredible talent and ability as an artist and had people in awe, which is why we're considering it one of the best trends in 2016. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing people talk about Lemonade, using the lemon emoji to profess their love and devotion to this album that saw Beyoncé calling out her husband's infidelity while discussing her identity as a black woman and her role as a strong bada$$ both professionally and privately. Few albums have been as culturally gigantic as Lemonade, and its positive impact makes it totally worthy of a spot as one of the best trends on 2016.

13 BEST: Snapchat Makeup

People have been painting themselves barfing rainbows since the filter came out, but in 2016, we saw Snapchat filters be transformed into high-end makeup looks, both on and off the runway. With glowy, gorgeous filters like the butterfly crown or adorable looks like the deer, ladies could rock their favourite filters on days other than Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween, dressing up as the dog, deer, or panda from Snapchat was an easy, low-maintenance, and totally recognizable look that we saw a lot of tutorials for. Plus, on the runway for Desigual, models were decked out in pop culture's best, working it with makeup designed to look like the app's bumblebee, deer, tiger, dog, and butterfly and flower crown filters. This was a whimsical trend for 2016 and one that definitely peaked in the fall, but we have a feeling it'll keep coming around as long as Snapchat continues to switch things up!

12 BEST: Stranger Things

Did anyone have as amazing a year as the kids from Stranger Things? The Netflix hit show saw a return to '80s-era entertainment with a group of likeable kids that recalled some of our fave films of our own childhood. It was the show everyone was talking about, and even if you weren't into sci-fi and nostalgia, it was so well done that you loved it anyway. Stranger Things also gave us Winona Ryder again, who had been pretty much AWOL from the Hollywood scene since her shoplifting arrest in 2001.

The kids that made up the main cast were pinch-your-cheeks adorable on every red carpet and TV interview, and they were a breath of fresh air from other coiffed Hollywood celebrity children, because they seemed real and genuinely excited to be doing what they were doing. Stranger Things and its cast were a spot of brightness in an otherwise bleak year, and its insane popularity among anyone with a Netflix password is why we're counting it as one of the best trends of 2016!

11 BEST: The New '90s

There are always ups and down in fashion, but one trend that stuck out in 2016 was the news '90s. Mixing the old decade into new fashion, this 2016 trend was one of the year's best, because of its focus on attitude and comfort. 2016 saw young millennials (many of whom weren't alive during the original '90s) working dark lips, choker necklaces, flannel, crop tops, overalls, and relaxed denim.

Originally, the grungy look of the '90s - as well as the music - was in response to the glittery excess of the '80s. It seems that 2016 decided to bring back the decade in a quest for authenticity and comfort, because we've gotta say that fashion in the '90s was super comfortable! Full of sass, we were all working the '90s look throughout 2016 but its popularity doesn't diminish how awesome a trend it was. This was one of 2016's best trends because it was a fun one to rock, and because predictions for 2017 say that the '80s are going to have their fashion year again.

10 BEST: Body Positivity

While this trend isn't exclusive to 2016 (it technically started gaining steam in 2015), this year was when the body positivity movement really started gaining momentum. At its core, the movement encouraged people to love themselves despite the fact that they might not fit the mould of what society considers to be ideal. The concept that everyone is worthy of love no matter what size they are dealt with its fair share of criticism this year, with some claiming that body positivity was only normalizing obesity, which is a major problem in North America. Others claimed that while the body positivity movement is generally a good thing, it still promotes women who are considered attractive and curvy in all the right places.

The reason this trend is included in one of the best of 2016 is because it sparked a conversation about a very real issue many women deal with, which is equating their self worth to their size. Its encouragement of loving yourself, flaws and all, definitely earns it a place as one of this year's best trends.

9 BEST: Feminism

Hand in hand with body positivity is feminism, a trend in 2016 that has been around for ages, but saw some real vocal support during the U.S. presidential election. With Hillary Clinton on the ballot as the first potential female president, opposite notorious alleged sexual assaulter and blowhard Donald Trump, women everywhere decided to speak up for themselves and their rights, while presenting a positive image for their daughters.

The f-word is still one that a lot of people struggle with because they believe it to be derogatory towards men, or they don't like the stereotypes associated with it. In 2016, many women said to hell with being polite and took a stand because there was so much at stake. From topless protests to discussions of rape culture to all-female movie reboots, feminists would not be silenced. As the most recent wave of feminism, feminists fought for the rights of their sisters who were people of colour, transgender, and nonbinary, which is why this was the best trend of 2016 - and hopefully beyond.

8 WORST: Rainbow Food

Sure, it looked super pretty, but the amount of food dye that went into creating rainbow food this year is staggering. For the most Instagrammable of eats, chefs at home and in restaurants everywhere were hitting the (dye) bottle to create these technicolour treats. No food was safe, from bagels to grilled cheese to sushi to lattes.

Considered to be a case of style over substance, rainbow food had people lining up for the next big colourful thing so they could share a photo with their followers. Of course, the colour does nothing to affect the taste of the food, and even though it looks like it belongs in a Skittles commercial, bland food can't be covered up with copious amounts of food dye. The brightly-coloured creations don't even look that appetizing! Sure, when the colour is added to sweet things like ice cream, cupcakes, or candy, riding the rainbow road makes sense, but in a burger or sushi? Hard pass on this 2016 trend.

7 WORST: Pokemon GO

I know, I know, it was really fun for a while! Everyone was into Pokemon GO for about a month when it was released in August, and reports were coming in that the augmented reality game was going to be the answer to childhood obesity, since it combined fun and walking. Catching Charmanders at your desk soon lost their appeal, however, when you realized it was going to take a while to evolve your baby Pokemon into something better, and with regular reports of glitching, Pokemon GO eventually became the fitness fad we got tired of hearing about.

It was nice for a while to have all of us be reminded of our childhood, because any bit of comfort in 2016 was good, but eventually we realized that we couldn't get a great butt just by catching Pidgeys and there were just so. Many. Damn. Pidgeys. This is one of the most recognizable trends of this past year, but that doesn't mean it's a good one.

6 WORST: Waist Trainers

A trend that really gained steam due to the hourglass figures of the Kardashian-Jenner clan, waist trainers had a major year in 2016 - and that's not a good thing. Technically, waist trainers have been around since they were originally being called corsets, but in 2016, this so-called fitness trend was soaring in popularity.

Thanks to the claims of the Kardashians that waist trainers were the secret behind their voluptuous curves, women everywhere started buying up the products. (Remember, this was before the Kardashians and other celebrities were ordered to make note if the post was paid for, with the addition of hashtags like #ad or #sponsored.) The claim was that wearing these would permanently sculpt a curvaceous silhouette, which was, obviously, totally false. Long story short, a class action lawsuit came out against Waist Gang Society, the Kardashian brand of choice, for their false claims of weight loss and fat reduction. For duping so many people, this fake fitness trend is one of the worst of 2016.

5 WORST: Celebrity Breakups

In Hollywood, you lose a lot of couples - it's the nature of the industry. When you're on hectic schedules and cozying up to lots of other beautiful people, it's bound to happen. Unfortunately, 2016 gave us a lot of breakups that we just weren't ready for and that made us question if love is a total lie.

We lost Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris, who actually seemed like a good match and not at all nauseating; Demi Lovato and Wilmer Valderrama, who had been through some pretty tough times throughout the duration of their six-year relationship; Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson, who were the prettiest pair; Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, who seemed solid all the way to the end; and of course, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who ended in a shocking display of ugliness. When longstanding couples like these call it quits one after the other, we think it definitely qualifies as one of the worst trends of this year.

4 WORST: Celebrity Deaths

2016 was rough, and unfortunately far too many people we loved checked out early. Celebrities we grew up with who had major cultural impacts were gone far too soon, and it was a trend that a lot of people said signified the end of days - only half joking. In 2016, we lost musicians like David Bowie, Prince, and Leonard Cohen, actors like Alan Rickman, Anton Yelchin, Gene Wilder, Florence Henderson, and Alan Thicke, writers like Harper Lee and Elie Wiesel, and athletes like Muhammad Ali, Gordie Howe, and Arnold Palmer.

It seemed like every few weeks, a beloved celebrity was saying goodbye, and Twitter continued to declare that 2016 was the worst year ever. And, in the case of celebrity deaths, it really was, at least for the first six months. According to the BBC, more celebrities died within the first six months of 2016 than in years previous, but that the numbers evened out as the year wound down. However, we're still counting this as one of the worst trends of 2016.

3 WORST: Cultural Appropriation

Yes, yes, cultural appropriation is nothing new, but to really show how garbage a year 2016 was, cultural appropriation had a big year. Within music festivals, cultural appropriation has been a major trend, with specific gravitation towards Native American and Indian culture through the use of feathered headdresses, bindis, saris, and “warpaint”. In fashion, we saw the runways rife with cultural appropriation, including on the Marc Jacobs runway where white models were decked out in colourful dreadlocks. In fact, dreadlocks popped up on a lot of celebrities as well, who seemed unaware or else willfully ignorant of their own cultural appropriation.

To cap off a year filled with people appropriating cultures they were not a part of, Victoria's Secret's December fashion show faced major criticism when they dressed their white models in Chinese cultural elements - while keeping their Asian models in more traditional VS garb. Hopefully, people can start getting woke and realizing that no matter what year it is, cultural appropriation is never cool.

2 WORST: Misogyny

With Donald Trump soon to fill Barack Obama's shoes, it's no wonder that misogyny was one of the worst trends of 2016. Misogyny had a banner year in 2016 because of the dirtiness of the US presidential election that just couldn't be escaped. From ongoing issues of sexual assault to derogatory comments made about women to accusations made against Bill Clinton as a reflection of Hillary's Clinton's competency, misogyny had one of the best years in 2016 - which made it one of our worst.

Added to that was the headline-making case against Brock Turner, the convicted sex offender who was granted a shockingly lenient sentence for fear that anything longer would ruin his life, and the scores of policy rewinds that were being threatened to happen once Donald Trump takes office. In fact, after Trump was elected, Merriam-Webster reported a spike in searches for the word “misogyny”! Definitely one of the worst trends of 2016, but not to be outdone by the number one!

1 WORST: Fake News

We all have those people on Facebook who are itching to get involved in political arguments, and who usually insert a link that directs to some opinion-based website with no basis in fact. Then, if we take the bait and argue with truth, we are redirected to another website with similarly untruthful statements.

That was 2016 in a nutshell, where fake news on Facebook saw a major rise during the election and ultimately had a lot more say in this election than in ones previous. They were so good at concealing their motives and lack of sources that those who didn't look closely enough believed it to be fact. Combine that nonsense with Twitter, where the President-elect regularly shared false information, and you have a society that was really believing what it was being told - sans any credible sources. This was the worst trend of 2016 by far - and hopefully now that since we know of its existence, it won't have this kind of impact again.