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‘Really weird and really beautiful’: why the jellyfish is 2024’s unexpected style icon

From reflective satin red carpet dresses to tentacle-reminiscent hairstyles, the invertebrate seems to be setting the tone this year

“People got to see them as this elegant, otherworldly, beautiful, diaphanous animal that moved with this kind of grace that you would admire or just get sucked into watching,” says Berwald. Photograph: Gerard Soury/Getty ImagesIn fact underdogs of nature are having a moment – with plants and creatures previously considered a little odd, offbeat or outright ugly being rehabilitated. She draws a parallel with where we are now: “It was a time when I feel like humans were similarly struggling with, ‘what is our role on this planet and how do we interact with nature?’” As we “head into this period of intense climate change, we’re once again considering all of the forms of life on our planet, even those we’ve kind of forgotten, like the jellyfish.” As the idea of biophilia has caught on, Berwald believes that “some of these themes are showing up in our art forms as well.

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