Halle Bailey isn’t the only one who stands out.
The 23-year-old stars in “The Little Mermaid,” which comes out on Friday. In the live-action Disney film, she dons the iridescent flippers you’d expect, and at the film’s various premieres, she looked good in shimmering pastel dresses with flared skirts and intricate detailing.
Other young trendsetters outside the entertainment industry are also opting for wet-and-wild looks.
On TikTok, the hashtag #MermaidCore is trending, with over 200 million views.
A recent report via fashion site Nasty Gal also found that Google searches for ‘mermaid style’ have increased by 736% globally over the past year. On Pinterest, searches for “mermaid core” skyrocketed 614% before the movie.
The aesthetic combines coastal casual wear, Y2K glitter and bohemian beach vibes. Shimmering blues, soft sea foam green and metallic silver are the primary color palette.
“Mermaidcore is a really fun and fresh trend, inspired by oceanic colors and things like shells, pearls, and crystals,” Jenny Rojinski, 32, a Los Angeles-based fashion designer and content creator, told The Post. “It makes me feel alive.”
As a DIY design project, Rojinski spent nearly 100 hours creating her own mermaid core look, making a bralette and sarong belt out of pearls, shells, and fishing wire she purchased on Amazon.
She also sewed together a sandy white skirt and detachable sleeves from discarded knit, crochet, lace and silk brocade fabrics.
On TikTok, her creations have been viewed almost 700,000 times.
“People like mermaidcore because it’s an escape, it’s dreamy and makes you feel like you’re in another world,” said Rojinski.
The combination of deep-sea flamboyance and wearable art dates back to the 1930s, when couturier Jean Patou’s “water-inspired dress” debuted in Vogue. Luxury brands such as Versace, Burberry and Blumarine have revived the fashionable look of the mythical sirens in recent years.
Manhattan fashion consultant Amanda Sanders agrees with Rojinski that the look is rooted in escapism.
“It’s a break from reality,” she said, comparing the mermaid’s movement to the recent “Cottagecore” and “Barbiecore” waves.
“’The Little Mermaid’ originally came out [in 1989] as a cartoon, so it’s nostalgic for millennials and Gen Z,” added Sanders. “It’s a fun, fantasy fashion trend that lets people express a childlike playfulness through their wardrobe.”
Chazlyn Yvonne, 21, a self-proclaimed “whimsical content creator” on social media, told The Post that immersing herself in mermaid mania has unlocked her inner child.
“It’s liberating,” said the tastemaker.
She wore a $160 seafoam green “Siena” dress from Wild Rose & Sparrow — along with pearl earrings and seashell hair accessories — to a special screening of “The Little Mermaid” in Los Angeles Wednesday.
“As a little girl, I wasn’t even that into mermaids,” says Yvonne, a 2023 graduate of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. “But this aesthetic — and seeing [Bailey]someone who looks like me, playing Ariel, something I didn’t see as a kid, is really inspiring.
And haters who aren’t on board with the trend can swim away, she said.
“Gen Z loves these kinds of microfashion trends,” says Yvonne.
“We keep doing our best.”
