1. Rainbow Bagels
Remember when rainbow bagels were the brightest thing to hit your feed around 2016? People were lining up in Brooklyn just to snap a picture of their technicolor carbs, Whitney Filloon of Eater shares. But once every brunch table in America had posted their own swirl, the novelty wore off fast. It became more about the photo than the flavor, which—let’s be honest—was never the main event.
Instagram pushed them from quirky-cool to painfully overdone in record time. Even bagel shops started dropping them once the hype slowed down and sales dipped. The problem? Nobody really wanted to eat them after the first shot—they just wanted the likes.
2. Avocado Toast
Avocado toast started as a clean-eating, minimal brunch dish that became a cultural meme around 2015, according to Jayne Orenstein of The Washington Post. Once it hit Instagram hard, cafes upped their game with edible flowers, beet hummus swirls, and gold leaf. It turned from simple nourishment into a full-blown aesthetic moment.
Then came the backlash: articles mocked millennials for spending rent money on fancy toast, and people began rolling their eyes. The more curated the plate became, the less authentic the trend felt. Today, avocado toast is still around, but it’s no longer a flex—it’s just breakfast again.
3. Minimalist Scandinavian Interiors
White walls, fiddle leaf figs, and wooden furniture had a grip on Instagram’s explore page for years. Influencers made us believe that to be truly “zen,” you needed a home that looked like a Muji store. But once everyone had the same Eames chair knockoff and a “less is more” caption, the style felt formulaic.
By the early 2020s, maximalism and “cluttercore” pushed their way back in. People started craving personality over perfection. Instagram’s obsession with sterile minimalism actually made it feel impersonal. Ironically, the style that aimed for calm ended up feeling cold.
4. Mermaid Hair
Mermaid hair—those bold, oceanic blues, purples, and greens—took salons by storm around 2017, according to Hannah Coates of Vogue. It was daring, expressive, and looked amazing under the right lighting. But Instagram turned it into a must-do challenge rather than a personal choice.
Soon, feeds were saturated with identical color jobs and brands pushing pastel hair dye kits. The uniqueness faded, and maintenance realities kicked in—color fading, damage, high cost. People realized the aesthetic didn’t always translate off-camera. Once the filters came off, so did the dye.
5. Latte Art
A simple heart in your cappuccino used to feel like a special treat. Then baristas started creating swans, tulips, and even 3D bears made of foam—just for the Gram. Coffee became more about the performance than the flavor, Stephanie Friedman of Tasting Table explains.
But once every third post featured an expertly poured rosetta, it lost its charm. People began to crave stronger brews over prettiness. Even cafes started returning to basics, prioritizing roast quality over Instagrammability. Latte art hasn’t disappeared, but its novelty sure has.
6. Tiny Houses
The tiny house movement was initially about sustainable living, minimalism, and financial freedom. It exploded on Instagram with perfect aerial shots of quaint, 200-square-foot homes surrounded by wilderness. People were drawn in by the dream of escaping the rat race and living smaller.
But once everyone tried to out-cute each other’s setups, reality hit: zoning laws, limited plumbing, and extreme downsizing aren’t so romantic. It turned out that living tiny is more complicated than a curated post suggests. Instagram made it a fantasy, but the logistics couldn’t keep up. As soon as the filters faded, so did the trend.
7. Unicorn Everything
Unicorn lattes, unicorn cupcakes, unicorn toast—suddenly, food was glowing with pastel colors and edible glitter. Instagram made the whimsical aesthetic a viral sensation around 2017. It wasn’t about flavor at all—it was about looking like a Lisa Frank fever dream.
But the over-saturation made it feel like a marketing gimmick rather than a trend. Even Starbucks’ infamous Unicorn Frappuccino was more photogenic than drinkable. People eventually realized they didn’t actually want to consume glitter. Once Instagram moved on, so did everyone else.
8. Succulent Gardens
Succulents had a moment where they were the plant of choice for Millennials. Low-maintenance, cute, and photogenic, they popped up in every influencer’s home by the mid-2010s. Instagram loved them for their symmetry and earthy tones.
But the problem? People learned they’re not that easy to care for, especially indoors. Overwatering, bad light, and trendy containers without drainage led to a lot of plant casualties. Once the “plant parent” trend matured, more varied (and realistic) greenery took over.
9. Charcoal Everything
Activated charcoal showed up in ice cream, lemonade, pizza crusts—you name it. It was marketed as a detox miracle and made for striking, jet-black photos. Instagram made the trend viral with its moody, goth-chic aesthetic.
Then, health experts weighed in, warning that charcoal could interfere with medication absorption and didn’t have real detox benefits. Once people realized it was more for the camera than their bodies, interest dropped fast. Food started to look like asphalt rather than appetizing. The trend was pretty, but short-lived.
10. Boho Festival Fashion
Think flower crowns, crochet tops, and flash tattoos—all staples of the mid-2010s Instagram festival scene. Coachella was ground zero, with influencers turning it into a costume party rather than a music event. Every year brought more feathers, fringe, and faux spiritual vibes.
But eventually, the look became overproduced and culturally tone-deaf. Conversations around appropriation and sustainability started to take the center stage. Festivals became more conscious, and so did attendees’ wardrobes. The mass-produced boho aesthetic lost its soul—and its feed appeal.
11. #FlatLay Culture
Top-down shots of perfectly arranged products—coffees, notebooks, sunglasses—became a genre of their own. Instagram users curated every detail to look casual-but-not-really. Brands loved it because it turned average users into mini advertisers.
But audiences started craving authenticity over staging. Flatlays began to feel fake, repetitive, and disconnected from real life. As algorithms favored video and “real” content, flatlays became relics of a more polished time. The aesthetic was lovely, but it wasn’t sustainable.
12. Extreme Food Mashups
The cronut was just the beginning. Burgers stacked with donuts, pizza topped with sushi, and spaghetti-stuffed tacos soon followed. Instagram made it a race to out-weird the last post.
But novelty wore off when taste and practicality took a backseat. People weren’t really eating these creations—they were snapping and tossing. Restaurants started returning to quality over shock value. Once it stopped driving foot traffic, the trend flatlined.
13. Living Coral Everything
When Pantone named Living Coral the Color of the Year in 2019, Instagram went wild. Suddenly, coral lipstick, swimsuits, wall paint, and weddings took over the feed. It was a feel-good, summery hue that photographed beautifully.
But the color was tied more to trends than actual personal style or preference. After a year, people moved on to the next shade, and coral started to feel stale. Instagram’s obsession with “color of the year” moments turned them into disposable fads. Living Coral went from everywhere to nowhere in less than a season.
