{"id":6124,"date":"2026-09-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/?p=6124"},"modified":"2026-08-31T16:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T20:35:15","slug":"chic-is-not-chic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/2026\/09\/02\/chic-is-not-chic\/","title":{"rendered":"“Chic” is Not Chic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Jacqueline Ayala, Social Media Editor<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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The Devil Wears Prada still image | 20th Century Studios
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Merriam-Webster dictionary describes \u201cchic\u201d as \u201csmart elegance and sophistication especially of dress or manner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chic is everywhere this year. You say it to make sure your outfit is appropriate for an outing with friends, or you see TikToks on how to become this so-called \u201cchic.\u201d How do you become this? Several factors determine what can be deemed as \u201cchic\u201d \u2013 style, elegance, popularity \u2013 it all becomes one way to carry and dress yourself. Anyone can be chic; no gender or person is necessarily attached to this genre of fashion. One way for something to be considered chic is if it’s timeless, destined to come back again and again without ever going out of style. But now? Your pen is chic, your toast is chic. A broken shoe? Chapped lips? A wrinkly shirt? Chic, chic, chic! What once was a rare, hard-to-achieve aesthetic and look is now just a common thing you see on the street. Not that this makes something automatically chic, but \u201cchic\u201d now gets used in order to characterize something as trending. In reality? Chic is meant to be anything but trending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, what was once \u201cchic\u201d is no longer a thing. At least, it\u2019s no longer a unique phrase to describe a person. Instead, it\u2019s become the new \u201cslay,\u201d just a simple compliment that, while positive, has lost its official meaning. Once, chic used to be a way of carrying oneself with sophistication. It was the definition of the classy, French girl you see in movies. It’s a hard-to-achieve look that not just anybody can pull off. If you call everything chic, does it even mean anything? Or has the meaning changed in 2026 in comparison to when the word was first rooted in our dictionary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gossip Girl still image | 17th Street Production
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Spoiler alert! Chic is French; that we aren\u2019t so surprised over. Its definition has been reinvented multiple times since it came around in the 1600s, but the word has stayed relatively similar to its original meaning, combining style and intelligence to create something truly unique. Think Jackie Kennedy, Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin \u2014 each had their own sense of class and character, which made them the models of what \u201cchic\u201d was. Even fictional characters, like those in the TV show Gossip Girl, have their own perception of chic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yves Saint Laurent was the first to successfully redefine chic, adding an androgynous twist to it with his design \u201cLe Smoking\u201d tuxedo suit. In 2011, Peter Copping attempted to redesign chic in that year\u2019s designs but failed to do so. The style went all the way back to its French roots in 2011, with the romanticization of Paris, designer makeup, and fashion. Over the following years, sub-genres of the chic style have appeared \u2013 beach chic, geek chic, boho chic, though all have the same roots of the original word. But now? Chic is now more of a metaphor in most people\u2019s eyes. If it\u2019s trending on TikTok, it\u2019s chic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trend of using the phrase \u201cKinda chic when\u2026\u201d has been popularized on Instagram and TikTok as a way to say something is good for someone to do or to wear. Now, technically, it is only a subjective word allowed to be used for anything. Though originally, chic was a hard-to-achieve style, it has been changed to add validation to what we do as people. The value of this word has decreased over the years, with its peak being in the 1990s and 2000s. Still, chic is subjective. It differs from person to person. It gets reinvented in multiple ways as we evolve in taste and style, something that people can\u2019t fight no matter how hard they try. In the 2010s, it was skinny jeans and jeggings. Now it\u2019s baggy and flared jeans making their move on people\u2019s style and taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s simply the power of fashion and styles. As it grows, it shifts and brings up new trends and combinations. Lifestyles get thrown in the mix. From 15-step morning routines to 3-step, we change in the same way words do. Truth be told\u2026 the word \u201cchic\u201d becoming commonly said is not as terrible as I began to say it was. This phenomenon of words changing meaning is called semantic change; as time goes on, the definitions and meanings are bound to be completely different from years ago. Chic will always be chic, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? Because if there\u2019s one chic thing, it\u2019s not to worry about others and view the world as you want to and how it makes you happy. Worrying about trends, taking them seriously, getting upset when a meant-to-be selective aesthetic becomes not so selective? Not very chic of you\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jacqueline Ayala, Social Media Editor Merriam-Webster dictionary describes \u201cchic\u201d as \u201csmart elegance and sophistication especially of dress or manner.\u201d Chic is everywhere this year. You say it to make…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-6124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6124"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6276,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6124\/revisions\/6276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6124"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=6124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}