Which comes first, the trendiness or the acclaim? In pop and fashion it’s a dizzying cycle. Hype generates buzz; buzz draws attention; enough attention, and some hot commodity gives the subject big props, spurring broader acclaim, viral publicity, more hype—ultimately creating a hit, a trend, a star.
It’s a cycle that works fast but has a house-of-cards fragility to it. Often more style than substance, a trendy item wins exposure, then overexposure, and finally—especially in a wired world—loses its two vital attractions: novelty and personal relevance.
But meanwhile, we can enjoy hailing our trendy favorites in language that is itself trendy, campy, and entertaining. Pizzazzy. Bedazzy. Zizzy. Dicty. Soigné. Glammy. Bling-blinged. Outré. Take just a few terms for “dressed stylishly”: Honey, you are dapped down, garmed up, trigged out, mockered up, prinked, duggy, and snappydap.
While some trend-related superlatives fade like yesterday’s chic, others dig in for the long haul, and none more tenaciously than the word fabulous. Originally meaning “legendary,” “mythical,” or “like a fable,” it has enjoyed more than 500 years as a synonym for “exceptionally good,” “delightful,” “astonishing,” and the like. English and American teens embraced it in the 1960s, along with the shortened fab. Some usage authorities disdained it as a vogue word, overworked by advertisers and “the modestly educated.” But dictionaries have validated its expanded use, and here it is still—on the lips of everyone gaping at something new and glamorous.
TERMS
à go-go
a la mode
a.k.a. amazing
ablaze
Academy Award shoo-in, an
acclaimed
accoutered for action (fitted out, equipped)
adulated
aflame
alias fabulous
all new and now
all Prada’d
all Versace’d
all Zegna’d (men’s luxury fashions)
alpha talent, an
American-Idolish
armada of fabulous, an
Armani’d up
arrived
arriviste (nouveau riche)
aswarm with props (proper respect from fans)
audience-proof (cannot fail)
augurs fame and fabulosity (predicts likeliness of)
awash in adulation
awesome meets amazing
Bastille-storming revolutionary
beau monde, the (the beautiful people, high society)
bedizened and proud (dressed unabashedly in showy attire—sometimes gaudy)
bellwether, a (trend leader or indicator)
bespoke to the yolk (customtailored)
beyond gothic
bezazzy (pizzazzy)
big box office
big draw, a
big-timer, a
biker-chic
bis! bis! (a continental “encore!”)
blast of fresh, a
blazing
bling-blinger, a (hip-hopper with status)
blisteringly hot
block-rockin’ (sensational)
boffo/boffola (excellent/smash hit)
bohemian bespoke (—David Colman, New York Times: artily tailored)
bollynollygollywood! (ref., rash of world film-center nicknames)
bon ton (elegant form or style; in tone with correct fashion)
boom (CAN, pleasing)
boulevardier, a (stylish frequenter of fashionable locales)
bound for the big time
boutique
box-office
bravo!
bravura (dazzlingly artistic—sometimes showy)
braw (finely dressed—sometimes excessively)
brilliant meets fabulous
Broadway
broke a leg (performed well)
buffed and burnished
butta!
buzz, the
buzz bomb, a
campy
cap-a-pie prinked (dressed up from head to toe)
caparisoned (decoratively clothed, like a classic warhorse)
cat pack, the (flush, fashionable, celebrity set)
caution: diva at work
celebrated
Celebrity City
celebrity-bound
charismatic (of magnetic personality)
Che-chic (ref., revolutionary Che Guevara)
chic
chic unique
chichi (self-consciously stylish)
classy
cloaked in fabulous
clobbered up (dressed in quality clothes)
collar-to-cloak bespoke (customtailored)
comer, a
cool Muther John, a (hip, trendy boy)
cool, classic, and kosher
couture (of designer quality)
couture galore (ref., high-fashion design and clothing)
cred (street credibility as stylish; acceptance)
criss (UK, JAM: stylish)
crit-hit, a (UK, critical success)
crowd fave, a
crowd-pleasing
crunking (wildly exciting)
cynosure of stage and screen, a (north star, leading star)
da ritz
dap (dapper)
dapped down (stylishly dressed)
dashy
dead fabuolus
debonair
dernier cri, the (Fr., the latest word)
designer regnant, the (ruling designer)
dicty (high-class stylish)
dolled
done up
Dr. Fabulous
draped (fitted out with jewelry)
dressed to kill and ravage
duded
duded up
duggy (stylishly dressed or fitted out)
earns-the-love
ebullition of fabulous, an (gushing overflow)
encore performance, an
encore!
eruption of fabulous, an
fab
fabbo
fabe (UK, fabulous)
faboo
fabuloso/a
fabulous gift-wrapped
fabulous in flower
fabulous in full
fabulous in the flesh
fabulous on stilts
fabulous unfettered
fabulous, end of story
fame magnet, a
famed
fan fave, a
fanfare of fabuloso, a
fan-my-brow fabulous
fantabulous
fantasia of fashion, a
farbulous (UK, far-out + fabulous)
far-famed
fash (AUSTRAL, fashionable)
fash pack, the (fashion industry shakers and movers)
fashion queen/king regnant, the (ruling)
fashionista!
fashionista’s fantasy, a
fashion-ninja strike, a
fave rave, a (favored artist)
flamboyant
fleshed-out fabulous
followed on everything (ref., on Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
fountainhead of fabulous, the
Fraternal Order of Fabulous, the
frontliner, a
front-row-seater, a
frosted (UK, ornamented with jewels)
“[T]his young artist has appeared unexpectedly among us, like an astronomic manifestation, a brilliant phenomenon in the starry firmament, a bright, shining, wandering star.”
—Sholem Aleichem (Rabinovitch), Wandering Stars, 2008 translation
festooned with bling (garlanded with jewelry)
find, a
finished to a high shine
fissionable
fitted (trendily dressed)
fitted out and rigged
five-encore
flagship of fabulous, the
funky-fresh (fashionable)
fusillade of fabulous, a
gallant, a (smart, showy dresser)
galleria of glam, a
garmed up (short for garmented)
g’d up (rap: dressed up gangsta style)
gilded in glamour
gildy (UK, fancy)
glammy (glamorous)
“glass of fashion and the mold of form,” the (—Shakespeare, Hamlet, 3.1)
glitterati fixture, a (ref., fashionable celebrity set)
glitterati, of the (fashionable celebrities)
glittering
Golden Globe-worthy
got flava (has a distinctive stylishness)
got street cred (has credibility on the streets)
Grammy shoo-in, a
grande dame, a
Grauman’s-bound (ref., Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, site of celebrity handprints)
great gobs of fabulous
great meets fabulous
grosser, a (gross -profit-making entertainment enterprise)
Gucci’d up
Guevarista! (revolutionary Che Guevara-styled)
guilty of high style
hardly obscure
hardly unheard of
haute!
headline-grabber, a
headliner, a
heads-up, the (an alert to something new)
heart-seizingly it
high-maintenance highness, a
high-stepper, a
holler (stylish, pleasing)
Hollywoodish
hot copy (as in news copy)
hot dope, the (news)
hot/hott
hotness, the
hotter than Methodist hell
hot-ticket
iconic
idolized
igneous (fiery, once molten)
I’ve-fallen-and-I-can’t-get-up fabulous
in
in like sin
in high orbit
in the torrid zone
incarnation of fabulous, the
incinerating
inimitable (beyond imitation)
instant classic, an
irradiated
It thing, the
jazzy
Jennifer Aniston 2.0
jeunesse dorée, the (Fr. : wealthy, fashionable young sophisticates)
killa
la rage
Lady Charisma (magnetic personality)
lahdee (UK, fashionable—sometimes pretentiously so)
large (famous)
latest bulletin, the
lava-hot
left-bank (ref., Parisian Left Bank district: unconventionally stylish)
lick, the (UK, the hot thing)
limelighter, a
live
long on glam
love magnet, a
luminary, a
luminescent
mad glamorous
Madame Fabulous
Madame Tussauds of stars, a (ref., famed wax museum of notables)
Madonna 2.0
magnifique
mantled in new
matinee-to-midnight idol, a
megastar, a
meld of hot and hotter, a
meteoric
Michael Jackson 2.0
mile beyond marvelous, a
military chic
mockered up (AUSTRAL, dressed up)
molten
motherland of fabulous, from the
movin’
Ms. Marvelous
muchness of campness, a
muchness of flair, a
mug of the month, the
natty
new look, the
new svelte, the
newly minted
news-flash fresh
news flash: fabulous!
next big name, the
next big ripple, the
next big spark in the powder barrel, the
next big trigger, the
next-gen
Nielsen-rating ready
nimbus of new and now, a
nobby (chic, stylish)
no-frills glamorous
nuclear-furnace hot
oil-on-the-fire sizzling
on a hoachy roll (SCOT, lucky streak)
on fire
paparazzi magnet, a
phunky (UK, fashionably funky, as music)
pillow-lipped pouty
pimped-up (flashy)
pitilessly hot
plugged in
pre-disheveled look, the (—Jon Caramanica, New York Times)
prima donna, a
“Magda’s rocking a dope Ochun-colored bikini that her girls helped her pick out so she could torture me.”
—Junot Díaz, “The Sun, the Moon, the Stars,” Drown, 1997
onslaught of star power, an
oozing with style
Oscar-bound
out-front
outré (outlandishly far-out, unconventional, bizarre)
outrider, an
paladin of style, a (champion, defender)
panache with wings (dash, flair)
panachey (having flair, dash)
prime-time ready
primped, prinked, and preened
prinked! (decked out)
props magnet, a (proper respect from fans)
propsworthy (worthy of proper respect from fans)
rad redux (“rad” or radical style revived)
rad-chic
Radical Nation
radioactive
rebel drag
rebel-approved
rebel-chic
red-carpet
red-carpet staple, a
renowned
revolutionary
rickety-raw (fashionable, good-looking)
rigged up and ragged out
rive gauche (ref., la Rive Gauche, bohemian Left Bank district of Paris inspiring a 1960s style: stylish)
Rive Gauche (Yves St. Laurent fashion brand)
rocketborne toward fame
rockin’ glad rags (dressed up)
rogue-son-of-privilege look, the (—Jon Caramanica, New York Times)
roiling hot
runway royalty (fashion-show runway)
runway-ready (fashion-show runway)
salvo of style, a
Saville Row (attire of upmarket quality)
scorching
searingly hot
seat-filler, a
Sultan of Suave, the
sellout performance, a
severely stylish
sheathed in fabulous
sheathed in style
sheech (chichi, self-consciously stylish)
shoo-in, a
show stealer, a
showstopping
silk-stocking (dressed upper-class)
Sir Fabulous
skinny, the (hot inside information)
skyrocketing up the charts
slathered in fabulous
slumadelic (ref., music of rap group Outkast: funky, driven street style)
smart-set regular, a
Smithsonian of style, a
smokin’ hot
snappydap (smartly dressed)
snaz, the (snazzily styled)
socko-boffo (hugely good, popular, successful)
soigné (Fr. : stylishly polished, groomed)
sophisticate, a
spanking
spendy-dressed (dressed in pricey clothing)
spendy-trendy (expensively stylish)
spif, the (spiffily, smartly dressed)
splashy
sporty
spruced
spuzzed up (primped)
SRO (standing room only)
standing-ovation getter, a
star in supernova, a (final, explosive brilliance)
star of stage and scream, a
starbright
stardom-bound
star-quality
steaming
stonking fabulous (UK)
stormer, a (SCOT, a popular hit)
streets ahead (UK, far in advance of, superior to, rivals)
streetwise
style on stilts
style queen/king regnant, the (ruling)
stylin’ and profilin’ (being fashionable, looking stylish)
stylishly impetuous (impulsive with attitude)
suave
suited and booted (UK)
superstar, a
surefire box office
svelte
swank
swellebrated
swellegant
that’ll play the big time
thermonuclear
this just in
this-just-in trendy
thrilly
tilts toward the times
togged up (dressed up)
tonky (Par., NZ, fashionable)
tony/toney (upscale stylish)
too right!
top banana of the bunch, the
top billing
torrid
trendsetter with tenure, a
trendsetting
très with it
très Che (ref., revolutionary Che Guevara)
tricked out (dressed up)
trigged out (attired smartly, neatly)
trigged up (made trim and smart in appearance)
tucked and twilled
tumultuously cheered
tumultuously coiffed
turned-out
unlaced and out there
upstager, an
uptown (stylish, upscale)
videogenic
voice of a generation, the
walking library of style, a
walks on the wild side
wallopingly fresh
what-next, the
whiff of new-mown, a
white heat
white hot
Who’s Who-er, a
with éclat (dazzling, sometimes showy effect)
wow, the
wow-it’s-now
wreathed in fabulous
young-turk approved
zazzy (showy)
zeitgeisty (in the spirit of the times)
zhooshy (fixed up, styled in showy way, especially hair)
zizzy (showy, fancy)
VINTAGE GOLD WHEN THE BEE’S KNEES NEED REPLACEMENT
Once it caught on in the roaring 1920s, there was no stopping it: Wags and wits formed phrases to mean “the latest thing” by combining an animal’s name with a body part or item of clothing. From
the bee’s knees to
the cat’s pajamas, the menagerie grew and has been growing to this day, albeit with a retro flavor. Goofy and even surreal combinations make for the most interesting and perhaps most revivable superlatives. Here’s a dozen you might have heard from any Betty Boop of the Flapper Age or her Charleston-dancing Charlie:
the alligator’s adenoids
the cat’s cufflinks
the clam’s garters
the eel’s ankles
the elephant’s eyebrows
the gnu’s shoes
the monkey’s instep
the pig’s wings
the sardine’s whiskers
the gnat’s whistle
the caterpillar’s kimono
the snake’s toenails
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