I’m dreaming of a very specific Christmas. One that I’ve only known from the holiday movies. It looks like this: my future home is decked out in green tartan cushions, velvet ornaments and bushy garlands. A gargantuan Christmas tree covered in vintage teddy bears takes centre stage, while a cozy fireplace roars in the background. The smell of freshly baked gingerbread wafts through the air (through a reed diffuser, not my actual baking).
This, according to TikTok, has a name: a Ralph Lauren Christmas. Named after the U.S. retailers’ decadent festive window display at its Fifth Avenue flagship store, this visual language is about channelling an old-money, polished Americana vibe, achieved by decorating your home in plaid furnishings, traditional Santa stockings, heirloom silver, velvet ribbons, pine-covered garlands, and much more. Really, it’s just the latest thing to gain a foothold among consumers tethered to the fast-moving TikTok microtrend cycle, which continually fuels our penchant for acquiring stuff. Just look at last year’s coquette trend, which saw people dressing their Christmas trees in ribbons and neat bows.
But the Ralph Lauren Christmas trend might actually stick around. According to TikTok data, the hashtag #ralphlaurenchristmas has more than 5,000 posts globally and saw a 3,000 percent increase in the past month. Look online, and you’ll find content creators sharing their DIY tips on achieving the aesthetic on a budget, armed with only an Amazon wishlist and a dream. Even though the trend references Ralph Lauren’s festive offerings, plenty of the products acquired to execute the final result are purchased from home supply stores or local garden centers. You don’t have to have the Ralph Lauren money or sprawling suburban home to do it.
At the heart of this trend is nostalgia. Watch one of these videos and you’d be mistaken for thinking you’ve been shown an Architectural Digest video for the McAlister family’s abode in the Home Alone films from the Nineties, filled with patterned stockings, plaid decor and mammoth wreaths (and of course, with the house’s fairy light-covered exterior).
There’s a certain timelessness to the trend, says Doralice Belli, head of merchandising at luxury goods site Farfetch. She points out that the trend incorporates festive colours like “deep reds, forest greens, chocolate browns, and heritage patterns like tartan and plaid, to create a warm, inviting home.” This modern reinvention of the quintessential Americanised Christmas balances “luxury with nostalgia” and brings back “joy of traditional holiday decorating.”
Whatever you think of the trend, it’s a welcome departure from the sad, cold and joyless “beige Christmas” trend paraded by influencers in the past few years. Under the reign of the inescapable “quiet luxury” trend, which favors clean, minimalist designs over anything gaudy or colorful, consumers have been opting for neutral everything, from their clothes down to their bedsheets. Think of Kim Kardashian’s Christmas aesthetic at her grey mansion in 2023: signified by a bare Christmas tree, oatmeal-coloured garlands, and five plain cream stockings lining her fireplace. It’s giving: Christmas, Skims-edition.
The Ralph Lauren Christmas trend is an active rejection of the quiet luxury aesthetic, as consumers yearn for something more vibrant and cozy. Belli says that after years of muted tones seen inside celebrities’ houses, “people are craving more character and depth in their homes, especially at Christmas.” And it shows: the most Christmassy colour of all, red, is now a firm fixture in the homes of the trendsetters, with knitted fabrics and Ralph Lauren’s signature teddy bears motif printed on cushions and blankets. We want our homes to feel festive, not muted and modernist.
Quiet luxury may have taught us one thing, though: how to be more picky. Kunal Trehan, an interior designer and founder of Touched Interiors, tells me that the popular minimalism trends have helped us practice “restraint” and “refine our eye” when it comes to shopping. “The Ralph Lauren trend is still sophisticated like the quiet luxury trend, but it has more soul and atmosphere,” he says. “After years of sleek, muted minimalism, there’s a yearning for texture, depth, and storytelling; spaces that feel lived-in yet impeccably curated. It embodies a kind of festive escapism that people want to be immersed in this year.”
It’s an aesthetic that’s surprisingly easy to achieve, too. You’ve just got to be dedicated (and have plenty of time on your hands). Trehan tells me that if a person understands the rules of the trend, they can find plenty of suitable decorations from their local supermarket or garden centre. “It’s about layering textures, using warm lighting, and mixing classic materials, wood, brass, velvet, wool,” he says. “You don’t need a manor house or Ralph Lauren furniture to capture the mood. A few carefully chosen pieces, such as a tartan throw, a vintage-style candleholder, a rich green velvet cushion, can completely shift the atmosphere.”
Whether you’re going full Kevin McAlister this Christmas or not, we can all take comfort in the fact that the beige holiday trend is firmly behind us. In a year where some festive joy is definitely needed, maximalism and coziness are making a welcome return. So go forth, and deck the halls in tartan garlands (Fa la la la la…la la la la).
