Quick Dip: How a heritage brand’s holiday style is inspiring the coziest TikTok trend of the season
Quick Dips are trends & topics you can hop on now, no deep dive required!
As the holiday season ramps up, TikTok is unwrapping a surprising(?) aesthetic hit: the Ralph Lauren Christmas look. Think roaring fireplaces, tartan everything, wood-paneled libraries, and a color palette of forest green, deep red, and navy. It’s a rich, nostalgic style lifted directly from Ralph Lauren’s long-standing holiday campaigns, and it’s quickly becoming the defining decor mood of Christmas 2025.
Following the rise of the Nancy Meyers-inspired home trend in 2024, which featured sunny kitchens, slipcovered couches, and coastal Hamptons calm, this holiday aesthetic offers a more masculine, wintry counterpart. It’s cozier, darker, and rooted in East Coast lodge fantasy. For social marketers, it reflects a broader consumer desire for comfort, tradition, and analog charm—now reinforced by data.
What’s Happening?
The “Ralph Lauren Christmas” aesthetic has become the blueprint for a luxe, cozy holiday at home.
- TikTok creators are leaning into Ralph Lauren’s classic Americana style by staging homes with equestrian art, velvet ribbon, leather-bound books, and plaid throws.
- The trend’s virality is rooted in a Pinterest-meets-catalog fantasy, featuring holiday home tours, fireplace mantels, and Christmas trees styled to look like something from a Ralph Lauren ad.
- Media outlets such as Parade and Yahoo! Shopping have amplified the trend with accessible guides for recreating the look at home.
- ListenFirst reports that luxury-adjacent content in the home category has seen a notable increase in engagement over the past six weeks. Posts themed around “elevated holiday” design drive longer view times and more shares.
📈 Google search data backs this up.
Searches for “Ralph Lauren Christmas” in the U.S. began to rise in early October and peaked on October 19. The search interest score jumped from low single digits in late September to a full 100 by mid-month. This aligns closely with the timing of TikTok virality and widespread media coverage.
“This search trajectory suggests the trend has moved beyond niche interest into mainstream holiday planning behavior. The timing also aligns with the content calendar for holiday campaigns, offering brands a valuable moment to engage.
– Chase Varga, Director of Marketing at ListenFirst
Brand & Marketer Implications
This trend points to a broader shift toward heritage-rich, emotionally resonant content.
- Consumers are gravitating toward design that feels stable, traditional, and story-driven. This opens the door for heritage-inspired aesthetics, even when interpreted through accessible or budget-friendly formats.
- For marketers in home, retail, and lifestyle, there is growing demand for content that is visually rich and atmosphere-driven rather than product-forward.
- Brands don’t need a luxury positioning to participate. There’s plenty of room to reference the Ralph Lauren holiday mood through visual tone, language (“timeless,” “heirloom,” “New England charm”), and staging.
- This trend also speaks to the popularity of slow, analog-inspired visuals. In an age of fast-scrolling content, warm and textured storytelling creates welcome contrast.
This is not just about decorating for the holidays. It’s about designing moments that feel familiar, grounded, and deeply seasonal.
Platform & Cultural POV
TikTok continues to be a powerful engine for nostalgic, high-fantasy aesthetics. And heritage twists trend year over year in different forms.
- The platform has a history of pushing hyper-specific interior styles into the mainstream. “Ralph Lauren Christmas” now joins a lineage that includes Dark Academia, Tomato Girl Summer, and Mob Wife Winter.
- In 2024, the Nancy Meyers kitchen trend captivated home decor creators with its light, coastal warmth, and aspirational domesticity. In 2025, the Ralph Lauren look fills a similar role with a winter aesthetic that leans masculine, lodgecore, and high fantasy.
- Both trends reflect a larger cultural pattern. Creators are embracing traditionalism not for function, but for emotional fantasy. Whether it’s a Vermont ski lodge or a Hamptons beach house, the appeal lies in the mood it evokes.
- The Ralph Lauren look isn’t about brand loyalty. Instead, the brand becomes a visual reference that instantly signals sophistication, comfort, and nostalgia.
Rather than ironic or tongue-in-cheek, the homage feels sincere, and that sincerity is exactly what’s resonating right now.
“This trend underscores the power of a fully realized brand world, one that extends far beyond logos or color palettes. What’s resonating with audiences isn’t just the look of the brand, but the feeling it evokes. Ralph Lauren has built an immersive lifestyle narrative that users don’t just admire, they aspire to live within.”
– Jordan Mitchell, Client Strategist at ListenFirst
Key Takeaways for Marketers
- Search interest is surging. Google Trends shows a 12x increase in U.S. searches for “Ralph Lauren Christmas” from early to mid-October 2025.
- Visual storytelling matters. Consumers are drawn to immersive scenes and styled environments more than standalone products.
- Warm, layered design is outperforming minimalism. Rich textures and holiday maximalism are resonating strongly in 2025.
- Affordability is part of the aesthetic. Brands that show how to achieve the look without high costs will appeal to creators and consumers alike.
- Mood-first content is winning. Aesthetic-led storytelling remains one of the most engaging formats on TikTok and Pinterest.
Final Thought
As TikTok homes begin to resemble Ralph Lauren catalogs, search interest is growing, and the question for marketers is clear: What other legacy aesthetics are ready to be rediscovered—and reimagined—by a new generation of digital tastemakers?
