An illustration of the “fisherman aesthetic” fashion trend included in a Pinterest report on emerging fads. Analysts at the social media company predicted it would be one of the top styles for 2025. Photo illustration courtesy of Pinterest

ROCKPORT — Designer lobster bags rumored to sell for $18,000. Silk couture fishing bibs with a cleavage-friendly neckline. Woven leather sandals. Sardine tattoos peeking out from underneath cable knit sweaters. Handmade trawler coats made from recycled polyester.

Those are the characteristics of what global fashion forecasters have declared a top trend of 2025: “fisherman core.”

“I am making this aesthetic my entire personality,” influencer Anna Harp said in a video posted on TikTok as her face floated over a compilation of outfits. “It looks like we just went fishing for, like, a good three hours to catch our food for the day. This is just everything to me.”

Maine, naturally, has a starring role in the fad.

“You’re on a boat in Maine, but you’re a vibe,” Krista Lavrusik told her 209,000 followers.

How well did the mood boards and social media influencers pull from Maine’s fishermen? How did they determine, then riff on, what folks wear while hauling scallops and lobster with aching backs and weary feet? How do the fishermen feel about the trend — do they even know about it?

It turns out Maine’s fishermen do have a distinct kind of style — outsiders from the fashion industry might just be misguided in their interpretation.

“No, we don’t wear that,” lobsterman Mike Dassatt said while scrolling through pictures, videos and mood boards. “Those outfits will get really wet and really dirty.”

GETTING TO THE CORE

Fashion trends have symbiotic beginnings of sorts. Sometimes, style enthusiasts come up with a fad themselves, then publications hop on the trend. Sometimes, the cycle reverses.

Pinterest, the social media platform for posting fashion inspiration, decor ideas, recipes, predicted fishermen core would be one of 2025’s top styles.

It also collects and reports data for annual trend forecasts in a feature called Pinterest Predicts.

Sydney Stanback, with Pinterest’s global trends and insights team, said the company bases its predictions on what user interests are becoming more popular, but “not-yet trending.”

Pinterest searches for “sardine tattoo” increased by 80%, Stanback said from September 2022 to August 2024. Users searched for “cable knit sweaters” 110% more than in 2023; “fish bags,” up 50%; and “raincoat outfit aesthetics” up 35%.

Since Pinterest released its 2025 predictions in December, fisherman core is much further up the ladder. Yarden Horwitz, founder of the consumer trend company Spate, said U.S. Google searches for “fisherman aesthetic” have jumped by 227% in the last 12 months, and 1,000% globally.

TikTok videos tagged with #fishermancore received 2.5 million views in the U.S. — and an additional 8.2 million views globally. TikTokers have also posted 4 million videos about “fisherman core aesthetic,” according to data from April 28.

“We’ve seen the fisherman aesthetic gain real momentum,” Stanback said.

While trends are often fleeting, sometimes, they stick around — and reflect a larger message about society.

Casey Lewis, a cultural analyst and reporter, sees fisherman core as just that. Lewis, who publishes the After School newsletter examining youth culture’s moment du jour, has put it on her “macro-trend” list.

“People are unhappy with the pace and pressures of modern life, if you will. And I think that this is manifesting in many different ways. One of them being fisherman core,” Lewis said. “There’s this romanticization of … a slower, quieter way of life,” Lewis said. Admittedly, that reflects some misguided views of the working class, she added.

Krista Lavrusik in one of her ‘fisherman core’ outfits. Photo courtesy of Krista Lavrusik

Influencer Lavrusik describes the aesthetic as timeless and understated, functional, worn-in and armor from the cold.

Lavrusik, who focuses on vintage trends, posted a video about fisherman fashion in February. She first noticed it on Pinterest’s trend forecast, then spreading across her TikTok feed. She decided to buy into the trend — she already had a sizable wardrobe for the fits.

To embody that vibe, she wears wool sweaters atop chunky turtlenecks, L.L.Bean boots, fleeces, ascots and beanies.

“I am a freezing baby, and fisherman core is cozy,” she said in an interview. “I immediately thought, ‘This sounds fabulous.'”

Others online are a bit more out there.

Eloise Dalais described the look as an “old money, sort of chic style.” Wear Ralph Lauren and Chanel, she recommended. Not the typical brands you’d see on a lobster boat.

Lifestyle blog The Stripe suggests boat loafers, leather-woven sandals and a $1,000 corduroy-collar rain jacket. Town and Country recommends a $5,100 Bottega bag with a sardine chain, a $600 bucket hat and a $5,810 fish necklace. And Pinterest’s Stanback referenced Louis Vuitton, which is behind the rumored $18,000 crustacean pocketbook.

SHOW US THE RECEIPTS

How expensive are the real fishermen fits?

“Cheap” — Dassatt, the lobsterman, said succinctly. Dassatt, of Stonington, mans the Downeast Fishermen’s Association’s booth at the industry’s biggest annual conference.

Here’s how you can get his look: Straight leg blue jeans from Tractor Supply; a shirt from the Downeast Fishermen’s Association referencing right whale regulations; Aviator sunglasses, from Renys; a baseball cap with the equipment-manufacturer CAT logo.

The price tag? Maybe $30 — Dassatt said he spends at most $20 on a new pair of jeans from time to time.

“That’s the blue-collar look. Efficient is what it is,” said Maine lobsterman and TikToker Kelly Hinkle, also known as “Downeast Cowboy.”

Janine Drouin, the wife and mother of fishermen, spends about $50 per person to buy most of the clothing they wear as Christmas presents.

That’s not to say fishermen don’t drop big bucks on clothing. But the catwalk is aboard their boats. They need high quality clothing that’s durable against the elements — and the smelly lobster-tank water.

Daniel Ames, a fisherman from Vinalhaven said he spent $300 on his trawler jacket — the same price as the aforementioned fashionable version. It lacked the bells and whistles, though.

IS IT ALL BARNACLES?

Most lobstermen are not scrolling on FashionTok (TikTok’s corner of the fashion world) — nor TikTok, at all. And they’re not talking about these trends in All Things Lobstering, a Facebook group with 30,000 members.

“I’m 67 years old, and I can barely run the new radios in the trucks,” Portland lobsterman Bill Coppersmith said last year after the Maine Department of Marine Resources implemented electronic-filing rules.

During the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, the biggest New England fishing event of the year, a reporter handed fishermen a tablet to scroll through videos and mood boards and offer their thoughts.

Cable-knit sweaters? Go to Scotland for that fishing look, Hinkle said.

“You always see it in movies. But I’ve never seen a fisherman wear that,” Drouin said.

Ascots? No, said Brooke Hachey, a fishing gear coordinator at a Hancock County nonprofit who grew up in the fishing community.

“Off the boat,” Hachey laughed, “I wouldn’t even wear these clothes living in my fishing community.”

Fine-line sardine tattoos? Also no, Hinkle said.

But all quickly noticed one recommendation that popped up on many of the mood boards: a yellow Grunden’s bib.

“You might see a guy wearing a bucket hat,” Dassatt said. “And that Carhartt coat might go.”

The forecasters, analysts and influencers acknowledge that the aesthetic they’ve dreamt up doesn’t entirely line up with the authentic look.

“It’s not about literally dressing like a fisherman, but rather capturing that coastal spirit in ways that feel completely fresh for today … a creative interpretation that celebrates maritime and nautical influences,” Stanback, at Pinterest, said. “It mixes utility with style. There’s an authenticity and versatility to these pieces that people are drawn to and have a timeless appeal that works well across all genders.”

GET THE REAL LOOK

Some fishermen don’t believe they have any personal style worth copying. Their clothes are simply cheap, plain and practical, they say. And, they add, they don’t think much about the clothes they put on each morning.

But they are underselling themselves. Lining the hall of the Fishermen’s Forum, it was easy to spot the fishermen in the crowd.

They have custom merch: sweatshirts with illustrated logos of their lobstering boats. They accessorize: aviator sunglasses and baseball caps with bright orange flames. Their knee high, worn-in dockers make a statement. They have their go-to brands and shops: Grundens and Renys, for instance. They rep their faves — the New England Patriots and the Maine Lobstering Association. Tattoos — often of lobsters.

The stamp they really leave on the fisheries and fashion industries is their political statements.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association sells beanies and toddler tees that say “Save Maine Lobstermen,” with no explanation about what they need to be saved from.

Subtlety can be a rarity, though. Dassatt wore a Downeast Fishermen’s Association shirt with a fisherman wrapped head to toe in rope, an angry look on his face, his arms bound to his sides.

“Who’s ENDANGERED now?” it reads.

There were T-shirts decrying windmills as the true danger for the endangered North Atlantic right whale — and, in turn, for lobstermen, too. Some in the crowd wore shirts with the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag — a right-wing symbol of eschewing governmental interference.

It’s all in good fun, the fishermen think. They find it surprising, amusing and perhaps helpful.

“The actual outfit I hate,” Hinkle laughed. “But even though it’s all about something no fisherman would wear, it’s really raising awareness to the industry as well.”

Lavrusik, the influencer followed by 209,000 people, did astutely pick something up: fishermen core is about the vibe just as much as the style.

“These fishermen just have this sauce. You can just tell in the way that they carry themselves,” she said. “Anybody can put an outfit together, but if you have this swag — that energy and sauce — you don’t even need to try.”