Glossy Pop Newsletter: The flat lay is back

In 2016, Allure ran a story with the headline “Flat lay your collection: The makeup trend blowing up on Reddit.” The early days of the trend, according to the piece, saw Redditors and Instagrammers cataloging their full makeup collections. The photo trend fueled dedicated discussions on Reddit where people, according to Allure, suggested launches missing from one another’s collections and shared in their current obsessions.

Now, nearing a decade later, it seems the flat lay is back.

Dash Hudson analyzed content from more than 200 beauty brands over the past eight weeks for Glossy to help understand the trends around Instagram flat lays. “Our recent analysis highlights that still images [still] matter on Instagram and help fuel engagement for beauty brands,” said Kate Kenner Archibald, Dash Hudson’s CMO. “In recent months, we’ve noticed an increase in flat-lay static content and found that these particular images achieved an engagement rate of 0.6%, which was double the average for beauty brands during the same period. This illustrates the importance of constantly evaluating key industry trends in order to effectively maximize your social strategy.”

According to Dash Hudson, in May 2024, 38% of the brands examined posted at least one flat-lay visual, compared to 30% in April 2024. From April 2024 to May 2024, flat-lay visuals increased by 43%. On average, flat-lay images — both carousels and single-image posts — saw an engagement rate of 0.6%, which is 100% higher than the average engagement rate of posts by beauty brands during the same timeframe.

Especially in the realm of today’s social content (no fancy, high-tech TikTok transitions here), a flat lay is a relatively simple image. And it evokes the ideal iteration of everything one needs. Elements including the perfect latte, a pocket-sized perfume, a DSLR camera, the most coveted phone case, a lip balm and sunglasses are often positioned just so.

The return of the flat lay can, at least in part, be attributed to influencers like Julia Rabinowitsch, better known by her business’s name, The Millennial Decorator. Rabinowitsch started her business in 2020 selling vintage shoes, but she has since expanded to other accessories. Her unique style of content centers on vignettes, of sorts. There’s the sink series, most often shot at Los Angeles’s Cara Hotel, and the TSA bin series, with photos made to look like they were snapped at a security checkpoint — they weren’t. These posts have landed Rabinowitsch deals creating content for brands including Summer Fridays, Rhode, Warby Parker, J.Crew, Ilia and Merit, among others. Rabinowitsch now has over 88,000 Instagram followers.

Rabinowitsch said it’s the storytelling that has differentiated her content, as well as the timing (she was one of the first to revisit the concept) and her unique aesthetic. “We’ve seen a million bag flat lays with products sitting all around the bag. But for me, I had the idea to shoot the products on top of the bag. … that’s pretty distinctive,” she said.

Of course, her painstaking curation is likely also a contributing factor to her posts’ success. “It’s a series. I’ll use the same setting, and I’ll conjure up what [an imaginary] girl’s bag looks like. Maybe it’s the sink series, and this is a sexy girl, so she has her laundry and her products and her red lipstick thrown in the sink. … There’s a story there,” Rabinowitsch said.

For Rare Beauty, still imagery is now performing better than video content, said Ashley Murphy, vp of consumer marketing. “We’re seeing this natural shift in social media behavior where platforms that have historically prioritized video [have shifted, and] now still images and flat lays have higher engagement.” Flat lays, Murphy said, have been a part of Rare Beauty’s content since the brand started. “There’s an essence of aspiration that flat lays evoke. It taps into the psychographics of consumers that makes one feel a sense of belonging.” The brand has over 7 million Instagram followers.

“Flat lays must be [coming back in vogue],” said Jenny Lei, founder of the vegan leather bag brand Freja, which has recently been seen on Hailey Bieber and Katie Holmes. “I had the urge to make a bunch of flat lays a week ago, and I’ve never had that urge before. So I must have been inspired. I must have been seeing more of them.” The brand, which has 70,000 followers, frequently reposts community members’ flat lays.

There is a practicality to the flat lay, particularly as even small brands with small social media budgets can pull them off. “It’s an easy way [to create content] because I’m not a content creator,” Lei said of the format.

And flat lays lend themselves particularly well to handbags. “For us, styling videos don’t do as well. People want to see the bag being used, and the flat lay [works to show] what I can actually put in this bag,” said Lei.

Pia Mance, founder of accessories brand Heaven Mayhem, noted a similar sentiment: “At the start of my brand, I couldn’t afford to pay for models and photographers, so I was doing everything by myself. To switch it up [and not] have my face on every photo, we used flat lays, which worked incredibly well because you could see the products close up and really get a feel for it — hair, makeup and other [variables] weren’t distracting from the product. … [Furthermore] from a brand perspective, I can bang out 10 flat lays in 20 minutes. Doing 10 different shots on a model takes a whole day.”

She said the imagery driving the most sales for Heaven Mayhem is flat lays — essentially, photos showing just the product against a white backdrop. “We usually run [these] as ads and they convert really well,” she said.

In addition, traditional flat lays are “seeing a crazy [number] of saves and engagement,” Mance said, adding, “I think this is because people can see themselves purchasing the products in a flat lay and see how they would slot these products into their own lives.”

And in the end, as Mance put it, flat lays are simply fun. “[Heaven Mayhem earrings] could be next to a little mirror compact, a vintage shoe, headphones, a packet of mints — all of the things that make a person uniquely them. It’s really interesting to see what little knickknacks people have in their bag and [to get a glimpse of] their personality through the products they have.”

Collab of the week: Erin Walsh x Bombas

Stylist Erin Walsh, known for her work with celebs including Anne Hathaway and Selena Gomez, curated an edit of Bombas socks which prove that socks can make an outfit.

“For years, I’ve had a major sock obsession. … [Socks] help get me out of a style or mood rut. When you allow yourself to get thoughtful and experiment with accessories, it gives you more mileage with your wardrobe and offers more range, when it comes to outfit options and possibilities,” Walsh told Glossy.

She added, “I also love that Bombas is a brand that gives back in such a special way — because, ultimately, what you wear and how you wear it are reflections of what you believe in and the story you leave behind.” The brand employs a 1:1 model, donating an item for every item it sells. To date, it has donated over 100 million pieces of clothing, including socks, underwear and T-shirts. Shop it here.

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