JUST about every fashion column in the world will be writing about the same thing this week, so I thought I’d give our roundup of fashion trends a youthful spin.

Youth culture is forever changing. In fact, youths are so diverse it’s impossible to zero in on just one trend young people are “into” right now.

So, we’ve decided to list out a few fashion trends (and one fashion moment!) that grabbed young people’s attention all through 2011, and those that have stuck through the years and only gotten stronger this year.

Hipsters

Your most painful childhood fashion is now cool.

It’s definitely not a new trend, but its popularity seemed to have grown at an alarming rate this year. In the 1940s, “hipster” was defined as “characters who like hot jazz”. Today, the meaning has become slightly blurred – while it refers to people with unconventional taste in music, these days you don’t have to even like music, or subscribe to the norms of hipster subculture (living sustainably, rejecting consumerism and eating organicly-grown produce) to dress like a hipster.

Grandma’s sweater, a T-shirt with a big print of Che Guevara on the chest, ugly shoes … hipsters wear what they like, and they don’t care what you think.

Anything you can think of that was uncool, geeky or nerdy – retro glasses, old T-shirts (or T-shirts made to look old), skinny jeans – is cool under the hipster label.

Perhaps Matt Granfield, author of the book HipsterMattic put it best: “The way to be cool wasn’t too look like a television star: it was to look like as though you’d never seen television.”

Demure fashion

Yuna rocks the demure fashion trend flawlessly

I truly admire individuals that can rock an outfit without showing a teeny bit of skin. For every girl who throws on a plunging top as a fashion statement there are a growing number of fashion enthusiasts that go the direct opposite and end up looking a million times better.

We’re talking about the fashion trend that has swept Indonesia, Malaysia and women all over the world who realise that you don’t have to dress sexy to look like a million bucks.

From different ways to don a hijab, to creative pairings of full-coverage tops with baggy slacks and ballerina flats, these women are truly amazing when it comes to mixing and matching.

Kate’s gown

The most talked about dress of the year.

Who cares about stuffy British royalty and their nuptials? The answer? Everyone. Or the at least two billion people who watched the live broadcast of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding in April.

What were they all waiting for? The balcony kiss? To see whether they got each others names right? Or was it the dress… yup, definitely the dress.

There were more speculations as to who the Duchess of Cambridge chose as her designer, what the dress would look like and what she would wear in her hair than there are spots on a leopard!

In the end she chose a demure and tasteful satin and lace number designed by British designer Sarah Burton, of Alexander McQueen’s fashion house.

Flats

Flats scaled new heights this year

It may not be that noticeable a trend right now, but flats have definitely begun making waves. Perhaps women the world over are finally feeling the discomfort of being in heels all the time, and fashion houses, sites, magazines and TV shows are slowly warming to the trend.

Late last year Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz put his models in flats, mainly so that they wouldn’t stumble on the runway like drunks, and maybe, just maybe, this signalled a shift in the heels-wearing culture.

Young people are beginning to realise the serious health risks of wearing heels all the time, and these days more designs for pretty flats are hitting stores.