trendsetter

noun

trend·​set·​ter ˈtren(d)-ˌse-tər 

variants or less commonly trend-setter

plural trendsetters also trend-setters

: one that sets a trend : someone or something that starts or helps to popularize a new fashion, style, movement, etc.

a trendsetter in the fashion industry

Every ten years or so, for a different set of reasons each time, cultural trendsetters rally behind one musician with whom they sense a bond and who then comes to symbolize jazz to the mass media.

—Francis Davis

The county has become a trendsetter in other types of environmental legislation …

—Chemical & Engineering News

Synonyms

• bellwether
• leader
• pacemaker
• pacer
• pacesetter

Examples of trendsetter in a Sentence

a closely watched trendsetter in women's fashions

Recent Examples on the Web

Fellow trendsetter Bella Hadid has also been embracing thicker frames of late. —Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 25 Mar. 2025

Recent stories have led him to hang out with China’s trendsetters in Chengdu and learn fireside raps from cowboy poets in Wyoming. —Mark Ellwood, AFAR Media, 19 Mar. 2025

As Seoul Fashion Week continues to evolve, the strategies discussed at the Seoul Fashion Forum aim to propel Korean fashion even further onto the international scene, making Seoul not just a follower of global trends, but a trendsetter in its own right. —Wwd Staff, WWD, 24 Feb. 2025

There are rule-breakers, and trendsetters and industry legends. —Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 3 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1936, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for trendsetter

• abettor
• newsletter
• typesetter
• better
• bettor
• debtor
• fetter
• getter
• letter
• netter
• petar
• petter