At its January couture show, Viktor & Rolf sent out T-shirts and gowns emblazoned with the words, “Leave me alone” and “Sorry I’m late I didn’t want to come”. Photos of the designs resonated widely on social media — just as Google searches for “anxiety” hit an all-time high.

Such queries have risen steadily on Google since 2011. So have searches for products promising anxiety relief, such as deep-pressure vests and therapeutic tattoos and, more recently, CBD oil. Search interest in the last decade was relatively flat until early 2018 when several celebrities revealed that they’d used Lord Jones CBD products as a pain reliever for their feet during awards season.

Internet searches for anxiety-based products are forecast to grow 24 per cent over the next 12 months in the US.

Yarden Horwitz, a former Google researcher and co-founder of data analytics firm Spate, says the rise of social media and the pressure to be constantly connected has likely accelerated the number of US consumers seeking stress-alleviation goods — and the number of companies hawking them. Apart from foot-soothing, anti-inflammatory oil, products that have capitalized on this trend include moon juice and body oils made entirely from natural products, such as those sold by Esker, a brand founded (little wonder) by a former beauty trend forecaster at Stylus. There has also been increased interest in piercings that focus on pressure points to relieve anxiety.

“There’s more emphasis on being aware of your anxieties, openly communicating them and learning how to deal with them,” says Horwitz, and brands are keying into these underlying consumer needs and responding with products, messaging and content that resonates. “There’s a lot more to be explored,” Horwitz says, noting that search interest in anxiety-based products is forecast to grow 24 per cent over the next 12 months. “This could have a huge impact on the experiential side of fashion and beauty.”