2025 is The New 2015

This world that we remember no longer exists… but we sure are trying to bring it back. 

While the style and aesthetic of the mid-2010s are probably the only things we're fixated on returning, other societal trends are returning too — things that we're beginning to see in the art and music scene, fashion trends, and the media. As all of these things are finding their way back into our culture, they're bringing a new relevance with them, proving that 2025 is the new 2015.

The 2020s' Y2K revival, which is beginning to lose its relevance, is now blending with style influences from the mid-2010s like indie sleaze, boho-chic, and Tumblr-era grunge revival.

The flowy, free-spirited, bohemian style is cycling back, bringing back peak festival fashion. Flower crowns, neutral and pastel hues, denim cutoffs, crochet tops and bralettes, body chains, layered jewelry, and fringed everything. Posed on a digital camera next to palm trees and Ferris wheels, this look created an effortless yet iconic and highly curated aesthetic. The obsession with designer labels like Chloe and Isabel Marant in the past two seasons shows the trend has gone global.

We even saw this come to life on weekend one of Coachella 2025, with outfits from influencers like Alix Earle, Tezza Barton, and Dixie D'Amelio, and onstage with artists like Noah Cyrus and Addison Rae. 

While the grunge style resurfaces every few decades, in some ways, it never really goes away. Indie sleaze at its refined 2015 peak has returned, bringing with it: bed hair (with a slightly less aggressive side part), Doc Martens, American Apparel, long necklaces and oversized sunglasses, and everything studded. 

All of these styles that are returning carry with them the same vibe and feel, but with a more personalized touch. We've moved away from conformity in fashion and trends and have started to embrace adding our own personal style to these looks. 

The most relevant part of this mid-2010s revival is arguably the music. The throwback pop songs that take us back to a much simpler time, featuring artists like Lorde, Calvin Harris, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, etc. They're the songs we'd hear at our local community pools growing up, on the radio on the ride home from school, and at the mall shopping with friends after getting dropped off by our parents. But the best part of this? “Recession-pop” is back almost as if it never left, with Lady Gaga making appearances for her new album, and Miley Cyrus, Kesha, and Lorde teasing new music.

2015 was the year of Snapchat filters, Tumblr girls, Buzzfeed quizzes, the Rio de Janeiro filter, and much more. It had the last moments before influencer culture took over and changed social media as a whole. Celebrities began posting their lives on social media, and digital intimacy was born. At that point, everyone had started to have social media fatigue, and Instagram went from candid pictures and faded filters to a new and cleaner aesthetic. 

In recent years, we've begun to get sick of what social media has become: an endless stream of content that has you mindlessly scrolling and swiping through your feed for hours at a time—and it's become evident that social media fatigue has returned. A lot of us are taking "social media cleanses," where we delete apps like Snapchat or Instagram and stay off of them for a period of time. Or, we simply just decide to go off the apps. As we're starting to pull away from the constant noise of our feeds, many of us are craving something that feels slower, simpler, and more authentic. And for some of us, that means looking back.

So why are we so obsessed with this era?

Maybe we feel such a connection to that year because we're halfway through the decade, as we were then, and we tend to gravitate toward nostalgia in chaotic times. In an attempt to make sense of where we are, we try to remember where we've been. And for most of us, the 2010s were the peak of our formative years. 

There's something about the resurgence of these trends that brings out our inner youth and embraces the nostalgia for what used to be. 

Strike Out,

Elise Archer

Boca Raton

Elise Archer is a Content Writer for Strike Magazine Boca. She has a passion for everything creative- and she’s a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. If you can’t reach her, she’s either busy shopping, lost somewhere, or writing. But if you would like to: elisearcher111@gmail.com or on Instagram @elisearcherr