Nostalgia Addicts: A Look at 2010s Trends
It's no secret that Gen Z has an affinity for the past. 2000s-inspired styles have dominated the cultural zeitgeist for years now. As matching sets, jorts and oversized jerseys have become uniforms for stars like Ice Spice and Bella Hadid, we’ve found countless ways to reinvent iconic looks from bygone days. As we reach the midway point of the 2020s, I find it natural to look at the previous decade and see what could make a comeback. Growing up during the 2010s, I watched as millennials dictated what was cool in ways never seen before internet influence.
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2010s birthed the internet as we know it today. Social media sites democratized content creation and made audiences more accessible. Though many applications first hit app stores in the late 2000s, it took a few years for people to establish communities and careers. By 2013, YouTubers showed us that serious money could be made from unserious DIY videos. Apps like Instagram and Vine popularized short-form content highlighting fashion and music. Tumblr was notorious for its niche communities and aesthetics. Gone were the days when you needed expensive sets and equipment to make a statement. Anyone could put something up online and have it potentially viewed by millions of people. Users could create an intimate relationship with their followers through frequent posting - humanizing those who amassed fame and drawing audiences to endearing figures of lesser status. Hashtags and motifs became identities as they signified differences in how one presented oneself online.
As competition across several fields increased, the loudness of our appearance and excitement around the internet dissipated. Household names were now competing with newcomers for likes, sales and streams on a more even playing field. Fashion, music and beauty trends began prioritizing what would look good on cameras and square feeds. As what we made popular changed faster and faster, industries modified to supply the demand. Enter fast fashion, streaming services, parasocial relationships and the heavily contested microtrends we are used to today.
Image Courtesy: Interview Magazine
2024’s brief resurgence of indie sleaze and Isabel Marant sneaker heels made me wonder: could we see a rise in more 2010s throwback trends? Though we probably won’t be wearing Swag or YOLO-adorned t-shirts, many silhouettes and sentiments from the decade seem to have positioned themselves for a major comeback.
Image Courtesy: Eva Gutowski on Instagram
The aforementioned Isabel Marant sneakers quickly became TikTok darlings as fashion girls skyrocketed their price on resale sites like Depop, encouraging Converse and Steve Madden to release their wedge sneakers. Foldover leggings and collar-cut tees have taken us from the living room to the gym floor in style. Shirts and hats in the teens had all kinds of bold slogans to show off our swag mentality. Today, baby tees with cheeky statements like “World’s Best Ex-Girlfriend” have become a staple in the closets of teen girls, replacing their bold-lettered predecessors.
Image Courtesy: Daily Mail & Cherry Kitten
Besides examples of casual wear, rumblings of the past have begun to hit the runway as well. Mowaloa’s Spring 2025 show featured several micro shorts, oversized bomber jackets, and above-the-knee boots – reimagining staples from 2016 and before in a bold way. The show even referenced Ralph Lauren, a staple for the polo-clad cast of Jersey Shore and rapper Chief Keef, all of which were rising stars in 2012. Prada’s Spring/Summer 2025 show took a page out of the 2010s twee style, sending several models down the runway in colorful hosiery.
While it's too soon to say that 2025 is the new 2015, it's clear that we crave the carefree, effortless and often over-the-top flare that the teens had. As social media developed, we lost the casual nature of posting on the internet. Ultra-polished images have taken over as the benefits and consequences of hypervisibility online continue to mount. Looking back on our overexposed and heavily filtered past, I doubt anyone had any clue how these developments would slap us in the face in the future. A return to the trends that spawned alongside the industrialization of the internet may serve as a critique of its consequences. At the same time, these social media sites serve as a perfectly preserved archive of behavior and aesthetics. Cranking up the saturation and simply saying YOLO fashion-wise may be the answer in a turbulent political and economic period.
Strike Out,
Orlando
Written By: Victoria Newell
Edited By: Olivia Wagner and Hollis Humphrey
