Nostalgia: Fashion’s Best Friend, Gen Z’s Next Enemy
Fashion revivals hit every few years, but they're starting to hit too close to home.
Most of us Zoomers recall when the ‘90s grunge look pervaded the fashion trends of the 2010s. You probably begged your mom for chunky black Doc Martens, wore elastic black chokers that made your skin flare and paired ripped skinny jeans with fishnet tights. This resurgence came about like every other; during the ‘90s, people incorporated the funky patterns characteristic of ‘70s fashion into modern trends.
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But there's more to this cyclical revival of fashion trends. The last decade’s ‘90s aesthetic was fueled by a powerful wave of nostalgia from Millenials lovingly recalling their adolescence. It offered “a sense of familiarity as the world [shifted] uncertainly around them,” said writer Courtney DeLong for L'Officiel. Now, nostalgia for the early and late 2000s reigns over the fashion hemisphere, and its dominance is powered by the kids who grew up using iPods and layering their outfits into oblivion.
Clothing and accessories I dreamt of owning when I was younger — bejeweled jeans, tiny shoulder bags, cargo pants and UGGs — are hitting the streets again. To today’s kids, these are fun styles to experiment with, especially as stores like Target lean into the “nowstalgia.” But to today’s 20-something-year-olds, this resurgence is either a fond taste of our childhoods or a debilitating reminder of how much time has passed.
Image Courtesy: TikTok
One scroll through my For You page on TikTok unlocks hoards of photo-carousel videos spotlighting forgotten pieces from Hannah Montana’s wardrobe or Lindsay Lohan’s red carpet appearances. With every video I watch, I dive further and further into the archives of my childhood until I long for regression. Staring at my ceiling, I sit in bed wondering: How did so much time pass? When did we get here?
But that’s the paradoxical nature of nostalgia. It can be the catalyst for a life crisis, but in the fashion and music world, it’s a tireless strategy for discovering new trends.
As Brandon Kent, owner of the popular @1990sarchives Instagram account, said to i-D magazine, the emergence of the e-girl and e-boy aesthetic, accompanied by the popularity of hyper pop and cloud rap (like Ecco2k and Bladee), is just a modern retelling of the late 2000s and early 2010s scene era. The emerging aesthetic is a space for kids who were too young to participate in the harajuku-emo subculture fusion.
The revivals are just getting started in catching up to our childhoods. Now and then, I’ll see a TikTok reminiscing about 2013, 2015 or 2016 fashion trends. That’s when I exit the app, turn my phone off and decide it’s time to go outside and touch some grass before I become hyperaware of how fast time is passing by.
Image Courtesy: TikTok
But it’s all part of growing up. We weren’t the first to be nestled in the thick of nostalgia. We’re only one phase in an eternal cycle, and one day our younger siblings and children will suffer through nostalgia for bustier tops and wide leather pants.
Of all possible revivals though, can we unanimously agree not to bring back the 2012 mustache fashion trend?
Strike Out,
Writer: Daniella Alfonso
Editor: AJ Bafer
Graphic: Rachel Frenchman
Gainesville
