When Was the Last Time You Thought About Fashion Bug? (2024)

FAQs

Does Fashion Bug exist anymore? ›

Defunct brands

Fashion Bug — Fashion Bug was the chain that founded Charming Shoppes—and, for many years, was their only brand. The chain, at one point, grew to over 1,200 stores nationwide. The stores sold women's fashion apparel and were located in strip shopping centers, catering to middle and lower-class segments.

In early 2012 Ascena Retail Group, the parent company of DressBarn, Maurices, and Justice, announced an $890 million buyout of Charming Shoppes Inc. All Fashion Bug stores, including the five in West Michigan, were closed by winter 2013.

1960: Fashion Bug opens in Audubon, New Jersey. 1971: Charming Shoppes goes public.

Meet Shabier Subian, CEO at Fashion Bug who is known for his active work in trying to make a change with better retail practices.

Fashion trends are cyclical because we are constantly being influenced by the fashions before us, nostalgia for eras past, the economy, social media, and so much more. But ultimately, what you buy for your closet should reflect your style, what you like to wear, and what you feel most beautiful in.

Finances. It's no secret that fast fashion is known for its cheap prices, making it an attractive option for many shoppers. However, this affordability comes at a great cost to the environment and human rights. Unfortunately, sustainable fashion is often seen as a luxury that many cannot afford.

For many, Y2K fashion was a high point in our society. Throughout the 2000s, outfits featured everything from clunky shoes and bright, graphic colors, to bandanas and low-rise jeans. Now, a lot of these items are making a huge comeback, with models and influencers fully embracing Y2K staples.

Dressbarn.com (branded as dressbarn) is an online retailer owned by Retail Ecommerce Ventures. Its predecessor is the former chain of women's clothing stores owned by Ascena, which operated as Dressbarn from 1962 until 2019. Since 2020, it is owned by Miami, Florida-based Retail Ecommerce Ventures.

Members of the orders Lepidoptera and Coleoptera have been consistent influences on the work of the fashion house of Alexander McQueen, for example, while Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana have gone big on bees.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, fast fashion became a booming industry in America with people enthusiastically partaking in consumerism. Fast fashion retailers such as Zara, H&M, Topshop, and Primark took over high street fashion.

What happened to Fashion Bug stores? ›

Ascena Retail Group acquired Fashion Bug's parent company, Charming Shoppes, in June for about $900 million and decided to close all 600 Fashion Bug locations in 43 states. As part of the sale, Ascena also acquired Charming Shoppe's Lane Bryant and Catherine's stores.

1960s-2000s:

If you've ever wondered when fashion trends began moving at a dizzying speed, it was the 1960s, as young people embraced cheaply made clothing to follow these new trends and reject the sartorial traditions of older generations.

The founder of fast fashion retailer In The Style, Adam Frisby, has won a court case against Paul Clements, who claimed Frisby had stolen his idea to create the brand.

The Fashion Bug Blog was created by Laura Wills in 2015 as a way to express herself both through her writing and her personal style. Her husband calls her Bug and that's where the name comes from. The blog focuses on fashion, travel and family - Laura is a mother to three little girls and a baby boy.

Rapper Cardi B wears designer Gaurav Gupta's creation at Grammys red carpet. Los Angeles: American rapper Cardi B sizzled at the red carpet ceremony of the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in a stunning custom-made gown crafted by Indian fashion designer Gaurav Gupta.

Like they say, everything that's old becomes new once again, and '70s style is here to stay—at least for a little while longer. While some might've been happy to see the back of flared trousers and platform boots, the groovy styles of a decade that finished over five decades ago are now trending again in 2023.

Drop-Waist Dresses and Skirts

Heads up: The '80s are coming back and in a major way. You may think of drop-waist skirts as a thing of the past, but they're about to make a return in 2023—as proven by Carolina Herrera and Sandy Liang (and they're looking good). Honestly, we can't say we aren't excited about this one.

This rule is known as the '20-year rule', and what it means is that fashion follows cycles that repeat every 20 years. We go from 'love it' to 'hate it' to 'meh', only to end right back at 'love it'. An essential element of this rule is the feeling of nostalgia that these trends stir.

Profitable for manufacturers and retailers: The constant introduction of new products encourages customers to frequent stores more often, which means they end up making more purchases. The retailer does not replenish its stock—instead, it replaces items that sell out with new items.

The target audience for fast fashion is consumers aged between 18 and 24, while women and young girls consume fast fashion more than any other demographic group.

Who are the people most affected by fast fashion? ›

Fast fashion also exploits local and underserved communities in sweatshops to produce cheap garments. It employs more than 300 million people in the whole world. Most of them are young women who frequently face terrible conditions and abuse.

Elements like graphic tees, ripped jeans, bike shorts, leather jackets, and slip dresses and materials such as velvet are all set to make a comeback in 2023. Designers with fashion brands are already making collections using elements and trends from 90s fashion that will jazz up wardrobes.

Another reason why millennials and Gen Zers love Y2K fashion is that it makes them feel confident. In a world that is constantly changing, it can be hard to keep up with the latest trends. But by wearing Y2K fashion, millennials and Gen Zers can relax and be themselves without having to worry about what is in style.

For this time of the year, maxi dresses are perfect: they give you that effortless yet trendy look. Obviously, the spring-summer 2023 runways have given prominence to maxi dresses.

Arcadia's out-of-town Outfit stores are all currently closed with staff furloughed because of coronavirus restrictions. Administrators for Sir Philip Green's Arcadia empire are to close down its Outfit operation by the end of the month, with the loss of more than 700 jobs.

A clothes shop or clothes store is any shop which sells items of ready-made clothing. A small shop which sells expensive or designer clothing may be called a boutique.

A fly is an opening on the crotch area of trousers, closed by a zip or buttons. On men's garments the fly always opens to the right. On women's garments it may open either to the left or to the right.

Michelle Hammer, the founder of Schizophrenic.

Established by young friends Liam Green and Bav Samani in 2011, after winning a T-shirt design competition, Hype started life as a grassroots local label sold solely via social media.

The environmental impact of SHEIN is one of the primary issues. SHEIN manufactures a tonne of apparel as a fast-fashion company, much of it is produced from synthetic materials that do not biodegrade. Also, the business's manufacturing and shipping methods could pollute the air and water.

Is Lululemon considered fast fashion? ›

Yes, Lululemon is fast fashion. Its product category is in the same league as brands like Halara that overproduces more than it needs to.

“Many of us are familiar with the news about Nike sweatshops, but they're just one of the many fast fashion brands violating human rights for the sake of fashion.” In addition to environmental impact, fast fashion affects the health of consumers and garment workers.

Shein is a company from China. While it has a base in China, there is no physical store or chain of shops responsible for managing orders. Shein began as an online retailer that only has occasional pop-up locations around the world, without permanent storefronts.

The business model works like Amazon—a sprawling online marketplace brings together about 6,000 clothing factories in China under Shein's label, while internal management software collects near-instant data about which items are selling and which aren't to visibly boost the popular items.

Many clothing trends in the 2000s were born out of globalization, the rise of fast fashion (affordable clothes based off runway designs usually found in department stores like Mervyn's, J.C. Penney, and Macy's), and celebrities' growing influence as style icons.

The name "Y2K" referring to the year 2000 with fashion that provides nostalgic notes from late 90s to early 00s pop culture - think Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in their maximalist silhouettes.

Changes in skirts and dress fashion have changed and varied dramatically between the 1920s to the present, as well as within each decade. In 1920, only a few years after World War I, skirt and dress hemlines rose and waist lines lowered to the hip.

Some brands, particularly big-budget makers of mid-priced garments, will drop 50 percent of what they design in development. Some drop 70 percent.” Under this new fashion calendar, much of the pressure falls on designers, and this can put a serious strain on the creative process.

Shein likes to take from smaller brands because they know we don't have the power or the money to fight them. In July 2021 designer Elexiay tweeted how heartbroken she was to have Shein steal her sweater design. This went super viral with over 103.9k retweets.

London based influencer and Mum of 3, Laura Wills, of The Fashion Bug blog has the most-coveted wardrobe.

Who is the fashion girl on TikTok? ›

1. Alison Bornstein. Alison Bornstein just might be TikTok's favorite stylist. Famous for her "three-word method," Bornstein breaks down the style of various iconic people in fashion and helps her followers take a deeper look into their own preferences.

Hina Khan was awarded with Fashion Diva Of The Year at Iconic Awards 2023 by Nidarshana Gowani. New Delhi: The time of appreciating one another has arrived with renowned award functions being held in the city of dreams, Mumbai.

Nicki Minaj wears Balmain, Chanel, Saint Laurent, and Alexander Wang. Photo courtesy of Instagram.

Meet The 26-Year-Old Fashion Designer Who Made A Custom Corset For Cardi B. Cierra Boyd talks sustainability in fashion, Cardi B, and more in an exclusive interview with ESSENCE GU.

The Best Y2K Trends to Try, From Floor-Length Cardigans to 'Coyote Ugly'-Style Leather Pants. Whether your 2000s style icon is Paris Hilton, Destiny's Child or Christina Aguilera, these aughts-inspired styles are going strong in 2023.

For many, Y2K fashion was a high point in our society. Throughout the 2000s, outfits featured everything from clunky shoes and bright, graphic colors, to bandanas and low-rise jeans. Now, a lot of these items are making a huge comeback, with models and influencers fully embracing Y2K staples.

The company has denied any sort of infestation within their warehouses, although in February another woman went viral after claiming they found bugs inside their package.

Y2K fashion brought back one of the biggest staples of the 2000s: velour tracksuits. Brands like Juicy Couture were instrumental in popularizing this look back in the day. Now the modern generation has gone and reclaimed it to fit into trendier aesthetics.

Indie sleaze—the Tumblr-inspired aesthetic that fueled last year's rise of miniskirts, ballet flats and tank tops—matures into Elevated Indie in 2023. Led by designers like Khaite and Saint Laurent, the downtown-cool aesthetic appeals to a broader demographic that appreciates timeless denim and leather pieces.

Y2K trend looks set to continue into 2023, along with ageless styles.

Why is Gen Z so obsessed with Y2K? ›

Another reason why millennials and Gen Zers love Y2K fashion is that it makes them feel confident. In a world that is constantly changing, it can be hard to keep up with the latest trends. But by wearing Y2K fashion, millennials and Gen Zers can relax and be themselves without having to worry about what is in style.

Burned out Gen Zers are turning to the Y2K era for comfort and driving the 'throwback' economy. Gen Zers are tired, and they're taking comfort in the early 2000s. The generation born after 1997 has weathered a pandemic that disrupted their schooling and social lives.

Gen Z is a lot more conscious of where their clothes are coming from. When they're choosing between brands, they want to know not only if the clothes are in style, but also if the brand stands for something bigger than itself. Clothing brands that offer unisex or gender-fluid clothing are all the rage.

The fast-fashion brand is under fire for allegedly selling clothes made by forced labor in China. “We have zero tolerance for forced labor,” a Shein spokesperson told CNBC.

However, just weeks before, Shein had been the focus of an investigation that found evidence of labor abuse in its supply chain. In at least two of its Chinese factories, the report found that workers were being made to do 18-hour days, seven days a week, with only one day off per month.

SHEIN's Threat to America

SHEIN has become a fast-fashion juggernaut by likely violating U.S. law, committing “crimes against humanity” and engaging in anti-competitive and nefarious business practices.

Famous Hip-hop artists like Jay Z, P Diddy, Nelly, Snoop Dog, and 50 Cent started wearing tracksuits, baggy jeans, and bandanas, quickly turning Y2K into pop culture.

Most Y2K aesthetics rely on the use of technology and slick futuristic looks, signaling the optimism for the 3rd Millennium or 21st Century. The Y2K Era ended around 2004 and was succeeded by the Frutiger Aero and McBling eras.

The Y2K fashion trend refers to the beginning of the 21st century. It creates a sense of escapism of the world we live in today – the enormous fuzzy bucket hat embody this need for escapism.