Whether you’d rather forget low rise jeans and diamante encrusted crop tops, or you’ve got the Juicy Couture tracksuit high on your wishlist, nobody can escape the Y2K aesthetic at the moment. The early 00s ‘look’ is everywhere. But why is this decade being revived and why do trends come back every 20 years?
It’s all thanks to the 20-year trend cycle — now accelerating because of social media. Here’s how it works.
Everything is Cyclical
Before we understand why trends come back every 20 years, we first need to explain how the trend cycle actually works.
Back in 1937, British author, curator and fashion historian, James Laver, came up with a timeline of how fashion styles are viewed over the years. This set of rules is known as Laver’s Law and stated that if you wore a popular style one year after its time you would be seen as ‘dowdy’, 10 years after its time you were ‘hideous’ and you had to wait a full 150 years until the trend would come back around and be considered ‘beautiful’.
While we’re busy waiting for the hottest trend of 1871 to be back in vogue (bustle skirts and mid-length gloves?) Laver’s Law is still used by trend forecasters today – but slightly altered.
According to MasterClass, the trend cycle today starts with an ‘Introduction’ period, before moving through an ‘Increase’, ‘Peak’ (this is when you’ll see it in Cotton On) and finally oversaturation to the point of ‘Decline,’ and finally the ‘Obsolescence’ of the style or item.
But this doesn’t mean the trend will never come back around.
‘New’ in The Eye of The Beholder
So far, the 2020s have been pretty rough. Between a pandemic, accelerating climate change and rights for women and people of colours being debated most days, it’s no wonder we’re looking back to a different era.
Trendalytics content strategist, Kristin Breakell told publication The Zoe Report, that searches for Y2K velour tracksuits were up 41% from 2019, flared jeans were up by 45% and tie-dyed items increased by a huge 179%.
On an individual level, the reasons why are varied: maybe we’re trying to dress like our parents, or incorporating items we wore as children into our outfits (hello, butterfly clips) in an attempt to return to a simpler time. We’re taking inspiration from the past to get through the present.
This nostalgia is also why new generations are the ones to pick up old trends. Up until now, Gen Z hadn’t seen flared leggings and platform thongs out and about IRL. To them it’s new and exciting and fresh. To older millennials? Not so fresh – they’d rather forget that their once-beloved yoga pants are being revived.
History Always Repeats
In a similar vein, fashion is usually a response to what is happening socially and politically in society.Post WWII, shorter hemlines emerged. The peace and love era of the 60s saw an increase in bright prints and civil rights marches in the US brought out protest t-shirts.
We’re now facing similar issues in the Black Lives Matter movement and post-COVID economic downturn, responding to politics and socioeconomics with very similar fashion choices.
The 60s bright prints are back, alongwith the ‘peace and love’ attitude (best seen on commune TikTok). Tiny tennis skirts are being revived too – as a throwback to 00s American Apparel aesthetics, but perhaps also as a way to project 80s/90s power and health (while we survive a pandemic) through an item of sporty-chic.
@erika.dwyer One of my fave fits atm 🥰 ##fashion ##fallfashion ##fallfashion2020 ##tennisskirt ##fyp ##foryoupage ##tiktokfashionmonth ##style ##outfitideas ##ootd
♬ Deep End – Fousheé
Recycling Renewal
Something that’s often overlooked in trend discussions is the role of thrifting. The climate crisis had already prompted many young people to shop second-hand, and the economic impact of COVID-19 sparked even more interest. According to The Guardian, fashion reselling app Depop has seen a 90% increase in traffic since the pandemic began.
With a surge of buying within the circular fashion economy, many young people are also buying items made for earlier trends. This recycling model results in styles from decades ago becoming fashionable again as young people put a new spin on old clothes – which, again, seem new to them.
Social Media Speed-Up
While James Laver thought it would take 50 years before a trend re-emerged, thanks to the Internet we’re now seeing trends being circulated at a much faster rate.
Teenagers on TikTok are already romanticising the ‘Tumblr grunge’ aesthetics of 2014 — a mere seven years ago — proving that the more content we have access to, the quicker we get bored and the more new trends we crave.
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So, What’s Next?
If we assume trends repeat every 20 years, then the next decade you should expect to be revisiting is the 2010s. Expect to see lots of fluro as well as bow ties and bowler hats inspired by early Tumblr indie aesthetics.
Maybe if we’re really lucky, we’ll even get to see teenagers rocking the popped out 3D glasses look. As Y2K icon Justin Timberlake once said, “What goes around, comes around”.
