If you were born in the mid-2000s, like me, you probably remember your childhood through the lens of the 1990s…slowly fading away. And then you were immediately bombarded with a plethora of images, thoughts, and videos, which we now know as social media. Now, entering our adulthood, we’re still being hounded by that media—media that we now constantly have to verify is even real or not. This is all we’ve known. And I think we’re exhausted.
I’ve always had a prediction that young society would have a slow but steady shift back to the 1990s, including more physical media, minimalist styles, and a greater emphasis on function over consumption.
Maybe it’s just my algorithm, but it seems like every third TikTok I get is about someone’s insane vinyl collection, or stacks of magazines they discovered from their mom’s archive, or an ever-growing collection of books in place of a Kindle. I’m noticing that this slow consumption of media is finding its stride again. And the data proves it.
In 2024, vinyl sales reached their highest level since the 1980s, and I predict magazines will soon follow suit as Gen Z’s growing appreciation for the tactile grows.
But physical media isn’t the only thing making a comeback. The styles are too.
I think this particular fatigue has been the most recent. TikTok videos reminiscing on the year 2019’s quirks. The bright scrunchies, checkered vans, and colorful stripes all paired together send Gen Z into a nostalgic frenzy. “2019 was Gen Z’s 80s,” users say. This bled into the early 2020s and was amplified, more clothes, more color, more patterns, more, more, more, more.
Deep breath.
Now, I’m noticing, especially with older Gen Z, this desire for simplicity and silhouettes rather than loud colors and patterns. A deeper focus on how clothes fit, rather than how they look, is very reminiscent of the 1990s, where everything seemed functional and effortless. And with the revival of shows set in the 1990s, some old (Sex and the City) and some new (Love Story’s Carolyn Bessette), this desire for classic, timeless styles is becoming more prominent.
But style in the context of fashion isn’t the only thing that might be changing. The rise of ‘clean girl makeup’ almost got us there, but it seemed to transform into a never-ending hoarding of products. The timeless 1990s look emphasized a neutral base, defined eyes, thin brows, and a glossy lip. Brown tones were heavily used, deep and natural. The minimal was really that—minimal. Functional products you can layer quickly, without taking up too much space on your bathroom counter.
The masses truly desire products that work. And despite what all the influencers promote, we’re not all spending $50 on a new foundation every week. Three-to-five product makeup routines are becoming more popular, akin to the 1990s simplicity.
The satisfaction of having products or pieces that work well and look good is becoming more important than the number of items you have. Quality over quantity, as they say.
Now I don’t want you to read this and think we’re all going to go back to looking like carbon copies of each other, wearing the same clothes and having the same styled hair and makeup. Frankly, I think we’ve come too far for that. While I do believe there will be a shift from the overconsumption that plagues us, our generation has this spectacular, innate reflex for individuality that I don’t think we should let go of.
With that being said, the trend (hopefully not fleeting) of putting more thought into what we’re buying and consuming, who’s making it, and a growing appreciation for how the content we enjoy is being created.