2014 is calling. Are you gonna pick up the phone? Whether you’re nostalgic for the simpler days of shopping at Brandy Melville or you refuse to look back at your pictures from the era, 2010s fashion could make a comeback. It already has been.
There seems to be a recent trend of romanticizing the 2000s. Take the huge Y2K trend into account. While the 2010s may seem like just yesterday, it’s been long enough for people to reminisce on the decade’s trends. After all, who doesn’t miss the 2014 grunge? At 12, I wasn’t old enough to properly pull off the style at the time, so maybe wanting it to come back is my bias.
There’s a pretty big trend on social media platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok of people wanting to “bring 2014 back,” or “bring 2012 back,” or even wanting their upcoming summer to feel just like summer 2016 again. For Gen Z, it may be because we yearn to be younger teens again without the responsibility we have now as adults. Whichever way you look at it, the 2010s are very missed.
Maybe you’re dying to bring out the tattoo choker you haven’t worn since 2015, or maybe you’ve really been thinking about that green bomber jacket from 2016. What about those studded shorts from 2012? With the lifespan of trends in mind, there’s usually a “20-year cycle” of what styles can be predicted to come back at a certain time. It seems to be 20 years, but fast fashion’s exponential popularity might have changed that. Now, social media finds itself wanting to bring back aesthetics from less than 15 years ago!
Because of the shorter-lived lives of lower quality fast fashion pieces, people don’t hang onto their clothes as long as they used to. Trends come and go, and we get bored. This could be a reason why the 20-year cycle is turning into a 15-or-less-year cycle. Popular trends of this current decade — such as “coquette,” “Y2K,” and the long-gone “VSCO girl” — are great examples of how social media can both create, spread, and kill trends. Once someone posts something saying Hydroflasks are so “cheugy,” they’re done for.
The power may just lie in your hands. With today’s quickly arriving and diminishing trends, it’s up to the consumer if they want to follow them. Even if you see and interact with “bring back 2014” posts, or if you constantly have them recommended on your feed, a trend is just as big as you perceive it. Others may be totally unaware that some people want to bring out their black skinny jeans again!
I would love to see a resurgence of 2010s fashion. It doesn’t have to completely take over the industry, but it would be pretty cool to see grid-patterned sets and Doc Martens with knee socks in store windows again. After all, when trends come back, they often do so as a modified version of the original. Maybe there will be a 2024 version of the 2010s style this summer. I feel like the more we reminisce on the styles of that time, the more we subconsciously want to make them a thing again!
So, are you going to embrace fashion from the past decade again? Possibly have a 2012 summer, playing “Primadonna Girl” by the pool? It’s up to you!
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