Since 2020, and the coronavirus, it seems that everyone is reliving their days from back in the 2000s. People are watching their favorite movies, listening to their favorite music, and recreating their favorite outfits. And while millennials are the main demographic for this because they lived through this time, Gen Z took time in this trend as well. Find that interesting because we were so young during the 2000s, so while we are dressing like Britney-Spears-look-a-likes as well. However, in the recent past 2-3 years people have been noticing a come to that of the early 2012-2014 aesthetics. These include the pastel goth aesthetic, grunge aesthetic, and Tumblr aesthetic.
And it’s not just with Gen z. Just today I was at my school where I am a student teacher as a part of the education field here at Lynn. While the students were at recess, I took notice of what they were wearing and were the “cool” toys for kids these days. That’s when I saw a student wearing a flower crown- like one we had back then, not a new variation- and it got me inspired to write this article. Is Gen A, kids born 2010-2024, going to take on this trend as well?
However, what are these aesthetics? Let me break each one down for you. Pictures for the main aesthetic include the cotton candy and vanilla bean frappuccino, flower crowns, photography, and Ariana Grande. Pictures for the grunge aesthetic include cigarettes, Lana del Rey, colored hair, arctic monkeys and Nirvana shirts, and smokey eye makeup. Back in middle school when this was popular, this was by far my favorite of all of the aesthetics. I loved the dark colors and the little “angsty” quotes people would post. If you didn’t know, this was because of another 90s revival, along with the main aesthetic. These aesthetics relate to the 90s because of the bright colors, and the iconic grunge aesthetic of the 90s. The third aesthetic of this time was the bohemian aesthetic. With the bohemian aesthetic, everyone was wearing flower crowns, long flowy skirts, big sun hats, and big chunky necklaces. I had a few flower crowns when I was in 7th grade, and probably had a tank that matched the vibe.
No matter what aesthetic it is, I feel that each one is coming back slowly and in its own way. To explain, just like the grunge revival of the early 2010s, I feel like we will see more nostalgic outfits and overall culture from this time. I enjoyed it and I hope clothing brands will start making nods to these trends in the years to come, just like they did for the Y2k revival because that will be definitely fun to see.