Y2k: the late 90s and early 00s fashions making a comeback
Just when you thought current times couldn’t get any more fraught, along comes the threat of a low-rise jeans renaissance. And not just low-rise jeans – birthed by Alexander McQueen as “bumsters” – but many staples of late-90s and early 00s fashion.
The industry is calling it a “Y2k trend”; millennials everywhere are calling it harrowing. But Gen Z is on board (there are TikToks galore) and, predating the trend slightly, Etsy is reporting a 11360% increase in searches for smiley face jewellery, as well as huge upticks for mood rings.
A whole section of Etsy is a version of the formative Claire’s. Meanwhile, Marc Jacobs has launched a collection, Heaven, based on teen fashion of the era, which includes chunky trainers, pleated skirts and baby tees. Both New York and London fashion weeks affirmed that the B*Witched look is back.
Aside from low-rise jeans, here’s a look at what else might be returning.
Jelly shoes
In the years BC (before Crocs), jelly shoes were probably the most aesthetically concerning footwear choice available. It was 1983 when Bloomingdale’s began stocking a range of styles, though it is thought the design originated after the second world war during a European leather shortage. However, it was the 90s when jelly shoes reached their tentacles into the mainstream.
Alexa Chung, a jelly shoe aficionado, has designed her own collection for Juju, telling Vogue: “I think the practical service jellies provide is what draws me to them.” Which I would agree with, having worn them throughout childhood to navigate Cumbrian pebble beaches, but Chung is known to wear hers in winter, which isn’t that practical.
Gucci has its own version, the slightly more maturely named “rubber buckle strap sandal”, and Celine, too, has gone weak at the knees. (Side note: Crocs have also had a revival during the pandemic, with sales up by as much as 64% in the first quarter of 2020. No comment.)
Cargo pants
All Saints (the band) were as famous for their uniform of cargo pants as for their wonderful pop (Pure Shores, still an absolute banger). The general mood of the cargo pant is: why have two pockets on a pair of trousers when you could have 10?
Cargo pants were beloved by men and women, with boybands and macho rappers as well as girlbands drowning in drawstrings and fabric on Top of the Pops, legs like windsocks. Often teamed with a vest top (complete with dogtags) or a short denim jacket, nothing screamed straight in at No 9 like cargo pants, or their shorter sibling, the cargo short.
I didn’t predict cargos making a comeback, but perhaps that was silly given this is an item versatile enough to have traversed from the British military to Destiny’s Child. Their return is aided by the ruling comfortable, prac