ANGÉLIQUE GOUWS
Edited by Alyssa Chalmers
Fashion runs in a cycle. Trends come and go, reappearing a decade or two later in a new form. Or at least it used to be within a decade or so.
Think of 2019, when the style of the 80s quickly arose again in the form of windbreakers, mom jeans, and Converse. My Pinterest looked like it came right out of a time machine with the amount of DJ-Tanner-looking outfits over my feed.
The 2020 “indie” fashion was heavily inspired by the 90s, with big baggy jeans paired with tiny tank tops, all captured in a highly saturated photo. It was all over TikTok, and the style was picked up by millions.
In 2021 mid-90s grunge made a come-back, and the trending style made a complete swap from super vibrant colours, to a greyer, “rainy” vibe. Literally a ray of sunshine into a thundercloud.
And then last year, in 2022, Y2K came back in full swing. Thin brows, slicked back ponytails, lowrise baggy pants, cargos, bulky DC style shoes, you name it. All those once cherished staples of the early 2000s were brought back in style. It’s still very prominent now in 2023, and I think that it will stick around for a little while longer. Especially if all the big stores keep selling Y2K style items, which they still are.
Now onto Tumblr. The revival of its era is not a question of if…it’s when. And I think it’s already here.
Long jean skirts, lowrise Brandy-Melville-style pants, boots, etc. All these styles of 2014 and the early eras of Tumblr are quickly snapping back. Now, I don’t think that today’s fashion has quite reached the prime of Tumblr style. I just pray that the infamous Zooey Deschanel twee-era doesn’t make a comeback.
I mean some of it is cute, but the overall “girl-next-door” and “book-ish nerd” vibe is just too much. The potential of the black lace-up heels torments my dreams, accompanied by the wide-brimmed beige sun hats.
I don’t know how I feel about black skinny jeans. I think that if they are styled right they can look really good, but I don’t believe that it is easy to actually style well. The only time I’ve seen it look good is when I’ve seen models wear them on the runway, or on posed Instagram posts – aka all unrealistic scenarios.
The Tumblr-style revival is not something I would have ever expected. It makes sense though, with the extremely rapid “circle of fashion” that has taken over the trend cycle. But it leaves me wondering if such a style will only stick around for a few months.
I think this because the times we have seen era “revivals” in these last couple of years, it has been of styles like the 80s, 90s, or 2000s. Like 2020, when the 90s style came back in full swing. Decade eras.
2014 is not a decade, but merely a year. So if styles of certain decades have come back as a one-year revival, what does this mean for the revamp of styles that only lasted a year? Will their time as the dominant trend only last for a fraction of what they have in the past? Maybe it won’t even be months, but instead a month, or even a few weeks.
2014 Tumblr style is coming back, but first, I think we are going to have more of a 2010/2012 vibe: DC shoes and etcetera. I think of it as a transition period from the most recent in-style of the early 2000s to the upcoming Tumblr restoration.
I feel like winter 2023/2024 is gonna be when it hits its peak, especially since the style works well in colder weather. As for next summer, if this winter is 2014 Tumblr as I think it will be, then summer 2024 could be 2016. And that’s insane.
For now, it looks like Tumblr might be the upcoming fashion trend, and we could expect to see stores sell styles that were trending a decade ago once again.
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