Ready To Wear (Again)

The Spring/Summer 2022 season looks back to the ’90s and aughts with longing for a happier, hedonistic, less fraught era.

- Piper McDonald & Tori Nergaard

Like a recurring dream, the trends that defined the 1990s and early 2000s have made an indelible return to the runways over recent seasons, this time reimagined in step with a cultural zeitgeist ruled by Gen Z. The rampantly covered street style of celebrities like Bella Hadid, Dua Lipa and Alexa Demie have trickled down into the Depop-sponsored wardrobes of today’s young tastemakers, while in music, stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Willow Smith are embracing the pop-punk angst that made 2000s bands like Paramore and My Chemical Romance such hit-makers. Scene stills from cult films and TV shows like Clueless and The Simple Life fill Instagram feeds, paired with made-to-go-viral captions, and fresh shows like Euphoria feed off of the Y2K fashion craze. Amidst all of this nostalgia, it is no wonder that these styles have emerged as a seemingly permanent fixture on the trend cycle.

A global pandemic, the increasing pervasiveness of social media in our lives and impending climate-related doom have all encouraged an anxiety akin to that felt at the end of the 20th century. It is no wonder, then, that we are looking toward an irreverent, cheeky version of ’90s and Y2K era fashions to reclaim and reinterpret as our own. While original keystone brands of the ’90s and Y2K eras have made a comeback, new designers and creators across disciplines have helped to redefine this trend through their own perspectives. At the centre of the 1990s and Y2K fashion systems was a similar dichotomy between ostentation and originality, albeit one without the complexities created by follower counts and feed aesthetics. While we continue to adapt to an uncertain world, there remains an enduring certainty in the significance and substance of this revolutionary era in fashion and culture.