The fashion industry is notorious for reinventing the wheel every couple of years, which is why we’re getting around in direct copies of 80s and 90s trends in present day. Chunky sneakers, scrunchies, tiny sunglasses and too much denim are all the same ‘fits our parents wore in their youth, so why are we still being criticised by older generations for our fashion choices?
Returning trends within both fashion and elsewhere have been prevalent in society forever. Dressing like our parents has been ingrained in all of us since the first day we threw on something out of their wardrobe and walked around the house pretending to be them. There’s no exception within fashion designers, which could be contributing to the nostalgia-fuelled designs we keep seeing on the runway.
The style of the millennial generation is so diverse and almost impossible to pinpoint down to specifics. Amongst all subgenres of fashion are traces of things that used to be in style. Whether its a direct replica or something that’s been subtly influenced by a past trend, these pieces will constantly be pitted against its counterpart in a 90s vs. now gallery post on every fashion blog to try and call out new designers for being unoriginal and recycling old ideas.
You’d think that the return of these trends would have the people who used to forefront those trends on board with them coming back and young people embracing them, but there seems to be more pushback than ever on self expression through fashion. Older generations are the first to comment on what people are wearing, from people just living their life out on the street to Beyonce performing at Coachella. What Beyonce chooses to wear truly has no impact on their life at all and they don’t need an opinion on it.
The judgemental stares and comments whenever you wear something slightly left of centre are ridiculously common, alongside hate-fuelled social media comments and posts. I think these comments hit the hardest when they’re made from people within your own generation. The world is so full of carbon copies of the same person, and someone trying to break out of that norm should be celebrated and not torn down until they conform.
There’s genuinely no point in hating on someone else’s fashion choices. It’s so cliche, but you’re probably telling yourself that you think they look stupid because you lack the confidence to pull it off. If that’s not the case and you just get off on being a dick, maybe you should reconsider that. Think about trying harder to not concern yourself with what other people choose to cover their bodies with, no matter how much of it there is.
Emily Vescio 